Permit parking vote
set next week

The City Council will consider
a proposal to try the pilot programs
in four neighborhoods

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Residential parking zones would be set up on a pilot basis on streets of four neighborhoods under a proposal by a City Council committee.

Council members originally proposed eight zones, but city Transportation Services Director Cheryl Soon argued that it would be a logistical nightmare to set up and monitor that many.

Members of the Council's Public Safety, Transportation and Environment Committee pushed the project forward yesterday after a four-hour meeting at which more than 20 people testified both for and against.

A final vote is scheduled at the Council meeting Wednesday in Kapolei.

Under the bill, 80 percent of the residents from "a street, a portion of a street, on a block or in any other area" from the four regions would be able to petition Soon's department for a residential permit parking zone.

The zones, if approved, would be enforced for two years, after which the Council would consider whether they will be a permanent method for easing parking problems.

The four areas surround the University of Hawaii-Manoa, McCully-Moiliili, Salt Lake and the neighborhood around Kuakini Hospital.

Much of the debate yesterday focused on the parking problem in the Manoa and McCully neighborhoods near the university.

Residents there are split on the idea of creating exclusionary zones, where only they and chosen others would be able to park during certain times.

Manoa resident David Day said he is tired of being in the midst of what has become a daily war zone for students seeking on-street parking.

"It's just like a zoo," he said, noting that noise, litter, illegal parking and damaged cars are prevalent.

Clinton Char, who also lives in the University area, said students parking in his neighborhood loiter and then cut across his property. When he confronted several of them about trespassing, they retaliated by damaging his car, he said.

Carl Shelton, who lives on Atherton Road, said he doesn't want a parking zone set up.

"I do not view my neighbors from other parts of the island as outsiders," Shelton said. "Everybody (moving into the neighborhood) knew the university was there. That is the flavor of the neighborhood."

UH students and administrators were united in their opposition to the bill.

Stanford Togashi, president of the UH undergraduate senate, said students are being unfairly penalized when they are offered bus service and on-campus parking accommodations that are both inadequate.

Doris Ching, UH vice president for student affairs, also opposed the bill and called for more discussion between neighbors and campus leaders.