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New parking
rules may curb
Pro Bowl parties

Aloha Stadium's lot will
be partitioned into five
separated sections

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By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

Stadium officials say they are solving a parking problem for Sunday's Pro Bowl, but tailgaters fear changes will make it more difficult for parking lot parties to come together.

The Aloha Stadium parking lot will be divided into five areas on Sunday, with 1,500 parking spaces accessible from each gate. That means that if you enter through a gate on one side of the stadium, the only way to find friends on the other side of the parking lot is on foot.

"It's because we're getting a major complaint saying that people are always going around in circles, so we want to eliminate that complaint," said parking supervisor Vance Hall.

But driving around the parking lot is how many tailgaters figure out where to party. "Until we park, we don't know exactly where we're going to be," said Scott Okamoto, general manager of the Chart House, which until this year has hosted large tailgate parties at every Hawaii Pro Bowl.

Although Okamoto said it's safe to designate an area to meet, it all depends on everyone getting the location straight. "You have to know exactly where the parties are and where to turn in. You got to be real careful now or you can be screwed," he said. "You can be walking and you can break a sweat now."

While Okamoto joked that sweating would just increase people's thirst for beer, getting it to the party could be another problem if they end up entering through the wrong gate and have to haul their party supplies around the stadium.

"You gotta be carrying one cooler with some beer inside there, soft drinks, food ... one chair to sit on at the tailgate party," he said. "You probably need two people at least to carry the cooler and the chair."

Hall said he doesn't expect the changes to make much difference and, with 200 to 300 buses bringing ticketholders to the game, parking isn't expected to be a problem anyway. "We're not changing nothing. Everything is equal now, 1,500 spaces for each gate," he said. "You just cannot drive around."

But Guy Maynard, who organized the Chart House parties, said he expects the changes to lead to chaos. "We used to just go in and try to find any section, now you go in one section and you're stuck," he said. "What if someone gets in the Ewa gate and they have the coolers and you have the barbeque (on the other side)?"

The Stadium Authority hasn't provided enough notice to prepare people for the changes, he said, since season ticket holders just received a notice in the mail and others won't know unless they see the newspaper advertisements.

Pro Bowl 2001

Taking TheBus TheBus Football Express Service will run to and from Aloha Stadium for Sunday's Pro Bowl. Fare is $2 each way. Buses will leave the stadium 15 minutes after the game ends. Pick up times and places are: Kapolei and Mililani Kapolei State Office Building (601 Kamokila Blvd.) 10:30 a.m. Village Park Park and Ride lot 10:45 a.m. Mililani Park and Ride lot 10:30 a.m. Windward Oahu Castle Medical Center (Kalanianaole Highway at Kailua Road 10:15 a.m. Enchanted Lake Shopping Center (Keolu Drive/Hele) 10:20 a.m. Kailua Shopping Center (Kailua Road/opposite Hahani) 10:25 a.m. Aikahi Shopping Center (Kaneohe Bay Drive/Mokapu) 10:35 a.m. Opposite Windward City Shopping Center (Kaneohe Bay Drive/Makalani) 10:45 a.m. Hawaii Kai Hawaii Kai Park and Ride 10:30 a.m. Kahala Mall Waialae Avenue/Kilauea Avenue (opposite Kahala Mall) 10:30 a.m. Kaimuki/Palolo/University of Hawaii Koko Head/Waialae Avenue (fronting Liliuokalani Elementary School) 10:30 a.m. Waialae Avenue/Palolo (McDonald's) 10:33 a.m. University of Hawaii (Sinclair Library Circle) 10:40 a.m. Waikiki Monsarrat Avenue (Kapiolani Park Bandstand) 10:30 a.m. Ala Moana Center Kona Street (nearside of Kona-Iki Street) 10:30 a.m. For more details on routes and times, call TheBus at 848-5555, or view the football express page at http://www.thebus.org Alternate parking sites are located at Ford Island, Leeward Community College and Radford High School. Shuttles from Ford Island will run from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from Leeward Community College from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After-the-game shuttles to both Ford Island and Leeward Community College will run from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. No tailgating will be allowed at the alternate parking sites. Parking at the stadium itself will begin when all parking gates open at 9 a.m. Tailgate curfew will be at 5 p.m. All turnstile gates will open at 9:30 a.m. No on-street parking will be permitted before the gates open.

Pro Bowl 2001