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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Parking stalls for
disabled meet U.S. lawQuestion: My husband is in the military, and we just got stationed here. Gosh, what's up with the handicap-accessible spots in Hawaii? For example, when you go to Costco or Sam's Club in California, there are at least 25 handicap spots with wide access aisles. In Hawaii you only get one parking spot with a wide aisle and maybe five with narrow aisles. I have a big van with a wheelchair ramp, so need a wide aisle. Who can I lobby at the state to get more handicapped spaces with wide aisles?
Answer: Your better recourse may be to lobby the City Council, rather than someone at the state level, according to Francine Wai, executive director of the state Disability and Communication Access Board.
She noted that California has a state accessibility code that exceeds the requirements of the federal code (Americans with Disabilities Act), but "we have no such animal."
Hawaii follows ADA Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG) for businesses like Costco and Sam's Club, she said.
Wai said parking requirements are set by the city land use ordinance, "which has no reference to (disabled) parking stalls because that's already covered by ADAAG."
She noted it "would be a very tough sell" to impose more stringent parking requirements on businesses than what's required by federal law, although "I think in many situations the numbers are not enough" to meet the needs of the handicapped.
However, the problem is not so much in shopping areas, but at event facilities, such as Aloha Stadium and the Blaisdell Center, where people "come all at once and leave at once, where there is no turnover" in parking.
"Although a shopping center is very popular, there should be more turnover (for parking) there, so it's very hard to lobby for more stalls in those places," Wai said.
Although the formula is modified for large parking lots, Wai explained that if an establishment has 25 stalls, it must provide one stall for a person with a disability and that one stall must be van-accessible.
For each subsequent 25 stalls, there must be another disabled parking stall, but that stall doesn't have to be van-accessible. In fact, under the ADAAG, an establishment does not have to have two van-accessible stalls unless they have at least 401 parking spaces, Wai said.
However, she said a second stall often is van-accessible because it shares an access aisle with another stall.
Auwe
To the driver of a red car coming out of Mililani on Kamehameha Highway, trying to overtake other cars headed toward Waipio Gentry. On two separate occasions, both before 5:15 a.m., I happened to be on the road as you tried to overtake us cautious drivers. It's a one-lane road going toward Kipapa Gulch on Kamehameha Highway, and you're going to cause a lot of pilikia if you hit someone head-on or force someone off the road in doing your stunts. -- No Name
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