Bainum proposes
new agency to find
more parking
in Waikiki

Lack of parking in the district
is a perennial complaint
that he'd like to retire

---

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com

City Councilman Duke Bainum is tired of hearing local residents say the reason they don't go to Waikiki more often is because of the lack of parking.

That's why he's proposing a Waikiki Parking Authority to find, and even create, parking stalls in the area at a reasonable cost to the public.

"We've been talking for years about too little parking in Waikiki and (how) whatever is available is too expensive," Bainum said.

A bill introduced this week by the Waikiki councilman to create the parking authority calls for a five-member, semiautonomous body appointed by the mayor that would "establish, operate, maintain and otherwise arrange the use of public, off-street parking spaces within Waikiki," Bainum said.

Among the authority's responsibilities would be the proposed "Saratoga Transit Center," part of Mayor Jeremy Harris' Bus Rapid Transit Plan.

The project is planned for a site on the Saratoga-Kalia roads side of Fort DeRussy, across from the U.S. Army Museum. Planned are up to 1,800 stalls in a two- or three-story building, Bainum said.

While the multilevel project is expected to receive some federal funding, nothing would prevent private developers -- particularly those who need to meet public parking requirements for their own projects -- from helping develop the public lot. Another likely site that would come under the authority is a planned 33,000-square-foot park on a vacant lot on Aloha Drive between Seaside and Royal Hawaiian avenues, one block mauka of Kuhio Avenue.

About 100 stalls are planned under the park, Bainum said. The city has appropriated $1.5 million for that project.

Finding existing parking throughout Waikiki that might become part of the program would also be an essential part of the authority, said Eric Masutomi, chairman of the Waikiki Business Improvement District and director of planning for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.

"We've got so many parking facilities in Waikiki that go largely unused, in terms of capacity," Masutomi said. "There's a lot of parking that the public is not aware of."

Masutomi said owners of the King Kalakaua Plaza, home of Nike Town, and the Waikiki Trade Center might be amenable to offering stalls in their buildings for a program offering lower rates for public parking.

There are smaller, vacant lots all over Waikiki that might become part of the program, Bainum said.

"We want them all over Waikiki so residents and visitors can walk and visit restaurants, go to the movies and visit their friends," he said.

Rates would likely be between what is now typically being charged in Waikiki lots and what motorists pay in municipal lots elsewhere, Bainum said.