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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Regulating Shell parking is difficult
Question: I jog at Kapiolani Park and have noticed that the parking lot adjacent to the Waikiki Shell and Kapiolani Park Bandstand has been very full on weekdays. At about 4:30 p.m. one day, I saw what looked like construction workers coming out of Waikiki and getting into their cars there, where parking is free. Is that allowed? It seems to me those parking spaces should be for people who are going to the park.
Answer: You're right, but the reality is that there is no way to control the situation for now, according to city officials.
Signs saying parking is "for park users only" are posted in the lot. Park users would include people going to events at the Shell or bandstand.
But "there's the rub: defining who is or isn't a park user," said Mark Matsunaga, spokesman for Mayor Mufi Hannemann's administration.
No doubt there are people, not only construction workers, "who abuse the free parking" at that lot. But proving it is another matter, he said.
As examples, he said someone could park at the Shell lot, go to work in Waikiki or Kapahulu for eight hours, then jog around the park after work. Or, the person could park, jog around the park, then go to work.
"Or what if the person parked there, then went to visit someone at a business establishment in the area for a half-hour before returning to the park to go jogging?" Matsunaga asked.
The problem, he said, is that "enforcement is an extremely difficult challenge for the city" in many city parks. "As long as the city provides free parking in areas where parking is limited, there's an opportunity for abuse."
The solution may not be welcomed.
The city is studying the feasibility of installing meters at the Waikiki lot, as well as other city parks, "to ensure that parking lots are used by park users," Matsunaga said.
However, he points out that the Shell parking lot is governed by the covenants of the Kapiolani Park Trust, which limits what can be done within park grounds.
Q: What is the legal distance from the corner that a vehicle must park? My neighbor on a cross street parks so close to the corner that it's very difficult to see oncoming traffic.
A: Section 15-14.1 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu deals with "stopping, standing or parking prohibited in specified places -- no signs required."
Among other things, that section says that, unless to avoid conflict with other traffic or at the command of a police officer or traffic control device, you are not supposed to park "within an intersection, along the edges or curbsides around corners and in channelized areas of any two intersecting streets; within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection or within 20 feet upon the approach to any midblock crosswalk; within 30 feet upon the approach to any ... stop sign located at the side of a roadway; or within 75 feet upon the approach to any traffic control signal."
Got a question or complaint? Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered. E-mail to
kokualine@starbulletin.com.
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