Beautification project heightens Kaimuki parking shortage
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
Businesses are prospering in this old town, but they have a problem that never goes away.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
A shortage of parking has been a topic of discussion for more than 20 years for many of these mom and pop businesses that, at times, have battled over parking spaces for employees and customers.
Merchants complain that construction on Wai'alae Avenue has reduced the street parking and hurt businesses.
No business ever wants to lose a customer over a parking space, especially during the busy lunch-time trade.
Typically, the area's two municipal lots are packed, and street parking spaces are stalked by customers, store owners say.
Add to the mix 100 employees taking up valuable spaces in and around Wai'alae Avenue and the chance of a customer going somewhere else is even higher, said Mike Dela Cruz, co-owner of A Gift for All Seasons.
The parking shortage is even more acute now that the city has launched its $1.9 million beautification project that is designed to bring more shoppers than ever to the area with wider, tree-lined sidewalks.
Parking meeting
What: "Talk Story About Parking Solutions and Options"
When: 8:30-10 a.m. tomorrow
•
Where: Kaimuki Recreation Center on 11th Avenue
Merchants fear that if the city's project is successful, there won't be enough places for all the customers to park their cars.
The problem has been talked about before and solutions have been tossed out, but no consensus has been found.
So the Greater East Honolulu Community Alliance — a nonprofit group of residents, businesses and politicians from Waikiki, Kapahulu, Palolo and Kaimuki — is organizing a brainstorming session for anyone interested in working out solutions.
At the meeting will be parking experts and community development specialists who are employed by companies such as Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, said Peggy Steckert, president of the Kaimuki Business & Professional Association. The goal is to come to a consensus so a plan could be presented to the city or a private developer for financing and construction, she said.
"There's no one answer. We want to see what people want and what they don't want," Steckert said.
The solution could be as simple as businesses getting the word out where the parking is, or as complex as building a parking structure.
"This is an urban area," Steckert said. "And those kind of areas tend to be short of parking. It's not an unsolvable problem."
Big City Diner owner Lane Muraoka said some of the solutions might be worse than a customer having to circle the municipal lots a few times.
One idea being floated is to build a parking structure in the metered lot behind the row of restaurants on Wai'alae Avenue and 11th Avenue.
"Unless they could build it overnight, the businesses won't be able to survive" without those spaces, Muraoka said. "People don't keep thinking up new ideas. They have tunnel vision.
"We have to keep an open mind. We have to find a solution. And we can't give up."
