A parking crunch in Chinatown is worsening as new businesses and a year-old revitalization effort are bringing hundreds more shoppers, tourists and workers to the district daily. Some say the situation threatens to stunt the community's growth by keeping people away altogether or leaving them so frustrated after a 30-minute-plus search for a parking space they won't want to return.

"It really is hard, and it's getting worse," said Flor Law-rence, who spent about 15 minutes circling the Smith-Beretania parking lot in Chinatown on a recent weekday before finding parking. Lawrence said the wait was better than most other days, and added she has gotten so fed up with parking in Chinatown to shop — usually during the weekdays — she comes less often.

WIDESPREAD HASSLE

The Chinatown problems are the latest parking friction to crop up in urban Honolulu.

From Kaimuki to Kaka'ako, merchants are struggling to provide enough parking for shoppers, and many say they are losing the battle — and much-needed business — to malls with big, free lots.

In Kaimuki, a long struggle to add parking for shops and restaurants along Wai'alae Avenue has gone nowhere. Instead, gates and parking attendants will soon be added to two municipal lots in an effort to get people in and out quicker. The state will do the same at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, where ocean users, visitors and those with boats docked at the harbor compete for parking spaces.

In Kaka'ako, shoppers and daytime workers are fighting for prime spaces, and the situation is only expected to worsen with the addition of more condominiums, businesses and the Cancer Research Center. Meanwhile, parking in downtown Honolulu recently got a little more difficult when two parking lots were lost to redevelopment. And in Waikiki, street parking is nearly impossible to come by on weekends, while parking garages are too expensive for many drivers or are reserved for hotel guests.

All the talk about parking hassles, some say, could fuel discussions about alternative transportation, including rail transit, trolleys or more city bus lines. But many of those solutions are years away. And there is no indication people are willing to give up their cars. In fact, there are more cars than ever on O'ahu roads — 734,270 registered vehicles on the island last year, up by about 1 percent from 2005, according to recent statistics.

ALTERNATIVE LOTS

Merchants say the parking crunch in Chinatown has a silver lining: It means more people are coming to the 15 blocks from Nu'uanu Avenue to River Street. Chinatown is home to ethnic markets, the Hawai'i Theatre, restaurants and art galleries, and several condominiums. The merchants worry the parking headaches will slow growth and are urging customers to take city buses, try lots just outside the district or carpool. Some restaurants also offer valet parking.

Joey Wolpert, owner of rRed Elephant and president of the Arts District Merchants Association in Chinatown, said one of the biggest problems is getting people to try new parking garages. Often, he said, people try only one or two lots — and usually they're the busier ones. He urges them to go to less-frequented garages, which may be a bit more expensive, have earlier hours or mean a farther walk.

Wolpert said he and others are hearing more and more about the parking problems from customers. And they don't expect the complaints to ease anytime soon. There are no plans to add parking in Chinatown, and more restaurants and galleries are coming into the district monthly.

$500,000 MAKEOVER

For its part, the city has spent $500,000 to revamp municipal parking garages in Chinatown.

The money didn't increase the number of spaces, but did improve lighting, paint and signage to attract more people to previously underused lots. In all, there are about 2,200 public parking spaces in Chinatown lots, about 1,500 of which are in seven municipal garages, city officials said.

There are also 183 metered stalls, 14 of which were recently put in on Smith and Pauahi streets.

"There is a lot of parking," said Alenka Remec, a small-business advocate for the city Department of Economic Development. "It's really a matter of making sure people are educated."

Remec added that one of the reasons lots just outside of Chinatown are less-frequented at night is because people feel the community is unsafe. The city has tried to combat negative perceptions of Chinatown by adding more street lighting, getting more officers out on the sidewalks and deploying more street teams to clean up litter and graffiti, but the effort has had limited success in allaying fears.

BUSINESSES WEIGH IN

As for business owners and shoppers, they say parking is most difficult to find at lunch — when there is a mix of workers, tourists and people dropping by for a bite to eat — or on Friday nights. Weekends can get busy too, they say, especially during the morning and at night.

Sandra Pohl, owner of Louis Pohl Gallery in Chinatown, tells her customers to consider their parking adventures as part of the experience of coming downtown.

"Parking is always a problem. It's part of the urban experience," she said with a laugh. "Now, people might have to walk farther or get dropped off or take the bus into town." And Pohl said parking in other cities is much worse.

FRUSTRATED DRIVERS

Still, the frustration level at the Smith-Beretania lot around lunchtime Wednesday was palpable and rising, with some driving away shaking their heads after circling the lot several times. Some questioned why the lot was still letting cars in if it was full. The attendant said the garage doesn't alert drivers when it is full, but it also doesn't charge if they leave within 15 minutes.

"It's bad. It's gotten worse," said Kane'ohe resident Archie Pang, who comes to Chinatown often to eat and shop. On Wednesday, he found a spot after about a 10-minute wait. But sometimes, Pang has so much trouble finding a space at several municipal lots he frequents that he parks his pickup truck near a convenient bus stop and catches a bus into Chinatown.

Noel Tanap, a Hawai'i Pacific University student, said he and many of his peers park in Chinatown — and often spend as much as half an hour looking for a space. Tanap said some days are so bad he just skips class because he is already late and there is no point in looking any further. "It has been getting worse," he said.

The Waipahu resident said he has purchased monthly passes, but those are expensive and sometimes hard to get because there is a limited number and they are sold first-come, first-served.

Robyn Romero was meeting friends for lunch in Chinatown on Wednesday and looked defeated, her head resting in her palm, as she made her second circle around the Smith-Beretania lot. "Sometimes, it can take at least 45 minutes," said Romero, who comes to Chinatown at least twice a month.

In front of her was a queue of at least five cars also waiting for spaces to open up.

But Romero was lucky.

Someone pulled out of a space right in front of her, and she hurried in, smiling broadly.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.