KAILUA-KONA — Residents witnessed democracy in action at a recent community talk story hosted by Mayor Billy Kenoi in Kailua-Kona.
A constituent and business owner concerned with the abuse of free county parking in the lot situated between Kuakini Highway and Likana Lane in Kailua Village lamented his struggles throughout the past four administrations to have the issue addressed.
Kenoi and other officials vowed to fix the problem, which could include closing the lot for short periods.
Local businesses and their employees have long voiced concern that some residents of surrounding housing complexes, along with hotel guests, abuse the parking lot, which was not intended for long-term use.
“A lot of people have trouble finding parking, so they don’t even come into the bar, because you can only circle so many times,” said Kellan Brune, bartender at Chill’n on the Bay on Alii Drive. “My issue personally is when I’m trying to get to work and there is nowhere to park. I’ve spent half an hour going around in circles.”
The problem has repercussions that can be felt the entire length of Alii Drive, in part because the lot is one of the few areas to offer free parking anywhere in the downtown area.
Lelia Kanuha, manager at the Kona Inn Restaurant, said the lack of free county parking has a generally adverse effect on both the restaurant’s employees and its ability to conduct business.
“In general, there is a parking issue that needs to be addressed all the way around,” she said. “I think every parking situation in town affects our business right now because there is not much county parking available.”
One story circulated at Tuesday’s meeting implied that some people are even parking their vehicles in the lot for days or weeks at a time to avoid long-term parking fees at Kona International Airport.
Carl Koomoa, manager at Rudy Project Store, said he’s heard several business owners and employees lament the lack of parking, which he added makes it difficult for runners and swimmers who want to enjoy the downtown area.
He added, however, the most common complaints he hears involve security as well as the substantial number of homeless people who sleep in “abandoned vehicles” they’ve parked in the lot.
“Non-working people hang out up there, follow people to the pier and steal their car keys from their things. Then, all of the sudden, their cars are broken into,” Koomoa said. “One of my friends had her jeep stolen from the parking lot.”
Several local leaders agreed Tuesday night that something must be done to remedy the situation, but that sentiment has been expressed before and nothing has changed.
And so Kenoi, a consummate showman who cracked up the crowd on several occasions throughout the meeting at the West Hawaii Civic Center, called up a handful of staffers — including Deputy Managing Director Bobby Command and District 7 County Councilman Dru Kanuha — pressing them to find a resolution on the spot.
Suggestions swirled and included installing parking meters, employing a two-hour parking limit and engaging in a land swap to create a second parking facility on a nearby lot.
All of the proposals were met with resistance, however, either because they would take months to implement, would cause the county to incur a substantial cost or were unfairly punitive to residents who use the parking area responsibly.
By the end of the near 15-minute discussion, the general consensus was that the lot should be closed for a period of roughly two hours every evening and tickets or tows administered to remaining vehicles.
Those who do business in the area were, for the most part, tentatively optimistic about the efficacy of the proposal.
“It’s not going to solve the issue of people sleeping in abandoned cars,” Koomoa said, “but I think that could help.”
The exact time the lot would close was left undetermined as bargoers need a chance to clear out at the end of the night, while some who want to enjoy the ocean tend to use the lot during early morning hours.
“It’s the people who are abusing it, leaving their cars there (we want to address),” Kenoi stressed at the meeting. “Closing the lot for a short period of time where you don’t have the canoe paddler, where you don’t have the local person who needs access to affordable parking (makes the most sense).”
Nothing was officially decided Tuesday evening, but Kanuha said he plans to meet with Kenoi and Command sometime later in the week or early next week to finalize a plan.
First, though, he must engage in the bureaucratic process.
“I plan to meet with everybody who has an interest in that parking lot from the surrounding community to see if they have any solutions or if there are any problems they have encountered different from the concerns brought up (Tuesday) night,” Kanuha said.
The councilman was yet unsure Wednesday if the political process demanded a resolution or a change in ordinance. He said based on the typical processes, a resolution would require two hearings, one in committee and one in council. If it was a matter of ordinance, that would call for three hearings, one in committee and two in council.
Regardless, Kanuha said the likely time frame to implement whatever decision at which he, Kenoi and Command arrive is late September or early October.