Ala Wai Harbor parking update

Our allies at the Surfrider Foundation have sent a letter to the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, contesting the recent decision to move forward with the State's controversial paid parking plan at the Ala Wai harbor.

According to the national litigation manager for Surfrider, under current State laws, they CANNOT privatize parking there. Below are excerpts:

To The Chairperson and Members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources:

On behalf of Surfrider Foundation, a grassroots, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches for all people, with over 900 members in Hawaii and 50,000 members worldwide, we are writing to oppose issuance of a revocable permit to a private, for-profit entity, Diamond Parking LLC, for management of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor parking area. A central focus of Surfrider’s mission is to ensure beach access for all persons. As it stands, this type of regulation of parking would not only discourage and effectively prohibit surfers and beachgoers from utilizing the natural resource they have become accustomed to enjoy, but it would also illegally privatize a government function. This privatization should not occur because the state legislature has failed to endow state agencies with the power to contract with private contractors.

The state does not have the right to contract with private companies in such a way as DOBOR is contemplating by creating a parking management plan that would be run by a private company. The rationale for this rule against privatization is to protect against the potential for abuse of government and taxpayer money. Additionally, the prohibition on contracting with private entities protects against the possibility that the public will be overcharged for services only to benefit of a private company who otherwise would not be making money.

This issue was once regulated by Hawaii’s Act 90. Act 90, which was enacted in 2001, explicitly allowed counties and states to “contract with private entities when it is reasonable to believe that those private entities can provide equivalent or better quality services at lower cost than the government agency”. Act 90 is no longer valid and was NOT used as a justification for this contract proposal...

Surfrider avers that this proposed parking management plan would disturb the beach-going experience as well as overstep the state’s restrictions on contracting with private entities. Because the currently proposed parking management plan would not only restrict beach access, which contravenes a core tenet of Surfrider’s mission, but also would do so illegally without statutory right, Surfrider asks that the request for issuance of revocable permit to Diamond Parking LLC be denied.

Sincerely,
Angela T. Howe, Esq.
Legal Manager, Surfrider Foundation

Will be interesting to see how the State responds to this challenge! We'll keep you posted.