THE SENATE MEASURE SB 1034 IS LIVE
Get Ready To Share My Testimony
2023 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC PARKING AT ALA WAI BOAT HARBOR
\January 28, 2023
Aloha,
We are happy to announce that we now have a Senate Bill and a House Bill. 🏄🏽♀️ 🏄🏾♂️
Mahalo to all our volunteers. Surfparking.org has joined with Surfrider Foundation, O'ahu Chapter, and Save Our Surf Hawaii to create a coalition to preserve ocean access in our communities. Our current focus is the retention of the free public recreational parking stalls at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, near the ‘Bowls’ surf area.
SB1034 and HB1189 are ‘companion bills’, which means they start out looking the same. The bills were introduced by Senator Lorraine Inouye and Representative Amy Perruso. We are grateful for their support by introducing these bills. Our goal is to protect the 300 remaining free parking stalls (of the 941) at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor.
While we can’t submit testimony quite yet, we do have the bill numbers, so we can register and track the bills now. Please check our www.surfparking.org website often and help us get the word out, to your friends and family. We will need written testimony and oral testimony by zoom or, and physically show up at the capitol building during the hearings. Giving testimony is one of the best ways to help legislators and policymakers understand the impact of a proposed bill.
We will keep you updated on the status of the bill and send you reminders when the bill (also called ‘measure’) is open to public testimony. We will send you a sample testimony template that you can use, and you may add your personal reasons for keeping the free parking at Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor permanent.
Here’s how you can help today:
🗳️ Register for an ‘account’ at www.capitol.hawaii.gov. It will only take two minutes to sign up with the Hawaiʻi Legislature website and you can use this account to submit a vote on our bill. When you create an account, sign up to “track the measure” and then you receive email alerts about hearing notifications to submit testimony, and the meeting schedule.
✍️ Prepare your written testimony. There may only be 48-72 hours for the public to submit testimony, so we recommend getting yours ready now to make it faster and more convenient to submit. Write down your name, where you live, that you support the bill and the reasons why you support it.
There are four levels of testimony participation.
1) A simple choice of Support (or oppose). Look for the GREEN check mark. ✅
2) In addition to your green check mark, write a comment in the Comment Box.
3) In addition to your green check mark, attach a Testimony Letter (like a word doc, or PDF).
4) Rock Star Level: 🏆 In addition to your green check mark, attach a letter, and show up to committee meetings or hearings, and TESTIFY by speaking.
You must turn in a written testimony at least 24 hours before the hearing, to have the opportunity to speak at the hearing.
On the day of the hearing, or committee meeting, everyone is welcome to SHOW UP physically, or on Zoom, even if you haven’t submitted testimony. Reminder: No rally signs or banners are allowed in the hearing conference room or auditorium, but we can have signs in the hallways and main lobby.
OPTIONAL: ☎️ Call your Representative and Senator! For example, if you live in Waikiki, in Representative Adrian Tam’s District, call and leave a message or tell the clerk your name, where you live and to "Please support HB 1189". Then, call Senator Sharon Moriwaki and tell them your name, where you live and to “Please support SB1034”.
The clerk answering the phone will simply tally all the support; you generally will not talk with the legislator. Phone numbers are available via Find Your Legislator on the Hawaiʻi Legislature website. You will be able to confirm your Senator and Representative names by typing in your address. If you're not confident about writing testimony, we can help you. Your testimony can be in your words, simply sharing your thoughts about the importance of this free parking area. In future emails we will send out sample statements, templates, brief videos, to guide you step-by-step on how to share your support for our Bill, to save the surf and recreational parking.
We will be sending out more details as the committee hearings are scheduled. For now, please help spread the word on social media and register for a free account to track the measures on the Hawaiʻi Legislature website: www.capitol.hawaii.gov
Click here to watch a quick video and press the PLAY button. It will show you on how to register and track the bills (also called a ‘measure’).
If you want a more in-depth policy training and learn how to navigate the legislative process, join us at the Stoked On Civics Legislative Training with Sen. Chris Lee on Wednesday, Feb 1, 6-8 pm, hosted by the Surfrider Foundation Oʻahu Chapter. Attend in person at Box Jelly, watch the IG live on @surfrideroahu, or stay tuned for the recording.
Mahalo 🌺
Surf Parking Coalition
P.S. If you want to help with our strategy meetings, feel free to email us at info@surfingparking.org. If you have friends that are interested please have them sign up on our websitesurfparking.org. We’ll get back to you and find the best way for you to help with volunteering. If you leave your phone number we will text first, then call you.
Surf Parking Goals
Protect the 300 free recreational parking stalls. Parking is for Surfers, Boaters, and Beach-goers.
Protect surfers' right to enter the ocean safely.*
Safeguard access to the lagoon, beach and harbor waters named after Duke Kahanamoku.
Create understandable parking signage.
Stop the ‘instant tow’ policies in this harbor.
Prevent the lease proposal at the Legislature. Do not allow privatization or 65 year leases.
*If the free parking at the Ala Wai Harbor is taken away, the surfers will park at Magic Island and paddle across the active Boat Channel which is dangerous, especially at dawn and dusk.
The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) will be submitting legislative requests to privatize the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor offering a 65-year lease. This and other proposals (like the attempted, HB 1654, 2022) would eliminate free recreational parking. We at SurfParking.org and Kama‘aina Boaters will show you how to prepare testimony early and how to submit it during the State Legislative Session which opens January 18th, 2023.
Surfparking.org is fighting to preserve the 300 remaining free recreational parking stalls at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor and protect your access to the ocean and beach areas. This area is a source of pride as the beach, the lagoon, and the channel are all named after the surfing and swimming Legend Duke Kahanamoku.
Even though this area has a rich cultural history, DOBOR Administration does not seem to care and they continue to work on privatizing the harbor. DOBOR administrative staff are State employees the funding for their positions comes from the ‘Special Boating Fund’. The Boater slip fees and parking revenues build the Special Boating Fund, therefore the boaters are the main contributors to the DOBOR salaries. The DOBOR staff seem to be working for potential Developers instead of Hawaii Residents. The message from DOBOR about the reason for development is, “We need more green space, bike paths, and retail shops open to everyone” which sounds basically alright, but the comment is actually suspect because the free ocean access and parking access will be severely limited if privatization occurs. The current trend in automated parking is the use of a smart phone and scan code to pay for parking. This already exists at Kewalo Harbor a nearby privatized marina. We at surfparking.org think Hawai‘i residents deserve to park at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor without payment. There are many options for continuing free parking for kamaʻāina such as the use of a vehicle decal or recreational ID card.
This is NOT the first attempt by DOBOR to reduce or eliminate free recreational parking and access at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor. Surfparking.org wants to make it the last attempt by drafting legislation to preserve free kamaʻāina access, and prevent the vehicle towing that is rampant in the Ala Wai Boat Harbor compared to City and County Recreational parking lots.
There are a total of 941 parking stalls in this harbor. In 2008, the number of recreational stalls was reduced from 549 to 300 with the promise to preserve them. In January 2020, DOBOR once again attempted to reduce the number of free recreational stalls but written testimony and public outcry prevented this from occurring.
DOBOR has submitted a Request For Proposal (RFP) to the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to allow investors seeking to privatize and develop the entire boat harbor area. The RFP currently contains language allowing parking changes to be made by the DLNR Chairperson, essentially allowing this person to alter parking “in the best interest of the state”. Working together we can prevent this risky and poor policy that bypasses public involvement and testimony. Since we still have the opportunity to provide testimony to the BLNR regarding parking, we need to prepare now. Legislative testimony deadline can as short as 24 hours to get testimony in by the deadline.
The Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor is one of the few remaining places in Waikiki where a surfer can park and conveniently carry a surfboard to the ocean. The six hour free public parking area is extremely valuable to the people of Hawai‘i. We need our Legislators to propose a bill in the next legislative session to save the free recreational parking and ocean access for all time.
“With more effective management of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor and its parking areas, we can preserve this public trust area, which was originally constructed as an open space for Hawai‘i Residents.”
- Captain Katie Thompson
Captain Katie Thompson has sailed out of the Ala Wai since 1986 and is standing up to protect the Ala Wai Harbor and Ocean Access
Please join Katie and the related Boating Groups, Surfrider Foundation, Oahu Chapter, Save Our Surf Hawaii and Outrigger Groups in safeguarding surfer and beach access to Bowl’s Surf Break and protecting all those who park in the Ala Wai Boat Harbor on a recreational basis.
