Steamboat Today: "Parking - Just an idea" by From the Editor

July 25, 2007

This was our first trip to Hawaii, and we wanted to do a little of everything - surf, visit Lanai, snorkel and dine out. This required spending a lot of time in Lahaina, the small town that serves as the commercial center of West Maui and that is about 5 miles southeast of Ka'anapali. Lahaina has a population of about 10,000 and is similar to Steamboat in that it is a resort town with a single central main drag - Front Street. Most of the restaurants and shopping are on Front, which parallels the beach.

We quickly learned that parking is hard to come by in Lahaina, particularly free parking. Traffic was always heavy on the two-lane road, and you had to be careful to dodge the surfers on their bicycle cruisers and skateboards. Eventually the trick - paid parking. For $7, you could park your car in a lot a block off Front Street from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. $10 got you parking until 10 p.m. and $20 let you keep your car there for 24 hours.

As a tourist, I had no beef with the $7 parking. It was easy and convenient and a rather simple cost o our trip. Three times we had to go into Lahaina for activities - well worth the $21 we dropped for parking, and less than the $40 we paid for parking (valet) at the Westin and $54 we paid for economy parking at DIA.

Why write about this? I think the Lahaina example could help address some of our downtown traffic woes.

Downtown needs more parking - a multi-level garage in the existing lot behind Cantina, for example. And the time may be here for paid parking. Revenues from paid parking could offset the costs of building and maintaining such a garage and the financial costs might finally encourage downtown workers to use alternative transportation to work such as the transit center.

I don't think such a plan would reduce the number of cars downtown. To the contrary, I think downtown will continue to absorb a maximum number of vehicles, even if they're paying to park. But the number of spaces available to visitors, I believe, would increase significantly and they would not mind the fees.

It seems to work in Lahaina. Of course, I'd love to hear others' thoughts.

Scott Stanford, Editor
sstanford@steamboatpilot.com

(970) 871-4221/(970) 291-9278

madmoores ( anonymous ) says...

Anywhere I have traveled there has been a fee to park. Some of the best places to hang out are the beach cities along the coast of Los Angeles(Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo beach). Scattered about there are parking garages that charge a nominal fee to park similar to what you are talking about. If you don't park in a garage, parking meters take up the slack along the streets. Even in downtown Denver there are fee lots and meters. I'm with you, build a garage, charge a fee to park(NOT an outrageous fee)and put up meters along Lincoln to help with the cost. Of course there will be a need for a traffic division(which Steamboat desperately needs anyway)and "meter maids" to enforce parking regulations. If someone is in violation, EVEN A LOCAL, tow them and make them pay the price. That will encourage alternative forms of travel or a cup of quarters kept inside the car for next time. I do not mind paying for parking when there is none but to be honest I have never had trouble finding space, even for my big Dodge Ram, to park while in Steamboat. If parking becomes worse on the side streets, meter them up too. It's a simple solution to an ongoing problem that Steamboat is facing and will only worsen as time progresses. Time to step into the 21st century here folks and pony up.

July 25, 2007 at 5:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )