Letter: Parking fees show high cost of being isle visitor

I am a former kamaaina living on the mainland. When I brought my friend to Oahu for her first visit, I was shocked at the imposed parking fees at various destinations.

The Arizona Memorial now charges $7 from a QR code on its signs in the parking lot. It was so sunny that you could barely take a picture of the code to be scanned. Then there was the Pali Lookout: another $7, but local residents and the military free. I tried to scan, but found nowhere to say I was military so had to pay the full fee.

The worst of all was Bishop Museum, where tourists go to learn about our rich cultural history: $18.90 with tax parking fee because I didn’t have a Hawaii drivers license (that would have been half the cost). The parking was on top of a sizable entry fee.

All the aforementioned places are worthy of visitation; we learned a lot and had a good visit. But now the state will impose an 11% climate impact fee. Columnist Dave Shapiro’s column was a wake-up call about that (“True execution essential for new climate impact fee,” Star-Advertiser, June 1). Auwe! Tourist dollars are needed, but at this rate, we don’t just nickel-and-dime them to death, we $5 and $100 them. I can see why tourism is having a problem.

Arlene Pack

Chesapeake, Va.

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