Question: Is that parking plan for Ala Moana Park final?

Answer: No, it is not final. The city welcomes more feedback from the public about proposed improvements for Ala Moana Regional Park. The draft plan would reconfigure some parking but not reduce the total number of free spaces available, which would remain at 948, a mayoral spokesman said.

“The city is strongly encouraging everyone to submit comments on the proposed improvements so their thoughts and concerns can be included in the final plan,” said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, communications director for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

You can see the conceptual plan at ouralamoanapark.com, which includes a feedback form. At least one more public meeting will be held, although details have not been announced.

At a public meeting last week, many people supported major elements of the master plan, but some didn’t like the idea of adding a bike lane and eliminating parallel parking along the makai side of Ala Moana Park Drive. City officials promised to seek additional public input and take another look at the overall parking plan, while emphasizing that none of the free parking spots now available would be lost under the proposal.

In an email, Broder Van Dyke described the aims of the proposed reconfiguration:

“The plan calls for some stalls to be moved in order to activate more of the park and help people access underutilized areas. The plan would open up makai views when you drive on the park road. It would create a wider, open sidewalk for walkers, joggers and beachgoers fronting the beach. It would bring stalls closer to the end of Magic Island to make it easier to access the protected cove and create more green space on the Diamond Head side of Magic Island. Creating angled parking on the mauka side of the park road would make it easier to get in and out of stalls (no parallel parking needed) while preserving most of the parking that exists on the park road itself. Currently, the most crowded area of the park is the beach on the Ewa side of Magic Island (which is the Diamond Head side of the main beach), primarily because there is more parking available right there. It can get very crowded there, while the Ewa side of the beach (Kewalo Basin side) is underutilized. By making more parking available near McCoy Pavilion, more beachgoers would have access to that part of the beach, which will also be a lot more attractive when loose rocks are removed as part of the improvement plan.”

Q: That story about consumer spending was interesting (808ne.ws/1X7hQ2b), but what about the neighbor islands?

A: As the story said, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism will release a report detailing consumer spending on the neighbor islands based on household surveys conducted last year. The report should be out by the end of the month. Once released, it will be the first such data available, according to DBEDT. The federal government previously published consumer-spending data for Oahu but not the neighbor islands.

The DBEDT analysis released April 25 was for Honolulu County only and filled a gap created when the federal government stopped publishing Oahu consumer-spending data in 2005 due to budget cuts.

You can download DBEDT’s full report for Honolulu County at 808ne.ws/1VyrD1F. One takeaway: Housing costs accounted for 43.2 percent of Oahu households’ total spending in 2013-14, up from 31.7 percent in 2004-2005. Renters and homeowners who carried mortgages devoted roughly the same percentage of their annual budgets to housing in 2013-14, 47.3 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

Mahalo

My 16-year old son lost his wallet at Ala Moana Center. … I would like to thank the thoughtful and honest person who turned in his wallet to Lester Maximo at the T&C Surf store. Lester went to great lengths to return the wallet, including coming to our home to locate my son. We were relieved that my son’s newly received driver’s license, school ID and debit card were still in the wallet. Lester refused my son’s gesture of a reward. We wanted to acknowledge how Lester’s action and diligence saved my teenage son a lot of inconvenience and money. — Grateful family

Ala Moana Parking Map by Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.