About 30 people turned out at Kapi'olani Park yesterday to protest planned increases that could at least triple parking rates in the area.

The popular metered stalls at the Honolulu Zoo and along Kalakaua Avenue fronting the park are heavily used by everyone from surfers to zoo goers, families who use the park, and the crowd heading for Waikiki's night life.

Protesters said they object to the city's proposed increases on behalf of them all.

They waved signs with slogans like "Keep Surf Up and Parking Down" and "Feed the People, not Meters" as they handed out fliers and buttonholed motorists and passers-by near Dillingham Fountain, urging them to submit written testimony or show up at the City Council meeting Wednesday to oppose the parking fee increase.

"Oh, yes, we're going to be there," said Linda Wong, a member of the Diamondhead Neighborhood Board and the Kapi'olani Park Advisory Council who organized the protest.

Presently, parking costs 25 cents an hour in the area.

Bill 25 would change that "to bring fees and charges closely in alignment with current operating costs."

Two versions of the bill are on the Wednesday City Council agenda, both introduced by council Chairman Todd Apo.

One version would raise the parking fee at the Honolulu Zoo lot from 25 cents an hour to $1 an hour and raise the hourly rate at meters along Kalakaua Avenue fronting the park from 25 cents to 75 cents. The other version would raise the hourly fee at the zoo and along Kalakaua to 75 cents. An earlier plan that called for raising the hourly fee in both areas to $1.50 has been scaled back.

"We can live with 50 cents an hour," Wong said.

The increase, if approved, would take effect July 1.

Protesters said they had counted the number of parking stalls in the affected area along Kalakaua as they put fliers on windshields and the total was 271.

There are about 200 spaces in the zoo parking lot.

Wong and the other protesters said they consider a large parking fee increase to be the same as an admission fee.

"It's a de facto charge to use the park and the beach and Waikiki," said Anne Clarkin.

Council member Duke Bainum showed up to express his support for the protest. He said the issue is important to residents in the area as well as surfers and soccer players.

Bainum said that many of the older apartment and condo buildings along Kalakaua do not have sufficient parking and the residents would be adversely affected by a parking rate increase.

"The park is a special place," he said. "Special places need special consideration."

The parking fee proposal is part of Budget Chairman Nestor Garcia's budget plan and has the backing of Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

The proposed increases come as the city is struggling to increase revenues because of Hawai'i's sputtering economy.