PT's Parking Blog

Parking Today, Parking World, TPG Form International Parking Organization

Parking Today is joining with its sister publication Parking World and the Temecula Parking Group to begin the formation of a new international group, the International Parking Organization, or IPO.

According to Parking Today founder, John Van Horn, the IPO will represent parking pros, or PPs from all over the world and bring technology, information, parking systems, and information to PPs from all countries, not just the US.

"In keeping with the international outreach of the US's new president, " said Van Horn, "we at PT, PW, and TPG felt that the PPs of world need an IPO to keep them informed of parking news, or PN, on an intercontinental basis."

"PT, PW, and TPG and always felt we represented the PPs who frankly have nowhere else to go for PN on an international level. I just felt that if the President could speak directly to the peoples of the world, the IPO could do the same."

"We are meeting in April with the International Parking Association, or IPA, They are coming from China, Taiwan, Canada, and Korea and will jointly meet with the TPG. The IPO will be formally launched at that TPG meeting. In addition to members of the IPA, leaders from the CPA, (Canada), the IPI, and the NPA will be in attendance."

"Obama has his G20, we have the IPO, and as everyone knows, IPOs can grow and prosper and become super successful. I anticipate a world wide membership of more than 7500 within one year. We have already had input from the BPA, the EPA, and other non North American parking organizations. They are looking to us to provide full information of the results of the meeting.

"I believe that with all the parking events taking place internationally we are on the cusp of something big. After all, between now and the end of the year there are parking events in Denver, Washington DC, Quebec City, Birmingham, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paulo, and Manila. If we promote heavily at each of these events, we should have PPs flocking to join the IPO," Van Horn added.

The membership dues will kept low at US$200 a person. Organizations are welcome and will be designated as IPOOs (International Parking Organization Organizations). Manufacturers will be placed in a separate category and charged US$5000 per annum. Then will be designated PMOOs (Parking Manufacturing Organization Organizations.)

The meetings will be held quarterly in locations based on the seasons with winter meetings in five star resorts in the Seychelles, Tahiti, or Dubai and summer events in Banff, Beijing, and Lake Cuomo.

PT, PW, and TPG welcome all PPs to go to their web sites for further information and to sign up. All credit cards (CCs) are welcome.

"Finally," said Van Horn. "the IPO, an organization that I can really sink my teeth into."

Of course if you believe one word of the above, you are an April Fool…

JVH

WOW!!!

There's a company called Extraordinary Design in the UK. They do uniform designs and have the one shown nearby as their latest for Traffic Wardens. I have only one comment – I doubt if those shoes would make it. They are exhibiting at the Parkex show next month in the UK. I'll be attending and will check them out. I wonder if she will be there…hmmmm

Its Friday Afternoon…

Its Friday Afternoon…    

Thanks to Ed who says these Welshmen have far too much time on their hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

I am a bit stunned – The guy I want to meet is the one who sold Samsung on the concept. I have a number of personal sheep dog stories, but this video tops them all.

JVH

The Sweet Smell of Parking….

National Car Parks in the UK, responding to a poll of their customers, is starting a program to introduce "popular smells" into their parking structures.

And I quote:

NCP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Potter said his company was seeking to incorporate more popular smells, such as flowers and cut grass, into their facilities.

The article noted that respondents associated garages "with the smell of urine." Well Duh

I wonder if the folks at NCP thought of another smell – none. The city of Santa Monica has attacked the problem in its garages by steam cleaning the stairwells, often. I admit the concept of a clean garage is anathema to many, but it would seem that before one embarked on a program of masking the smells with flowers and cut grass, perhaps a bit of cleaning might help the problem.

What next?

JVH

Nano Nano

No, I'm not channeling Mork. It's the new $2200 car going on sale in India. PT's Ops Director Andy mentioned this critter the other day. His comment was something like "They are going to sell millions of these in India, and they will have to find a place to park them."

It looks like a "Smart Car" but very down market. The car's creator, billionaire Indian industrialist Ratan Tata says that he asked a journalist at a trade show how much a car should cost to reach the vast undermarket in India. The response: "100,000 rupees, about $2000."

They set a price, and then told their engineers to build a car they could sell profitably for that price. It's about one third the cost of the next cheapest model in India. Its basic transportation but for a person whose experience is four on a motorbike, a bicycle, or a cow, it would seem like a Lincoln Navigator.

The $2200 model won't export to north America or Europe due to its very lack of any amenities (no AC, radio, passenger side mirror, one windshield wiper, rubber floor covering, bus style seat covers) and can't meet the strict safety standards, but for the third world, it seems a winner. – Don't worry, Tata says that there will be a US and European model, but you can rest assured that it will cost more than two grand.

Oh, and it get 56 miles per gallon and puts out less pollution than a typical motorcycle in India.

As for those of us in the parking industry, formal parking will be needed for this egalitarian mode of transportation for the great masses in India. Our next great parking marketplace?

JVH

I know, I know… Mork spelled it Nanoo Nanoo. And – Robin Williams is recovering this month from heart surgery very similar to the one I had 18 months ago. I understand that 4 hours after the surgery he had the hospital staff in stitches. A better man than I am, Gunga Din.

 

 

What if they started obeying the Law?

The state of California has mandated that cities raise their parking citation charges and the additional money goes to the construction of Courthouses. The logic is, I guess, that if the person cited challenges the citation, it will end up in court and therefore the cost of the courthouse should be born by the users.

So the State is issuing (borrowing) bonds and building courthouses and judicial centers and part of the funding is coming from parking citations.

I have a problem with this. Well a lot of problems, but the following comes to mind.

What is the purpose of the citation? Is it not to change the parking habits of the citizenry? If someone breaks the law isn't the penalty an attempt by society to get them to follow the law in the future?

If that's the case, what if it begins to work? (For instance, it is claimed by many in law enforcement that the 'three strikes" law has taken many repeat offenders off the streets and therefore lowered the crime rate substantially.) Don't get me wrong, I'm not for throwing scofflaws into the hoosegow, however if the purpose of parking fines is to motivate people to obey the law, then don't we hope that eventually there will be no money collected because everyone will be parking properly, putting their quarters in the meter, and not overstaying their welcome?

Or are we developing the parking equivalent of a "speed trap," used in many small communities to fund the police department?

If all drivers in California suddenly got "religion" and decided to obey the parking rules, how is the Golden State going to pay off the bonds for the new courthouses?

It's obvious, of course, that the criminal justice system has become a profit center and feels it can rely on the fact that it is failing in its primary mission, enforcing the law and hence reducing crime.

In the mean time, parking fine aren't really fines at all but merely taxes masquerading fines. If part of them are to be "user fees" to pay court costs, then so be it. They should pay for operational costs, not long term bonds. If the citation rate goes down, operations costs can be easily reduced (close a courtroom, turn off the lights, fire a judge). Rely on income that isn't guaranteed to pay long term debts at your peril. – Just ask Arnie how he is going to pay for all the programs and projects started in California over the past five years on tax receipts based on housing value which skyrocketed in the first half of the decade, but which everyone knew were not going to stay that high. Can anyone say bankruptcy?

JVH

Will Parking Meters be the Next Snow….

This quote was from a column in the Chicago Sun Times railing on the privatization of parking meters in Chicago. The turnover is, it appears, not exactly a textbook case for how this should be done, but the price hikes seem to be working, kinda. Read about the rage in Chicago here, here, and here. The citizens of the windy city are not happy campers.

As we reported earlier, part of the privatization process was a substantial increase in parking fees. When I was in Chicago week before last, I noted that there was plenty of parking space on street, but also that my meter was full of quarters and I couldn't insert a coin. Knowing that 90% of all tickets don't get written, I went "bare" and didn't get a ticket. But I digress.

Citizens are screaming about a number of things. First – the signage on the meters seems inconsistent. Second the meters require tons of quarters to get a bit of time. Third, with all the confusion, people are getting tickets right and left. Fourth, like me, many find meters full of quarters, Fifth, many meters are broken, and Sixth, complaints are going unanswered.

Wow – Some people think that the parking space glut is due to a boycott. In reality it's due to the fact that people will pay less to park in local garages than pay the high rates on street. However, the rates may be a tad too high. If there is more than one space per block face open, then that means that the rates are set too high and need to be adjusted down (Shoup 101).The operator needs the flexibility to raise and low rates as needed to keep the requisite space available on street. They could vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from day or day. (Less expensive on weekends, or after 10PM or whatever.

Prior planning prevents…etc I assumed that the new parking company, Morgan Stanley/Laz, would raise the rates slowly, area by area, as they replaced the parking meters with equipment or systems that take credit cards and or cash. However they seemed to have put the increased rates into effect all at once. Hence the problems with meters being full and irate and confused citizens. Kachow.

It also seems that with all the trouble with the transition, a good policy would have been to have a moratorium on citations, until all the systems were in place, everything checked out, and people were used to the new program. I think that this could have been done without telling anyone, just have the ticket writers give warnings, and if a person received two or three warnings, turn the last one into a ticket.

But then, I'm sitting in my office in Los Angeles, and not on the front lines in Chicago. Mayor Daley is tough and says that Laz can withstand the complaints that will soon drop off. He hopes.

That brings us the headline above. In 1979 then Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic lost a squeaker election to Jane Byrne after three major snowstorms paralyzed the city and Bilandic was seen as ineffective in clearing the streets. Will parking be Mayor Daley's snowstorm?

JVH

Portsmouth Revisited…

I got this note from the person who is passing around the petition to open up the discussions of P and D purchases in Portsmouth, NH. I am sorry he was insulted.

I find your blog personally very insulting and suggest you check your facts and their sources..

Who says this?   Granite State residents are slow to change and of course they got their dander up when test machines were installed. But they got used to them. And even liked them. Ot this?  I'm guessing much of this process already happened before the council voted to buy,

Or this?  one person that is going to raise hell, or has a vested interest, or just too much time on their hands.

I guess this is the quote that got me to thinking that some people in Portsmouth like the meters.

"They're convenient. I think they're great," said resident Erik Swanson. "The biggest complaint is you have to walk a little ways, but if you don't have the six quarters (for the old meters), you have to walk a lot farther."

Another quote from the article:

Resident Tom Rosenwald summed up his views by saying New Englanders are notorious for being against change.

"When it started, we were opposed to it, too. Now, after we've gotten used to them, we find them very convenient," said Rosenwald. "We're not talking about a quarter-mile; we're not talking about the Bataan Death March." Others supported the environmental advantages of the new system, which are solar-powered.

And what got my attention about the "one person…" was the picture of my correspondent holding a petition he was circulating to get the council to revisit the project. My understanding is that he succeeded and open meetings were and are being held.

As for his personal bias, he is the former chairman of a company that makes affinity/debit cards for use in parking meters and shopping. He may have no skin in the game, but certainly he has an opinion, or bias. And rightly so. It seems to me that he is the right person to be asking questions, because of that bias. I also wonder at the strength of his response to me, since his approach, his petition, and his leadership seemed to have succeeded and he got the day in court for which he asked.

As for my bias, of course I'm biased. I admit it. I think that cities need to develop ways to increase the amount charged for parking on street. That may be meters with debit or credit cards, pay by cell, P and D, P by Space, or in car meters, but on street parking is mostly under priced and one of the main reasons is that the cities don't have a vehicle to collect the additional revenues. However if you reread my post below, I think you will find that although I do use a bit of humor to get the point across, I also hinted that the process may have moved too quickly, and some hard questions hadn't yet been asked.

Most of these campaigns, whether for or against a project, have a leader. Someone who has some sort of interest in it. I can't understand for the life of me what's wrong with that. Why would someone that has no vested interest spend time and money to oppose or support a project?

I'm sure that when all the facts are known, and both sides have had their say, the good people of Portsmouth will make the right decision, whatever it may be, and some of the citizenry will be unhappy. Welcome to America.

JVH

I missed this one in Portsmouth

Pocahontas Girl sent me this link, and this one, and this one. I missed the battle of Portsmouth, NH and its kicking and screaming journey into the 21^st century. Knowing some of the players involved, I can understand how tempers can flare and threats tossed around. We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail.

Here's the deal. The city of Portsmouth decided to replace its parking meters with P and D machines. Granite State residents are slow to change and of course they got their dander up when test machines were installed. But they got used to them. And even liked them. So the City moms and pops decided to proceed with the purchase.

Then all heck broke loose. Local independent Yankees felt that the process was moving too fast and started attending city council meetings and asking questions, some hard questions. Like all good politicians, the local council decided to punt, and are holding more meetings to get all the questions out on the table.

I'm guessing much of this process already happened before the council voted to buy, but often these decisions go unnoticed by the populace at large, or sometimes, by the one person that is going to raise hell, or has a vested interest, or just too much time on their hands.

I hope PG keeps me up to date. The next meeting in Portsmouth should be a corker.

JVH

Egalitarian

I used a big word in the post below and thought some explanation might be in order. Automobiles are in fact the most egalitarian, read that equal, or level, form of transportation ever invented. They are relatively low cost (or high cost, if you want fine Corinthian Leather,) they go exactly where you want to go exactly when you want to go, and at what pace you want to go. You make the choices, not a traffic planner in Washington, DC.

The numbers show that they cost less per passenger mile to run than airplanes or long range trains, and the people who use them pay for their use, not the rest of us through government subsidies to all types of rail transportation.

I agree that central cities have traffic problems, but that is typically caused by government subsidy of on street parking. If the government kept its nose out of the parking business, people would make economic decisions as to whether or not they wanted to drive or take alternate forms of transportation.

Consider this: If it cost $75 a day to park your car on week days in downtown, many people would band together and share vehicles to get to work to share the costs of parking. If two or three people decided to ride share to save $50 each a day each in parking costs, there would be no traffic, no rush hours, and all would be right with the world.

People will make these decisions on their own. Everyone is treated the same, and those who can afford to drive by themselves will, and those who can't or don't wish to won't. Seems fair to me.

Mass transit is the least egalitarian form of travel – it goes when others want it to go, goes where others want it to go, and you are forced to mix and mingle with a thousand strangers you don't want to meet. Ever miss the last train? Now what? Long live the private automobile.

Hey, if you want to ride the train, more power to you. But I don't see why I should pay for your trip.

JVH