Year: 2010

Word has been received that Joe Lumer, CEO of L and R group of companies has died. He passed away while on vacation in Argentina.

For those of you living on the top of Mount Everest without your blackberry for the past four years, let me bring you up to

I have been reviewing the Yahoo news feed I get with all things parking, and I find that virtually every other article has to do

The projections are in for auto sales for 2011. Leading the pack will be trucks and SUV’s with substantial increases in each category. Down nearly

As Editor, and know it all, one of my tasks this time of year is to predict what is going to happen in the industry

I mean, except for the stores, restaurants, and movies, business is simply not happening. It’s the time between Christmas and New Years and everyone is

Each year we here at PT think about the season and realize what makes it special. To us it’s the magical glow you see in

San Antonio has a problem. Grackles, sort of souped blackbirds, have taken over trees in a downtown area and their droppings are causing quite a

Wow this is a hard one. I think the country’s largest parking company needs to spend a little money on a public relations firm. This

I’m told by folks from all over the country that the biggest storm yet is about to hit LA.  Tonight and tomorrow are supposed to

They actually put the word “Christmas” on the cover of their magazine, Parking News. I was stunned, but pleased. Even PT didn’t do that this

I know, I’m almost deaf. But the 747s taking off overhead don’t help. When a plane lands, they sort of coast in, with just enough

For those of you who don’t know, LA is a friggin desert. It’s hot and dry here. All water is brought in from the Owens

I was railing below about the difficulties that municipal governments have dealing with the business of parking. It wasn’t meant as a criticism as much

Earlier this week I wrote of the Gordian Knot and Alexander’s solution. I thought I was being a bit cute, but over on Facebook, Wanda

I’ve seen parking discussed in many venues, but seldom in the “dining out” columns, at least beyond whether or not a restaurant has valet service.

The Ridgewood, NJ, Chamber of Commerce has come up with an idea to help solve the town’s parking problem. Read about it here. The concept

Here is an editorial written in the Newburyport (MA) News. Basically it says that parking is a complicated wild animal that cannot be tamed. The

I hold that 90% of all parking tickets are never written – That is, most violations go unnoticed by enforcement staff. The chances of being

I took a walk with a friend of mine the other day. He operates a 200 space stand alone garage in one of the more

I didn’t realize that we may have a hot topic on our hands, in less than 12 hours, already two comments, and since I normally

A friend got a call yesterday that her father was in the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. Seems he left his car running in the

I have been reviewing the Google and Yahoo stories to provide Joyce some copy to put up on the web site and I have noticed

Comedian Gallagher, or was it George Carlin, asked “Why do 7-11s have locks on their doors?” I would ask “Why does LA Fitness have valet

From the LA Times: In some heavily populated neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a reliable parking space is as valuable as a panoramic view or gourmet

Just got off the phone with my buddy Rick Decker at Minneapolis St Paul International Airport. I called to get an update on the snow

Why do cities have such problems hiring and supervising parking operators? Over the years, we have seen example after example in cities like San Francisco,

This is a wonderful article. The deficit in the City of LA has soared to $87 million and the city is quick to point out

Shoupistas often gloss over the third leg of Professor Shoup’s theory, that of doing away with mandated parking requirements. It’s urban planning gobbledygook that fascinates

Mark Twain wrote that “Rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated.” Well it appears that rumors of the demise of the parking deal in

Finally, a mixed use facility that really rings a bell. A casino in Maryland is going to have a “pre” opening, by putting 2,000 slot

Paul Barter over at the Reinventing Parking blog today lists a number of articles and links about parking across the planet. He even picks up

A few days ago I commented on an article in UCLA’s Daily Bruin by Katrina Oh concerning the shopping area near the campus (Westwood) and

Stage 1: You’re a kid. All you have to park is your butt. Stage 2: You’re a teenager and are out parking with a girl

OK, its wasn't tape, most likely on a hard drive — but here's the vid:  Watch til the end…That's when the real stuff starts happening

Where is it?  The Netherlands, of Course.  At the Groningen rail station in the Netherlands there are enough parking spaces for 10,000 bikes even though

Well, it does have two doors, automatic, one for entry and one for exit. Plus it’s located in tony Knightsbridge, home of London’s equivalent of

A friend of mine who runs a valet company got the following report from one of his managers: A customer picked up his car and

An ad agency in Chicago has begun a campaign to get people NOT to reserve parking spaces they have cleared from snow by placing lawn

What? The local government spent over 40K to install parking meters but then didn’t write an ordinance to require people to use them. They don’t

They figured it out in the UK Village of Kindell, why can’t they in other places. Read about it here. They were offering half hour

Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press has a comprehensive list of folks who break the informal rules we all know and follow when parking

Here’s the deal – San Francisco has passed a new rule that if a parking meter is broken, you can park there “free” for an

Did you ever notice that no matter how big or small the turkey is, there is always something left over and usually some of that

That’s the headline in the local college paper. Read the story here. I know a tad about this area and the school that’s home to

Yep…Here it is. Parking Enforcement is your Friend. You won’t see that headline very often. In this town in Connecticut, if the time limit wasn’t

Read this article, and find out. OK, maybe the number is a tad high, but the logic that there are 250,000,000 cars in the US

This seems reasonable to me. A fellow was driving in a Wal Mart Parking Lot. He drove front in first into a light standard –

Stories about parking enforcement officer abuse, that is. Seldom a week goes by that I don’t find a Brit who has spat upon a traffic

Cities in the snow belt are activating their parking bans for winter. In Chicago they towed 215 cars on the first day of the ban.

Oh, I couldn’t pass up a headline like that….and in Beverly Hills of all places. Read the story here. I read the article three times

  The City of Washington, DC, has a problem, and it seems to be ongoing. First of all, the parking signs are in conflict —

The story is this. A woman spent an hour talking a potential suicide off a bridge. She returned to her car and found a ticket

At the risk of lightning bolts screaming out of a clear blue sky, I have to report on an in car air freshener that was

Ok – In lieu fees allows business owners to “get around” parking requirements. For instance, if you want to put in a restaurant and the

As you just read I did go to the mall over the past few days, not to shop, but to see movies. I experienced two

R and I make up for borrowed time by seeing four movies in four days over the Thanksgiving weekend. Let’s see if I can review

This has been a difficult year for many of us. Business is challenging, some have lost our jobs, there has been economic turmoil worldwide, war

Here is a blog screed about a person who shares tandem parking with a neighbor. She is constantly getting blocked in and the neighbor isn’t

Oh, Please – I comment on this because it is so absurd. This happened in New Mexico. I can understand that when the first ticket

Ok – nothing to see here, move along – except the headline. Why, might one ask, was a Lamborghini in a Wal Mart Parking Lot.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – T.Y. Lin International (TYLI), a globally recognized full-service infrastructure consulting firm, announces that the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (also known

This Question always raises controversy. What do you do when you see someone “ding” your car with a shopping cart of their car door? Accost

Here’s the deal – the City of Joliet raised its parking rates, ostensibly to help its budget. Well the hike, from 25 cents an hour

I had a number of discussions last week at the California Public Parking Association about the “best” type of parking device for collecting on street

The City of Hartford is “going out.” They are preparing to elicit bids for a 50 year lease on their parking system. OK – you

In Redondo Beach, CA, the city council has voted to provide free parking around Christmas. The Merchants don’t like the idea and have said so.

You can tell when the holidays are just around the corner. There’s a chill in the air, decorations are in the stores, and politicians are

A tad of reason. The city of Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, has voted to give free parking to electric vehicles. Here is what the

From Michael Klein in Albany, NY: When I arrived here the food trucks had taken over the meters near the capital, they only fed quarters

It has been noted that police with canine partners responding to an emergency (in San Diego) leave the critters in the cars, with the engines

Folks are up in arms over gourmet food trucks parking on the street and what, taking parking spaces, or are they concerned about taking business

I was talking to a PT staffer last night and we were laughing about Mr. Wong and the P and D machine in Marina Del

Wilmington NC is a beautiful little city. They just installed Pay by Space Machines. I'm sure that one of the reasons that they did rather

The UCLA Daily Bruin doesn’t want students to have to pay more to park. Even if it does help the Los Angeles School meet its

One of my biggest complaints (there are many) about Public Private Partnerships on parking is that it is difficult for the city to determine just

I caught this on PT’s facebook page – a note from Wanda: How a nice parking attendant can make your day and save you $20:

This video is perfect. The County of Los Angeles charges for parking on weekends. $1.50 a hour. Fair Enough. However they use ancient P and

The City of Beverly Hills is looking into a tax on parking revenues. They are holding a meeting on the 15th to collect “input” from

Let me say on the outset I know nothing about the niceties of the law. I do know that most of it is straightforward, based

That was the headline of a story that ran on a Eugene, Or, TV station. The deal is that they took out the meters in

Scheidt and Bachmann’s Thomas Dribben describes his company’s products in the TMA booth. Don Shoup listens as Andrew Perrier of Metereye shows a real time

First of all, Australia never had a recession – the place is booming, people are upbeat and happy. There is construction going on all over.

Sandra Smith told me about one of her theories. That is, we shouldn’t just continue to do things to try to correct a problem with

I realize that the blogging dates may be screwed up – Its Monday Morning here in Sydney, and about Noon Sunday back in LA. Coming

I had drinks and dinner last night with Sandra Smith from the city of Whistler, Craig Bagdon of Park Trac and his charming daughter, and

The first day of the PAA went well – It was an exhibit opening with a reception and waiters moved through the crowd with wine,

I got a couple of reports from the Middle East Parking Symposium and it was thought that generally the IPI presenters (they did a day

The group has done a really good job bringing in folks from around the world. They have speakers from Canada, the US, China, Sweden, New

I just love North by Northwest. I was able to see it again as I flew to Sydney last night. Delta has a direct flight

For the Parking Association of Australia – It begins this PM with a cocktail party (love those Aussies) in the exhibit hall. Was honored to

In the post below I comment on DFW airport and the charges that the airport is levying on local off airport operators. Correspondent Greg provided

I have been hearing about a company in Canada, named Tielhard that had been in negotiations with and potential lawsuits with IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and

Why does my car run better after its been to the car wash? Does I know that I care and therefore feels better about itself,

I was in the city of Diamond Bar, just east of LA, the other day and noticed banners hanging from light posts thought-out the city.

This is the craziest thing I've seen in days…   Wow – Awsome, Dude. JVH

I just love this story. It seems that the airport needs money. So naturally they go to parking to get it. According to the article

This hour long flick got a lot of press last week and the director and producer, Meaghan Eckman, called and asked me to review it.

I received word today that Hans Fairmont, German parking operator and promoter of various revenue control technologies, passed away August 15. You can read a

One more comment on the post below – What will happen in the end is that the city will sell off these garages for probably