Year: 2017

As we head into the New Year, we are supposed to think about where we are going and where we have been. Is it a

Uber and Lyft are supposed to have cut traffic congestion by taking cars off the road. Right? If you think about it, if I take

This time of year is about food, parties and gifts, but it’s also about the wonder in children’s eyes, the smiles on their faces, the

What I don’t know about engineering is a lot. So when I read about the floating parking garage, all I could think was “that could

I shouldn’t be surprised to hear about people stealing parking meters, but it’s always a jolt. The thought that someone can make off with a

City installs credit-card capable meters. Fewer tickets are issued. Revenue goes down. Parking fines double. This is the scenario in Evanston, Wyoming, reports chicagotribune.com. To

I had the pleasure to interview Akshay Pottathil in his lab at San Diego State University yesterday in preparation for this keynote address at PIE

Nine years ago I was in mourning. My guy didn’t win the presidency and I was certain that the world as we knew it was

Uber and Lyft have already delt a blow to airport, hotel, and valet parking. But it seems that more traditional parking operations are not suffering.

Why did the economy stall and stumble during the Obama years and yet take off like a rocket upon Trump’s election. Many wags say that

The City of Las Vegas is testing a self driving shuttle to take folks around its iconic downtown area. The shuttle carries about a dozen

Zach Hall will open the Parking Industry Exhibition 2018 by telling his audience about the “Art of Talking to Strangers.” Hall just published his first

  What keeps you awake at night? Is it fear of the unknown, concern about your preparedness, that burrito you had for dinner? Smart Parking

  In Spokane, Washington, city leaders are looking for ways to eliminate surface lots. There are 12,658 parking spaces in the city spread out over

Does your company have technology that is just seeing the light of day? Is it ready for the marketplace? Let’s feature it in the January

I have posited that the adoption of driverless vehicles may be more difficult and take longer than predicted. Best selling author and futurist Malcolm Gladwell

Inrix does some fantastic things with its technology. I can get from here to there quicker because of them. They also collect data about traffic

We have settled in to our new digs and getting used to the parking operation. We have cards to let us in and out, visitors

A friend of mine walked into my office the other day and started to rant and rave about a parking location he knew about that

You can’t open a web page or a newspaper or magazine without some article about the scandals in  Hollywood, DC, or Big Business. And they

Webster defines Curmudgeon as : 1 archaic :miser. 2 :a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man. After reading my last two posts, I think i’m

We have an article on ParkNews.biz today that describes how Google is planning a Smart City, designed in, well, its image. The wizards at Google

City leaders in Sarasota, Florida are discussing how they will address a $2 million deficit in their parking fund, reports mysuncoast.com. Taxes have been used

I went to the movies the other day in Century City. Saw Blade Runner 2045. I’m ambivalent. But that’s not the point of this blog.

My neighborhood was up in arms when six police cars, 12 police officers, and a chopper all descended on us last week. Seemed one of

It was 1963 the last time officials in Alexandria, Virginia reviewed city parking needs. Lately, they’ve begun to realize that it’s time for an update.

Check out this article   Its important that we understand this issue. Let me wet your appetite: “We have now self-driving cars.” So declared no less an

Renowned columnist George Will sat down with Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors and they talked about car stuff and the future. Allow me to

I asked the Temecula Group attendees to send a 75 word synopsis of their thoughts on the future of parking. One said this: Times are

We received this missif a few days ago: As long as your editor continues to use his magazine as a political platform to rant against

Thieves are stealing parking meter heads in the Canadian city of St. John’s. About 290 meter heads have gone missing, reports BBC.com. Losses include the

I was blown away. NPA CEO Alan Lazowski yesterday addressed the crowd assembled for lunch and to hear about the organization’s awards. He was in

I’m at the NPA conference in Palm Springs.  Christine Banning and her crew are doing a fantastic job.  I took some time to attend a

In Red River, New Mexico, town leaders and local investors are having an age old debate: how much parking is enough parking? According to taosnews.com,

Pauls writes below about the Fraud that took place at the LA County Fair.  They reported 20% of the handicapped placards were fraudulent. Personally, I

North Korea is overstepping a lot of boundaries these days, to put it mildly. Although an unpaid parking ticket doesn’t compare to testing hydrogen bombs

Random sampling of handicap placards at the Los Angeles County Fair revealed 20 percent were fraudulent, reports dailybulletin.com. Parking enforcement officers checked 371 placards and

Catastrophic hurricanes have overtaken the news these last few weeks and there is no end in sight. It’s hard to comprehend the devastation. Besides the

Technology. That’s the topic of the day in the next issue of PT. Is it a good or bad thing? When I can get to

Whenever the muse leaves me, or I become frustrated or bored, I rearrange my office. It would give me a different perspective and hopefully get

A printing error on unpaid parking ticket notices recently struck fear in the hearts of residents of Muscatine, Iowa. According to muscatinejournal.com, the notices informed

Tomorrow is Moving Day for PT Media. We have leased new digs around the corner from our current location. Its pretty hectic around here so

Park News Editor Astrid has a screaming headline that should give the industry pause. A survey shows that 53% of buyers would buy a fully

It’s tough to find parking anywhere when you drive an RV. Renting space in a campground puts you in close proximity to a lot of

In the UK, leaders at the Automobile Association say drivers are determinedly avoiding pay-by-phone stations. A survey of 16,000 of its members revealed 7 out

Over the past few years venture capital money has begun to flow into the Parking Industry. The funding does one of two things. It either

When an agenda underlies a major effort, sometimes its very deep and one must clean away a lot of clutter to find it. When the

First of all, assuming that every vehicle is autonomous, how many will there be. My guess is that there will have to be a lot

I read Paul’s post below about new meters in Bridgeport with interest, and when written it was correct. It seems everyone in Bridgeport, CT was

It’s unusual for cities to lower prices for parking and services. I know those numbers have only gone up in my town. Parking meter fees have

One of my hobbies is to read news articles other people write and wonder what the sources didn’t share. Municipal leaders and staff are careful what they say to reporters,

January 2018 Innovation in Parking Smart Parking/Smart Cities Symposium at PIE — Meet our Keynoter Understanding Autonomous Ambiguity   Coming in February Report on Gulf

I was most impressed with one story I heard at the Smart Cities Connect confab in Austin. It brought to mind Walt Disney’s Fantasia and

A week or so ago I had the privilege of attending the “Smart Cities Connect” event in Austin, TX. After spending a couple of days

Thomas Jefferson wrote these words nearly two and a half centuries ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

I knew “savesies” was a thing during winter months, but somebody in Philadelphia takes it pretty seriously year round, according to billypen.com. After 7 or

Extreme real estate conditions in Hong Kong have lead to the sale of a private parking spot for $664,000.  The parking spot, located in Upton,

John Van Horn’s got a lot to say about autonomous vehicles lately, and I’m going to take that as an invitation to explore the topic

We have all heard the harbingers of doom who predict the end of our industry as we know it. Why? Because millennials are all forsaking

The parking industry is in full crisis mode concerning “Autonomous Vehicles.”  OMG — they are going to destroy the industry  — no need to park

Kudos to the members and staff of the IPI.  The show this year is big, bold, and interesting. I am most impressed with the amount

In Stockton, Calif., almost 700 parking meters have gone missing in the last year. Recent video surveillance shows the thief rolling a stroller up to

Back in 2011 I had the honor of providing a room for the organizational meeting of Women in Parking. It was during the IPI show

Just another reason to distrust millennials – they don’t want cars. Maybe they’re trying to be environmentally friendly and financially responsible, but I think it’s something

Three members of the PTMedia staff will be in New Orleans next week to celebrate parking with the IPI.  We will have a booth at

Our betters have been telling us that living in cities is a better way to live and that we need to be ready for the

We have taken three of the episodes of my parking mystery story, “Death by Parking” and turned them into book form. It turns out that

This seminar at PIE 2017 had standing room only.  People were queuing in the hallway trying to get in.  I didn’t go. But I was

A recent audit shows that there are at least 35,000 dead people in California with valid handicapped placards. The Sacramento Bee, sacbee.com, reports that when Department

If one sniffs around Google and enter the right words, you will find a plethora of information about “Smart Parking.” Its an off shoot of

Shopping center magnet Rick Caruso in Los Angeles is certain that autonomous vehicles are coming, and he thinks sooner rather than later. In this article

After participating in two major trade events in the past month I have been reflecting on a theme that wasn’t there in both cases. It

The Parking Industry Exhibition 2018 will be held March 26-29 and return to the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. We select the Chicago area for many reasons.

I just read an article posted by Astrid over in parknews.biz from the “Economist” that breathlessly proclaimed that we were in a ‘Parkageddon.’ Cities were

I was favored to spend some time at PARKEX in the UK last week with the senior staff at IPS, and in a different meeting,

At the risk of paying too much attention to the Southern California area, I’m blogging about a new parking-related financial disaster coming from the city

I came across this story on Parknews. Seems the local shopping mall decided to begin charging for parking and all hell broke loose. I searched

Here’s the deal. According to this article, Santa Monica is going to lose its last manufacturing plant, Pioneer Magnetics,  that has had as many as

Parking Today and Parknews.biz will be on the road next week, heading across the pond to the land of warm beer, bangers and mash, and

First, Los Angeles tells the homeless they can work off their parking fines if they don’t have the money to pay them. Now California leaders are talking about

“Pivot” has become a buzz words for companies large and small. If you are going to survive, you have to be able to change direction

In every big sports event there are winners and losers, both on the field and in the parking lot. According to fox6now.com, Milwaukee is a

This must be my week for pictures. I drove to Beverly Hills for breakfast at Factors Famous Deli — Surely you have heard of it,

As I took the pooch for a walk the other day, I came across some chalk drawings on the sidewalk. There was no one around,

Kathleen Laney and Bob Harkins spoke about Social Media at PIE 2017. However, Astrid and I spent the days leading up to their presentation tweeting

Nearly 1100 parking pros flocked to Chicago to participate in PIE 2017. It was four days of learning, exhibits, networking, and yes, even a party.

A lot of parking issues only exist in specific scenarios. Manhattan has different parking challenges than Overland, Kansas. Las Vegas has different parking  requirements than

Handicapped parking abuse is a theme in every city and ever town. Cheaters know they’re probably not going to get caught, so they take their

We pull together the editorial for PT a month before the date on the cover. So I am working on April. I get stories from

4…and four great Keynote presentations — Barter (2), Goulston, and Houlihan 3…Three days of world class seminars — With Technology Featured on Wednesday. 2…Two Unbelievable

The “last day” at trade shows is always terrible. Most people have gone, the exhibitors are standing around talking to each other, some have actually

I know, hate is a strong word, but I HATE politics. All politics — right, left, center, local, statewide, national, international, European, Canadian, Mexican, the

The Parking Industry Exhibition starting Sunday will break all attendance records.  As of this moment we are trending ahead of our registration count for this

Babies don’t agree to stick to any kind of schedule – before (or after) they’re born, so a good number of them seem to make

Correspondent Mark send in these comments on the post below re Autonomous Cars. I thought it was important and deserved to be given the light

I have received this from my friends at Land Rover. The Brits are very optimistic.  Perhaps more than moi. Everybody in this world knows what

Wow!  I just received my personal copy of my favorite magazine and was shocked SHOCKED at the weight of the journal.  PT February contains 100,

Los Angeles city leaders have voted to pass a resolution called the Community Assistance Parking Program to help the homeless pay off their parking fines,

I was interviewed yesterday by Bernie Wagenblast the editor of several e-publications including the Transportation Communications Newsletter and the AASHTO Daily Transportation Update. He’s also

I know, what the hell is an infographic. I copied it here so you could get an idea but its too small. Click on the