Year: 2021

One of the wonders of this season is how far companies will go to twist themselves into pretzels with their seasonal messages and not wish

This has been a hell of a year and merely surviving has been challenging. We are down to the last two weeks of the year

I go into a parking lot and it is pay by plate.  I enter my plate number, pay the requisite amount, and then proceed about

Typically the first thing I do in the morning is review a bunch of sites with articles of interest. Mostly political commentary, some news. It

Simply put, Mobility as a Service is a concept that makes it easy for folks to use a single credential to access all sorts of

Bloomberg labs has published an article by Eric Jaffe on a study done by a bunch of Italian statisticians concerning folks preference to cars over

As I read all the ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ messages we receive, I wonder if we are missing the point. Virtually all of them have a reference

This is probably one of those blogs I should write then delete. Let’s see how it turns out. I am deaf. Well not totally deaf,

I blasted through a headline over at Parknews concerning parking at Trader Joe’s. It was, I thought, a ‘dog bites man’ story. After all, we

SWPTA’s annual meeting was a fantastic event. There was something for everyone, and it was a great place to talk about parking. But I glanced

At the SWAPTA conference last week we were overwhelmed with wonderful conversations with people who seemed to know about what they were talking. One was

Nothing… All advancements society has made since its beginning have been involved with risk. Consider some synonyms: danger, hazard, imminence, menace, peril, pitfall, threat, trouble.

A few weeks ago, I wrote of the heroes on flight 93 and asked what would happen today. Would we storm the cockpit? Last week,

Los Angeles International Airport has just opened a new 4300 car garage as part of its $5.5 billion off airport expansion including a major car

Headlines in the New York Times: As E-Scooters and E-Bikes Proliferate, Safety Challenges Grow. Read all about it on parknews.biz Fair Enough. Safety is going

I have a tendency to go where Angels fear to tread and talk about things I know nothing about. This may be one of those

We all know about herd immunity. That point where the herd (that’s us) becomes immune, or at least partially immune to a disease. We strive

This week was parking week for our industry.  Christine Banning, Dave Damus, and the entire National Parking Association team deserve a victory lap after the

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The City of Santa Monica has decided to demolish a 300 plus space parking structure adjacent to its downtown mall and replace it with a

I think sometimes about right and wrong, yes and no, up and down, on and off, in and out. We live in a binary world.

When Aretha Franklin (and before her Otis Redding) sang about respect, they weren’t asking to be loved, or even liked. They were asking their mate

Which came first?  The question has puzzled folks since time immemorial. The same question could be asked of the current EV push. Which comes first,

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the worst foreign attack on American soil, ever. Four wide body passenger planes were commandeered by suicidal fanatics and

You can read books about critical thinking. It seems complex. However I’m not so sure. I believe critical thinking could be related to common sense.

It goes like this: A woman received 14 parking tickets for overstaying the two hour limit on the streets of Saginaw, MI. She found a

According to a recent survey, Americans prefer to live in larger houses, with some land around them a few miles from schools, stores and clubs,

Wow! The City of Los Angeles has contracted with an electric scooter company (Superpedestrian) to locate 5,000 scooters in the city. They will be focused

Reading can be recreation, like watching TV. Except that when you watch TV, no mental activity is required. You simply sit and it washes over

In my previous blog I discussed the issue that cities were writing parking tickets to increase revenue and not necessarily to protect that asset, parking,

A blogger I read regularly posited that inconsistent parking enforcement will bring a downhill slide to a city. Wow! You can read that blog over

I defy any of the so called “cancel” mob to find anyone, anywhere, that doesn’t have something in their background that isn’t perfect. Back in

Toyota has not jumped on the EV bandwagon. In fact, according to the New York Times, a top Toyota executive has met regularly with US

In December 2018 I made some predictions. I noted at the time that predictions were easy to make, since no one really checked up a

We are inundated with lists. If you check the New York Times, Forbes, or any of the other major media outlets, you find lists of

Such a great time. Thank you PT for blazing the trail and being first! It is soooo great to be back! Thank you Parking Today

I spoke with a friend in Australia and his normally happy upbeat self seemed beaten down. His business was good, he said, and his family

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.                      ….Teddy

I thought Mary’s comments on my screed yesterday on EV’s was important enough to bring it to light. It follows:  With my comments. 1. EVs

An environmental realist who spoke at PIE a few years ago commented on politicians who got all hot and bothered about the latest environmental fad

I know politics do tend to creep into this blog from time to time. I readily admit it is difficult to keep them out, particularly

Columnist Nicholas Goldberg, writing in the LA Times, has opined that we are seeing a rash of folks running for office that have no previous

Just how many owners/operators feel they don’t need to audit once they have installed a high tech PARCS system. How auditors are going to know

When Thomas Paine wrote his famous pamphlet in 1775 (published in 1776 it became an immediate success. This was due as much to his marketing

I have always been suspect of grants given by the Feds for programs that seem to be an experiment, with no real goal in life.

The airport parking area in my building is completely full. I’m told that shopping centers around LA were jammed this weekend. Traffic is becoming more

My father wanted to be a lawyer, but left high school to support his family so his brother could go to college. His father, my

Can you believe it. Raiders of the Lost Arc, Steven Spielberg’s and George Lucas’ blockbuster adventure opened in theaters 40 years ago this past weekend.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decision than by putting those decisions in the hands of people

Technology Big Data and Parking LPR Electric Vehicle Charging RFID PCI DSS – Are you Compliant. How to Buy it – You can pay too

I know, I know – I’m a contrarian.  Someone says up, I say down. Someone say white, I say black. I get this from being

21 more industry experts who will be speaking at PIE 2021 Brandy Stanley, City of Las Vegas Dale Denda, Parking Market Research Company Sagy Amit,

Kevin Uhlenhaker, Omnipark Connor Owen, Park Mobile Peter Elliott, City of Ft. Worth Julie Dixon, Dixon Resources Unlimited Brett Wood, Wood Solutions Group Commander Caleb

I literally tripped over this headline, written in chalk in the street near our home. The neighbor kids were celebrating Memorial Day and left the

Disney’s Cruella is a fun movie. But you can’t take is as a true prequal to 101 Dalmatians. Its more like 101 Dalmatians meets the

I’m aware there are a few pockets of Covid Virus here and there and certainly we must be mindful of those who aren’t vaccinated or

Someone in the vast PT organization had to cancel a meeting the other day. She sent out an email cancelling the meeting and set off

I was proofing the final PDFs for PT June and noted in my column that I had commented even thought a lot of personal service

I read over on Parknews.biz that parking is full in Chicago. The mandarins at Streetsblog are heading for their fainting couches as people are actually

I know I’m the resident cynic in the parking business, but can anyone tell me why we are getting in line to install  charging stations

Jerry Seinfeld has decided to no longer take his standup show to college campuses. “ “I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of

What was Churchill thinking about when he sat on the roof of 10 Downing Street and watched the bombs fall on his beloved London. He

A friend of mine went out for drinks with a group of friends last week. She told me she stewed about the decision to go

I have been working with Astrid on the seminars for the PIE Show this coming July in Dallas and stepping back and looking at what

Our buddy, Tony Jordan is weighing in on EV Charging as Public Policy. You can read the article from Streetsblog over on Parknews.biz. The problem

Tyler Perry spoke eloquently at the Oscars Ceremony last night. Rather than take the opportunity to lash out at “pick a group” he spoke about

A colleague complained the other day that she felt that it was expected that she respond instantly to texts and emails. Not only business missives,

I have spoken to a number of people who have been vaccinated, and their experience has been positive. Not just that they are now protected

I just reread the last blog entry and realize that I was complaining without offering a potential solution. I walk Gigi twice a day, first

I remember, back when I was just a lad, that filling the car with 25 cent a gallon gas was an event. We drove to

Marcy and Kelley are reporting that we are nearing 600 attendees at PIE 2021. Yes, you read right. Nearly 600 people have pre-registered for our

Our friends in OZ are opening up and actually going back to work. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Dell’s operations in

I walk every afternoon with my neighbor and dog GIGI. We make a circuit around the neighborhood and see a number of folks doing the

For those of you living in more advanced societies, like Florida, Texas, Arizona, or Nevada, this may be a bit over the top, but actually

Robyn got a new car. It’s a Mini Cooper. Back in the day, I drove a Mini Cooper. In the UK. I could barely fit

I was in Las Vegas last week and the city was abuzz with the news that the World of Concrete would be held in early

A couple of days ago I wrote a piece about “The New Normal” and in one prepositional phrase, mentioned rolling one’s eyes when the topic

The City of New Haven, supported by the city Parking Authority, is moving down the path of removing parking minimum for new construction. The Parking

The New Normal. Changes we see now will be permanent. Business travel will always be down. Work from home will be permanent. It’s the New

If you are a manufacturer you have probably received an email from a company hawking mailing lists from upcoming parking events. DO NOT BE FOOLED.

Planning for events like PIE takes months. We can’t just wake up July first and say, “OK, let start thinking about what we are doing

I had a discussion yesterday with a senior member of the management team of a company that has been hard hit by the pandemic. His

When the polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, the news was met with jubilant celebration. Church bells rang across the nation, and factories blew

Word has come that Texas, home for PIE 2021, has opened its restaurants, businesses, and convention centers, much like Florida, South Dakota, Arizona, Mississippi, and

I have been editing an article written by the EV charging industry about the potential for electric vehicles during the upcoming decades. One comment caught

‘I know the Zoom call was shaky – it was probably because someone has a slow internet connection.  No problem, I was multi-tasking anyway.’ Wow 

I took a ‘look out the window’ report on the Hospitals in the Los Angeles area. Two weeks ago the headlines were telling us that

It seems that many areas around the country have ‘met’ the requirement to open schools but have not because ‘teachers and staff have not been

Bonnie Watts, longtime VP of Marketing and head of their Trade Shows has resigned her position at the IPMI. Bonnie had been with the organization

I have come to the conclusion that the world we live in has become a zero sum game. For someone to win, someone else has

We are excited to announce that we have shifted the dates of PIE 2021 to Jul 18-21 and the venue to the Gaylord Texan Resort

This week I took a quick trip to check out the new location for PIE 2021.  More about that later. Just getting out of the

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is the first of Maya Angelou’s seven autobiographies depicting the author’s early life growing up in a deeply

I appreciate that Tony Jordan’s Parking Reform Network has honored me by linking my comments on the city of Hartford’s Parking Tax. I posited that

I was reading Astrid’s piece over on Parknews.biz on parking tax in Hartford, CT, and could only shake my head. The local council wants to

I spoke to a student from USC this morning. He was calling to learn ‘more about the parking industry.’ He is developing an app to

It was 1996. Bill Clinton was elected president. Gas was $1.22 a gallon. The Dow closed the year at 6400. Mad Cow Disease was ravaging

The IPMI’s Shawn Conrad is a reader. Looking for inspiration in our time of trouble, he picked up David McCollough’s book, 1776. Shawn writes: I