amateur parker

My work as a journalist has always strengthened my faith in humanity. There is a lot of negativity, hardship, and devastation in the world, but

One of the surest ways to bore my children is to start a sentence with the phrase “when I was a kid…” or “when I

I tell my two daughters to exercise caution anytime the weather changes. When it just starts to rain is when the roads are the slipperiest.

January 2024   A new year is a lovely thing. A fresh calendar makes me feel like anything could happen. I can eat more veggies; I

Melissa Bean Sterzick   The Bellingham Herald   Beloved Whatcom County Nature Reserve Will Soon Get a Paved Parking Area   Whatcom County, Washington’s Stimpson

Melissa Bean Sterzick   We’ve cleared the first month and a half of the school year and I’m looking back at a summer feeling like

September, 2023 Melissa Bean Sterzick   Everyone’s talking about AI these days. Some of us are worried about our jobs. Some of us are worried

On October 4, 2017, California Senate Bill 611, written by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, giving the state the ability to use federal data to

The Amateur Parker’s “2023 Best Alternate Use of a Parking Lot” happened on Armed Forces Day in late May. Five acres of parking at my

In April, a parking structure in New York City collapsed. One person died. This isn’t a magazine about parking tragedies, but there are lessons to

As I work on Parking Today’s editorial content, I get a front-row seat to the parking industry’s constant evolution. Success is achieved and progress is

Most of us remember Mother Goose’s “This Little Piggy.” It has been a long time since anybody tugged on my toes and recited the piggies’

We had a big increase in outdoor eating spaces at restaurants during the pandemic. Our weather is mild most of the year, so patio dining

Now that the holidays are over, the world is calmer, so I can set aside my parking mantra (Patience!) and park like I normally do.

Two well-known technology and transportation entities have achieved an important “first.” According to Bosch Worldwide, “Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority passed a law in 2021

There’s usually a fair amount of noise in parking industry about parking codes as they are applied to apartment buildings, condos, mixed-used developments, businesses, and

The trickle down from Covid continues. Besides the obvious negatives, there are some positive changes coming out of the pandemic.  The Hawaiian Island of Maui

We didn’t go far from home this summer. We were scared off by the germs, as well as stories about delayed and cancelled flights, lost

We’re all paying through the nose at the pump these days, especially those of us in California. I don’t look too closely at the price

So, the big day came and went and my daughter is now a legal adult and high school graduate. She’s headed to college in one

Try as I might, I’m the least technologically savvy person in my family. My kids rarely ask me for help with computer issues. If their

I’m doing my best to put Covid in the rearview mirror, despite it still popping up in my life in assorted ways. I took a

It’s PIE time and that means parking folks of all kinds are gathering for the Parking Industry Expo. What’s better than being around people, traveling,

I read Parking Today from cover to cover every month because I’m the magazine’s proofreader. We have a terrific team putting together the publication every month,

Now that the holidays are over and the New Year is actually in motion, it is quiet enough for me to think about what has

I frequently ask myself if the digital amenities I employ are truly making my life easier. I know social media has only made my life worse

I like to go on walks and I often listen to podcasts while I walk. That might be the nerdiest lead sentence ever written. I recently

“I almost got killed in the school parking lot today” are words no mother wants to hear from her child. But, that’s exactly what my

As the effects of the pandemic ebb and flow, airports and airport parking operators are working to adapt to every phase. Some are expanding, others

The rise of ridesharing has created solutions and problems. Users enjoy having options other than taxis and public transportation. People who want a part-time job

Three Parking Today advertisers were recently featured in an article in The New York Times about the future of parking. That’s some pretty great coverage,

Back in the 2000s, a department store where I shopped experienced a data breach. A strange $60 charge showed up on my bill a couple

California isn’t everybody’s favorite place. I get it. I was born here and grew up here. I’m a fourth generation Californian on my dad’s side.

Last year, my city stopped enforcing parking restrictions on street cleaning days. They extended this courtesy in response to the pandemic and all its accompanying

What I know about parking is that it’s everywhere, but a few things really stand out. A parking lot can be anything you want it

Like so many others, a town near mine has had to address major changes in consumer behavior during the last 10 months. In particular, parking

The pandemic’s ripples have reached far and wide. As we wait for the vaccine to set us free, changes in our culture and economy are

I’ve seen in memes across social media, we can now use “2020” to describe anything that is particularly devastating, and relentless in its ability to

My latest adventure is knee surgery. A torn meniscus has created joint instability and must be fixed. As much as I dread going under the

Regardless of shopping trends, I still like to go in a store and buy the things I want. It feels like a small accomplishment to

I read an article the other day about how a number of empty cruise ships are floating around the English Channel. A man by the name

The biggest changes in parking I’m seeing in my hometown lately are that there is a lot of it, and that some of it is

I’m sure I’ve mentioned my teenage daughters. These are the people who are totally dependent on me for food, shelter and clothing who also mock

Anybody else feel a little dizzy? I do. Every day brings another extraordinary event – another crisis, discovery, call to arms, or emergency. I’m not

Just like a lot of people, I’m waiting around to see what the next phase of the pandemic brings. I’m in California, and have been

For people in publishing, the delay between when you write an article and it is delivered to your readers is a real challenge. Daily newspapers

The Boston City Council recently met to talk about parking ticket fees. One item up for discussion is the possibility of income-adjusted fees for parking

I can barely read the news these days. And I’m a journalist, so that’s saying a lot. Bad news, bad “news,” and badly written “news” are

It’s the month of Valentine’s – or as my daughter used to call it “The Loving Day.” The holidays are in our rearview mirror. Our

It has been my approach to write columns about the expansion of the parking industry. I’ve focused on the ways parking affects lives in every

The holidays and the end of the year are prime time for evaluating life, priorities and goals. Sometime around October, people around me started talking

Leadership is the key to the success of any enterprise. Parking is no exception. While my experience with parking is limited to maneuvering my personal

I took my daughter to the grocery store one day last month. When I take either of my children to the store, I have to pay

The parking industry is a complicated place, and a look at parking-related headlines only confirms the fact. Every segment of the industry has its own

There’s a little storm brewing in the Midwest that might affect parking enforcement across the country.  Chalking tires is on the verge of being declared

By the time this article is published, we will be well in to July, but right now it’s full-on Dads and Grads season. I’m busy

Not too long ago, my parents booked themselves on an Alaskan cruise. My mother, the mastermind of this excursion, was filled with anticipation and spent

I keep saying I’m old fashioned. But I think I need to get over it. In a previous column, I mentioned overcoming my aversion to Uber.

I’m not new to this word “mobility.” Being mobile has been a priority for a long time. I want to be physically mobile, with flexible

Parenting is not for the weak. Pregnancy, sleep deprivation, the toddler stage, elementary school PTA, and now, for me, the teen years.  Toddlers are cute,

The day I found out I was having a second daughter was one of the most joyful days of my life. I was sure she

I was looking at parking headlines searching for inspiration for this column. In half a second, I found about 159,000,000 of them. No, Police Officers Don’t

I make an effort to see the good in the world. It’s not an easy job between national politics, the news, traffic, and carpool partners who

I don’t think we talk about sexism in an amount that is proportional to the size of the problem. But even though I’m vocal about the

Whenever I do anything with the rest of the Parking Today crew, I have interesting parking experiences. From finding great parking in a crazy-busy neighborhood

It might be well known or completely forgotten that I love when parking areas are used creatively. I’ve said it before in this column: I’m

School’s out so my kids are home and hopefully not always watching TV in their pajamas, and I am busy wearing 30 different hats: freelancer,

When I was a kid, I thought all truck drivers were like Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit. They were funny and daring, resourceful

Toward the end of March, I saw the headline we have all been anticipating. It was about a fatal accident involving a car being operated

On a good day, I don’t enjoy parking. I call it a success if I park and there aren’t any issues. Things are going great

I have a good friend who works in the field of aerospace. Not only is she part of a complex high-technology organization that does a lot

During the earliest weeks of the new year, while people on the East Coast faced a “bomb cyclone,” I was experiencing my own kind of

Working for Parking Today exposes me to emerging technology that I might not otherwise notice. That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about being

As the holiday season approaches, I find myself pondering the meanings of gratitude and giving. Just kidding. As the holiday season approaches, I ponder how

I live in a big city, so I get to try plenty of parking technology. My favorite is no technology – it’s the free and always

I have an impressive fact to share: My family just spent seven days traveling around Oregon, and we didn’t have any trouble parking. I wasn’t expecting

It’s been awhile since I mentioned it, but my city has been implementing stricter street-sweeping regulations for several years now. First, we got a notice

I’m a woman with strong opinions and two daughters, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I have a lot to say about feminism and

Last month, Parking Today published an article I wrote about the creation of a new type of parking sign by Nikki Sylianteng. The conversations I

During the years I’ve worked for Parking Today, I’ve amassed a lot of knowledge about parking – knowledge that would be useful at a parking

Lots of things about Los Angeles are mixed up. People wear flip-flops in December, nobody wants to age past 30, and the craziest few actually

The British Parking Association has conducted research that says drivers in its country spend around four days a year looking for parking. While obviously not

If it’s happening anywhere, it’s happening in a parking lot. A simple internet search unearths parking headlines from the good, the bad, the crazy and

Sometime two years ago, my city’s officials decided it was time to regulate parking on street-cleaning days. The new regulations are part of a water

 I like to blame my kids for my bad memory. I didn’t have any trouble remembering things when I was single and childless, but since

 I like to think that most people are essentially honest. Parents teach their kids to return extra change mistakenly handed out at the cash register.