a parking lot of savings 2008, pages 33-48.pdfthat trades at an ev to ebitda of around 11 times or...

(DDE) or Microsoft Message Queuing(MSMQ) messages that are sent after eachidentification cycle.

License Plate Recognition technologyalso can be integrated with valet systems,as well as with standard revenue controlsystems. For example, one valet systemtakes a series of images from all sides ofthe vehicle and stores the license plateinformation in its archive. The licenseplate is later used to retrieve the gate eventand access the damage inspection images,

which are used in cases of damage claimsfiled by customers.

In office parking garages with motor-ized doors, the access control unit with theLPR system is usually installed above themotorized door, and only authorized vehi-cles are allowed to enter. When the vehicleapproaches the door, the unit receives theloop detector indication, takes pictures ofthe plate, performs recognition, compareswith a pre-stored database, and opens thegate if found on the list. All these opera-tions are done in a stand-alone compactcamera/illumination/computer unit.

Long-term parking lots, such as atairports, also can take advantage of LPRtechnology. The system is installed at theentrances of a long-term parking lot,records the plate number and associates itwith the ticket number. When the car exitsthe lot, the ticket number is linked to thecar number, thus verifying that the ticket isindeed the same as issued while entering.This system reduces fraud and handlescases of missing tickets, a common prob-lem in long-term parking lots.

The automatic identification of thelicense plate number enables the operatorsto give discounts and privileges to frequentusers. They can register their monthly

parkers through without the need to givethem Automatic Vehicle Identification(AVI) transponder or proximity cards,which can save thousands of dollars ininstallation and ongoing costs. In addition,parking operators can register clients forautomatic payment. By interfacing withcredit card processing applications, theLPR systems can accurately allocate theparking time and process payment whenthe vehicle exits the facility.

Given today’s increasing security con-cerns, a parking deck, grade or under-ground is also one of the most importantpoints of entry and exit to monitor. Onesystem, for example, provides 24-hoursurveillance, independent of weather orlighting conditions, and sends alerts to theappropriate people via video, sound, pageror e-mail when the license plate numbermatches a “blacklist” from the police data-base or other databases.

Meta Rotenberg is Vice President of BusinessDevelopment for Hi-Tech Solutions. She canbe reached through its website(www.htsol.com). Miriam Silva is MarketingManager for Computerized Valet ParkingSystems; its website is www.cvaletps.com.

APRIL 2008 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com 33

License Plate Recognition system for valet operations at the entrance to a garage.

PT

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nvestors cannot buy parkinglots on stock exchanges.Traders do not swap syn-thetic options on parking

management contracts. Com-modity dealers normally refrainfrom extrapolating the intrinsicvalue from a straddled swap in acollateralized default obligationon parking spaces. Get the idea?The parking industry remainsunscathed from the complexitiesand perils inherent of publicsecurities markets.

As the parking industry’s olderbrother, commercial real estate continuesto be sliced, diced, packaged and synthe-sized into complex investment securities,parking companies operate much likethey did when the concrete was laiddecades ago – a time when life was muchmore simple.

IBY TOM LOMBARDI JR.

Wall Street Wants a Lot in Parking


“Mr. Buffett, Line 1”So why is this relevant? With all the

confusing forces in the stock market andthe near illiquidity of various debt mar-kets, why is Wall Street after the parkingindustry?

Warren Buffett recently released hiswidely read letter to the shareholders ofBerkshire Hathaway. In addition to thepresentation of undeniably superior invest-ment returns, Mr. Buffett remindsinvestors of his simple acquisition criteriathat have become the hallmark of hisunmatched success. He looks forlarge companies with economies ofscale, consistent earnings, solidreturns, low debt levels, and a busi-ness concept that he can understand.Most, if not all of those investmentcharacteristics exist throughout theparking industry today.

Holy GrailParking management companies

are an attractive investment for insti-tutional capital, namely private equityfirms, due to the consistent cash-flowstream, economies of scale, marketfragmentation and opportunities forgrowth. Management contracts arebased mainly on a cost-plus basiswhere operators collect a fee above allparking expenses.

As long as the contracts areretained by the existing operator(more than 90% retention for Stan-dard Parking, for example), thesecontracts provide visibility of futureearnings – the holy grail of privateequity investments. The sheer size ofa large parking operator can increaseoperating margins substantially byrecognizing economies of scale in theback-office, information systems,regional marketing and staffingexpenses.

Standard Parking’s ratio of G&Aexpenses to gross profit decreased bymore than 20% over the past sevenyears by means of acquisition growthand operational synergies. Privateequity firms commonly purchase a“platform company” and “roll-up”additional facilities to recognize thesevalue-added savings. Market frag-mentation – the existence of manycompetitors in a particular industry –is alive and well in the world of park-ing due to the localized nature, spe-cialization of services and large num-ber of facility operators.

According to Standard Parking’smost recent investor presentation, thetop three operators – Central, Stan-

dard and Ampco – represent only 16% ofthe entire U.S. parking management indus-try. Growth and value are usually two dif-ferent camps in the investment communi-ty, but parking investors can have theircake and eat it, too.

The consistent cash flow recognizedtoday will only become more predictableas the technology of information systems,revenue controls, and consolidating man-agement contracts develop in the UnitedStates. Both the equipment and hardware,along with the know-how to manage this

new frontier of operations, will providegrowth opportunities never seen before inthe parking “space.”

Cash is KingMost business-to-business companies

do not receive cash payment for servicesuntil the customer receives payment fromthe end-user. This causes a shortage offunding sources to pay for near-termexpenses. As an example, when an auto-mobile manufacturer sells a car, it sends


Continued on 6


the car to the dealership that sends the title to the bank that collectspayment from the consumer. The manufacturer does not receivecash until the consumer gets the loan, the bank pays the dealer, andthe dealer pays the manufacturer.

Parking management com-panies found a way to collect thecash from the consumer, paythemselves a fee, and then pro-vide the customer (facility own-er, in this case) with receipts.Cash collections provide for suf-ficient working capital to run thecompany on a day-to-day basis. Taking the trade accounts andcredit risk out of a business model creates short-term liquidity andmore simplified operations. At a time when lenders won’t lend,structure finance is unstructured, and bond insurers can’t eveninsure their own bonds, cash is truly king.

Finance 101There are enough acronyms, buzz words and investment slang

to make your head spin, so let’s try to simplify a couple of key con-cepts to understand the Wall Street lingo when the bankers comeknocking. The most common type of private acquisition is theleveraged buyout, or “LBO,” which was conceived back in the1980s during the coveted RJR Nabisco takeover. Such transactionsinvolve a private investor raising debt capital to fund the purchase

Wall Street Wants a Lot in Parkingfrom Page 35

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of a target investment. This method aims to maximize returnsusing low-cost debt to take majority control of a firm’s underval-ued assets.

Central Parking, the nation’slargest parking operator, under-went an LBO last year fromKohlberg & Company, whichacquired the parking operations,and Chrysalis Capital Partnerswith Lubert-Adler Partners,which is controlling the realestate assets. Investors use enter-

prise value, or “EV,” as a measure of a firm’s valuation. Thisincludes the existing equity, a purchase premium and debt to beassumed at the transaction.

Central Parking sold for an EV of approximately $850 mil-lion, representing a 30% premium to the market price. Earningsbefore interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or “EBIT-DA,” is used as a measure of cash flow the operations generate.Those two terms put together create EV to EBITDA, the mostwidely referenced valuation measure of a potential investment.

After the Central Parking transaction, Standard Parking is theonly “pure-play” publicly traded parking management companythat trades at an EV to EBITDA of around 11 times or 11x. Cen-tral Parking sold for a similar amount in the LBO. Smaller transac-tions tend to change hands in the mid to high single-digit range

These contracts provide futureearnings – the holy grail ofprivate equity investments



due to the higher cost structure of their behemoth peers. Withthese general terms and the holy grail of value investing,you’ll be prepared to speak with any investment banker whosneaks into your office.

When asked why institutional capital is attracted to theparking industry, Emanuel Eads, CEO of Central Parking,stated at the 2007 NPA conference: “Well, it’s three simplewords: earnings, cash, growth.” Those three items make theparking industry ripe for the picking as investors look todiversify away from volatile stocks and vulnerable bonds.

Consolidation in parking will continue to occur due tofinancial and technological resource constraints of under-cap-italized companies and public entities as high-priced realestate requires technologically advanced systems to controlrevenue across a global client base. With the investmentinsights and financial lingo, you’ll be well equipped to meetand negotiate with Wall Street’s best. Just make sure to haveenough Cherry Cokes on hand when Warren Buffett pays youa visit.

Tom Lombardi Jr. is an Associate at West Partners, a Carlsbad, CA,private investment firm. He can be reached at tlombardi @westpartners.com.

PT

Due to space limitations and

the complete laziness of the

author, “Death by Parking” will

not be found in this month’s issue of Parking

Today. Look for father-and-son private investiga-

tors Paul and Paul Junior to return in May as

they get close to the conclusion of their search

for the truth.

Where is the box supposedly found by the park-

ing consultants called in to “repair” a seemingly

unbroken garage? What was in it? Who hid it in

the garage that summer day in 1963 when the

concrete was still wet? Why not just destroy it?

And was the “mob” really involved?

All will be revealed in the next two episodes of

the “The Phantom.”

DEATH BY PARKING

THE PHANTOM



constraint, and very little awareness of thecars and pedestrians around them. Theymay or may not be on a cell phone, buteither way cannot summon an attentionspan long enough to steer toward an aisleand into an available spot. Often they willpass up several perfectly adequate parkingspots in search of one that meets somemysterious criteria. Interesting enough,none of us would ever admit to being anAimless Parker, but we know a lot of them– they are the people parking the car whenwe are in the passenger seat.

Overly Selective Parkers are peoplewho think their car is as precious as a new-born baby. They don’t leave it wrapped ina snuggly pink blanket, but they do go togreat lengths to ensure that it is parked inthe safest place they can find. These arethe people who angle their red Corvettes

sideways into three spots so no other car can get closer than 5feet. These are the people who do not use valet. These are the

rom the day infants becomecognizant, they begin tocategorize the people andthings around them. One of

the first things children learn is todistinguish between male andfemale. Pretty soon, for better orworse, they learn that there are lotsof people out there and lots of waysto label them.

While it’s never a good idea to buyinto stereotypes or to categorize peoplebased on trivialities, I occasionally do itanyway. And parking habits are a veryeasy, mostly harmless categorizing tool.My study of parking habits is a work inprogress, but this is what I have come upwith so far:

The Aimless Parkers just wander in and around a parkinglot (or garage) with no plan in mind, no sense of any kind of time

BY MELISSA BEAN STERZICK

The Amateur Parker …

You Are Where You Park

F



people with very specific parking needs: not under a tree, notnext to a minivan, not close to any other Corvettes (with thoseenormous ding-making doors), nowhere near a pothole, and notwithin spitting distance of a car with any kind of damage(because people who drive beat-up cars don’t care much if theybeat up your car, am I right?).

Lazy Parkers are the people who circle and wait and will doanything for a spot close to the entrance of their destination.Heaven forbid they should walk 20extra steps. They often are carrying a64-ounce fountain drink and wearingelastic-waistband pants and Velcroshoes. They spend 10 more minutessearching for a front-row spot than itwould take them to park in Timbuktuand walk. I imagine their cars are fullof fast-food wrappers and old news-papers. To be fair, sometimes I am a Lazy Parker. I don’t drinksoda or wear elastic waistbands, and my car is full of sippy cupsand Cheerios, not trash. There just are days when the thought ofescorting my two small children through a busy parking lot istoo taxing. I search as long as it takes to get close so I know wewill go home with all our limbs. My children wear Velcro shoes.

Mean Parkers are the people who drive around like vultures– ready to zip into a spot in front of its rightful owner – happy toedge out a slower driver and unfazed by a near-miss with aloaded shopping cart and its elderly navigator. These are thepeople who get yelled at, shot at with obscene finger gestures,and occasionally beaten with a tire iron. I don’t encourage vio-

lence, and I try to keep my fingers to myself when I drive (andpark), but Mean Parkers must really crave abuse, and the littledevil on my shoulder likes to see them called to the table whenthey violate the laws of common courtesy.

I am what I like to think of as a Lucky Parker. I don’t alwaysfind the spot I want, but I always find a spot. Some days I get agood one without even trying – right up close under a shady treethat doesn’t drop goo on my roof. Other days I calculate the odds

and head for the back row where Ifind a great spot and get a little exer-cise walking and dodging those oth-er parkers I mentioned.

My favorite spots are themetered ones with 90 minutes stillleft on the clock – I don’t even haveto look for change – it’s like winningthe lottery! Recently, I went to a

local farmers market and, with at least eight other cars trying toget into a packed 50-car lot, I found myself in perfect positionfor a space right near the entrance where I needed to be. Ofcourse, it was next to a minivan, but I didn’t have to run overanyone to get to it and I felt pretty happy about that.

Melissa Bean Sterzick, PT’s Amateur Parker and Senior Proofreader,lives in Southern California. She can be reached [email protected].

Mean Parkers are thepeople who drive aroundlike vultures

PT

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BY PETER GUEST

NOTES FROM BIG BEN …

t’s all my wife’s fault (she’snot in the room, so I can saythis): There was a really goodstory in the news, but she

threw out the papers before I couldget the details. A motorist wentinto a car park using a modernstate-of-the-art pay-on-foot sys-tem. He stayed for about four hoursand went to pay the $10 fee whenhe was ready to leave. He used hiscredit card at a pay station, andinstead of being debited theexpected 10 bucks, the machine(nothing can go wrong …) chargedhim for 44 days parking, about$1,000.

INever Trust a Co

Fortunately, he noticed, and the oper-ator who agreed that there was an errorrefunded the money at once. But howmany people would have spotted thisbefore they got the bill at the end of themonth? And how did the “foolproof ”system make such an error and not spotit? I have become pretty blasé aboutchecking small amounts on my creditcard, but not any longer. The companyconcerned is currently getting into trou-ble because it is replacing on-site staffwith remote monitoring from a centralnational control room; this case will nothelp their arguments that a warm body inthe car park is an unnecessary luxury.

CroydonMeanwhile, in the London Borough

of Croydon, a battle is brewing between



the Council and on-off contractors Apcoa. Croydon has oper-ated its own parking more or less from the dawn of time, andretained its own parking wardens even when the police tookover the rest of London in the 1970s. When the law changedin 1994 and the police stepped back, the borough stayed incontrol of its own enforcement, even though the governmentpushed local councils to use contractors.

This all changed in 2007, when a shakeup led to achange of policy and a contract to run the parking. Apcoa,Europe’s biggest parking company, was the successful bid-

der, but it quickly found that the requirement was rather dif-ferent from what they believed and expected. When itappeared that Croydon had released some highly sensitiveand confidential information about the bid, Apcoa saw itschance and quickly headed for the door, leaving Croydonwith a looming crisis and potentially no parking enforce-ment. The skirmishes and recriminations have started, and Isuspect that this one will make a few lawyers richer before itis settled. Watch this space.

Prizes and the Poor RelationsI have managed to get myself on two judging panels this

spring. The first is for the British Parking Associationawards, which culminates in a mini Oscar ceremony-likebash in London (drink-speeches-more drink, fall over but behappy). The second is the Intertraffic Innovation awards inAmsterdam.

The BPA awards are fun. The judging panels get writtensubmissions, and we then short-list the most likely candi-dates and do some further investigations and site visits toselect the winners in about 10 categories.

Part of this process had me visit two car parks on suc-cessive days. The first was a 1,000-space car park built for apublic hospital. It operates as a nested car park with all usersentering and leaving via a common access, but with theupper decks reserved for staff that passed through a furthergate.

Two things became clear very quickly. First, the design-er hadn’t been able to solve the nested car park problem. Inthe peak, the numbers of staff arriving were too many for thesingle barrier to handle, and so the hospital opens the barrierand uses security to turn away any members of the public

omputer

The city did have the goodgrace to acknowledge thatthe reduction in offenseswas a good news story.

Continued on Page 42

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who stray into the wrong area. Second, there does not seem tohave been enough quality control on the project. The car parkopened in May ‘07 and already the top deck is cracked and leak-ing. Parts of the steel structure are rusting, and parts of the galva-nized cladding are pockmarked with rust.

The second car park, by contrast, had been built by a com-mercial developer to a standard, not a price. It’s in an oceansidedevelopment on what used to be a transatlantic liner terminal.Although it’s brand new, the architecture reflects the art deco styleof that period, and everything has the stamp of quality. I suspectthat five years from now, this car park will still look like new,whereas, sadly, the hospital will be just another tired and tattyparking structure.

The Intertraffic Innovation awards are more challenging, tome at least. Whenever I see new technology, I ask myself a verysimple question: “Is this a solution looking for a problem?” If theanswer is yes, then I lose interest very quickly. Certainly a goodfew of the entries failed this test; someone had a bright idea andthen looked for a use for it.

Parking is an enabling activity; we do it so we can do some-thing else, go shopping, for a meal, to the theater and so on.Therefore, I can see great merit in developing equipment and sys-tems that can be integrated into other payment systems so we canpay for the parking with the pizza or in the supermarket. I cannotsee any logic in developing the inverse, where other bills can bepaid through the car park, but that is what is now on offer.

And Finally …I was rather critical of the Scottish government in my last col-

umn, but it seems that the people of Edinburgh may have a ratherbetter grasp of common sense than those they have set abovethem. In 2006, the city issued just over 225,000 parking citations.It has expanded the coverage of its parking systems and plannedfor a 7% rise in ticket income in 2007. Quite unfairly, driversresponded by not breaking the law as often and, rather than grow-ing, fines income dropped by 2%. The city did have the goodgrace to acknowledge that the reduction in offenses was a goodnews story. (I bet they put the prices up to cover the “loss,”though.)

Peter Guest is PT’s international correspondent. He can be reached [email protected].

Never Trust a Computerfrom Page 41

PT

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www.parkingtoday.comand click on Marketplace



He’s got that right, but they have it wrong!!!We are seeing more and more of this: common sense – even

directed at oneself. According to the Republican-Americannewspaper of Waterbury, CT, merchants in the village of Sey-mour are concerned about their parking and know who causesthe problem – the merchants. Read on:

Larry Foster hasn’t opened his shop on Bank Street yet, andhe said he already knows the “parking games” that get playedin downtown Seymour.

Looking out of the window of his new store, Daddy’s Goods,Foster said he can count how many cars parked on the street areowned by local business owners. Tapping on the side of a cashregister he installed over the weekend, Foster admitted that hewasn’t parked in the municipal lot two blocks away while heunloads heavy objects into the store.

“If everyone who either owned the shops or worked in theshops parked in the municipal lots, there really wouldn’t be thatmuch of an issue parking,” said Foster.

Complaints about downtown parking problems — an almostdaily issue on the minds of many business owners in the four orfive downtown blocks — have crept up again. Community PoliceOfficer Joseph DeFelice told the Board of Police Commission-ers that he had fielded several complaints [in February] frommerchants and professionals.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.However, the Jackson County Chronicle reports that busi-

nesses in downtown Black River Falls, WI, are in a quandary.They admit that business owners and employees park downtownand take the spaces, but they don’t want tickets written because“ticketing is destroying downtown businesses.”

So let me parse this for those of you for whom it isn’t clear.

The downtown businesspeople are parking in front of theirstores and taking parking space so it can’t be used by cus-tomers; however, when the police try to enforce the rules, theycomplain that the police are destroying the downtown business-es. Huh?

This is one of the problems with on-street parking availabil-ity in downtown cores. The other – and I can almost guaranteeyou this is the case in Black River Falls – is that they don’tcharge for parking downtown. They probably have a “two hour”limit or some such rule, and that, in itself, is difficult if notimpossible to enforce.

I have to agree with the head of the downtown merchantsassociation who said that talking about the problem to the busi-nesspeople is “just like talking to a wall.”

That ship has sailedI was discussing on-street pricing with a friend the other

day and noted that I felt folks should pay to park in front of myhouse. After all, sez I, they are taking space and they should payfor the maintenance, security, lighting, etc. There was an explo-sion in the room. He said that you shouldn’t have to pay forparking since the streets were paid for by everyone’s taxes andeveryone, there fore, should be able to park there for free.

Whew, where to begin. First of all, if that is your bench-mark, then there should be no charging for on-street parking,off-street public parking, seats in most NFL stadiums, concerthalls, many office buildings, boat docks, national parks, camp-grounds, and certainly no charges for public universities, hospi-tals – well, the list is endless. The fact that public money goesinto something certainly doesn’t make it “free” to all.

I was amazed at this comment because my protagonist ishead of parking for one of the largest universities on the planet.He certainly has many parking spaces and charged for them,and although I haven’t been to his campus, I would bet that a lotof them are on streets and infrastructure that were paid for by

JVH comments on Parking News every day at PT Blog – log onat www.parkingtoday.com. Each month, there are at least 40other comments like these, posted daily.




the owners cared about them, and therefore they wouldcare more about their jobs. I know this seems obvious, but let’sface it: The garage is often an afterthought. The operator may ormay not ask for better surroundings, but in most cases the asset

manager sees this as an expense theywould rather not fund.

“Lower end” employees need allthe support and benefits they can get.Better working conditions, better uni-forms, top-of-the-line rain gear, first-level equipment – they all mean bet-ter and more caring employees.

There is another ancillary benefit. I think they also make theemployees more honest.

Garage employees don’t start out as dishonest employees.However, every day they are exposed to more money than theymake in two months. It’s in cash. Each day they begin to under-stand that if some of that cash accidentally slipped into their pock-ets, no one would ever know.

Then they come in to count their till in an office with brokendesks and chairs, dirty tables covered with boxes of half-eaten piz-za and sugar from donuts (yes, I have been in your garage). The

have noticed in my travels that the attitude ofparking facility staff changes from location tolocation. I have tried to get a sense of why thesame people in one location have “up” attitudes

and at other location affect an“attitude.” After literally yearsof sniffing around garagesacross our fair land, I have atheory.

Working conditions make all thedifference.

In one garage in a Midwestern city, I suggested to the ownerthat we rebuild the garage office. The staff had been working outof the exit booth, which was larger than normal, but certainly notbig enough for the manager, accountant staff, and cashier/customerrelations personnel.

We doubled the size of the office, bought new furniture,installed central heating and air conditioning, re-did the restrooms,and provided a bit of coffee and bottled water.

The change in attitude was immediate. The staff thought that

PT The Auditor

IAn Auditor Cares About theColor of the Office Walls?

“Treat me like dirt and I’llreturn the favor.”

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downs? The rain gear – does itreally keep off the rain and snow,or is it the cheapest some purchas-ing agent could find? Does thestaff have good shoes or boots ifthey are required to work in thesnow and wet? Why not supplyboots to those who need them?

Here’s another idea: In somelocations, I suggest that rather thanfive 8-hour shifts, the employeeswork four 10-hour shifts. It’s ofteneasier to schedule, and theemployees love it. They get threedays a week off, and if we do itright, they get them in a row. I’veseen staff fight for these shifts.

Oh, and when you do redeco-rate, let the employees have a sayin colors, selection of furniture,window treatments and the like. Itwill become “their” office, not“your” office where they work.You will see a lot more care andattention being given to the prop-erty if you involve them in theprocess.

Let’s not forget the surfacelots. Does the staff have access torestroom facilities? I know manyplaces where they are forced to usedumpsters for this purpose. Oftenthe staff are forced to make“deals” with local businesses touse their restrooms. That’s all welland good, except when the busi-

ness now comes over and wants priority and lower-priced parkingfor its employees and customers.

Have you thought about this issue, and do you really knowwhat your staff do to survive out there?

I know that if I had no facilities available to me, I might lookto other ways to supplement my income.

That portable restroom suddenly doesn’t look so expensive.And who knows, your patrons might appreciate it, too.

I like to use the term “mitigate employee dissatisfaction.” Anytime you can spend a bit of money and provide a better workplace,you have helped to make a better employee, a better organizationand a better business.

Woof!PT

desks were last used by Eisenhower and MacArthur when theywere captains. They are in a cold, cramped, crowded office wherethe paint is peeling off the walls, the ceiling is chipped and theplace is a mess.

Their attitude: “No one seems to care about the place, whyshould I care about the money?” Or: “Treat me like dirt and I’llreturn the favor.” Frankly, it’s hard to disagree with them.

Spending a few thousand on new furniture, a clean, secureenvironment, and some paint can return more than just goodwillwith your employees; it can return cold hard cash.

Look at the most successful organizations with low-paidemployees (Wal-Mart is a good example). The folks there are car-ing, happy and enjoy their jobs. But their working environment istop of the line. It doesn’t stop with the parking office or booth.What about uniforms – do they fit and are they new or hand-me-

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New ProductsAUTOVU SHARP: THE LATEST INLICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION

Genetec, a pio-neer in IP securitysolutions and atechnology leaderwithin the physicalsecurity industry,has released the

AutoVu Sharp, an IP-based license plate recogni-tion (LPR) appliance that delivers advanced digitalvideo processing and superior plate-reading per-formance. Its ruggedized design is ideal for outdoormetropolitan environments.

Used in applications including law enforcement,surveillance and access control, the AutoVu Sharpis available for fixed and mobile installations.Additionally, it provides the advantages of havingsophisticated analytics residing on the edge, as wellas simplified installation and configuration, andreduced network load and head-end processing.

The AutoVu Sharp boasts unequalled precisionas it automatically reads plates of parked or movingvehicles up to 140 mph or 225 km/h. This ruggedLPR device also has the ability to read licenseplates spanning two lanes of traffic and is availablein a variety of configurations, depending on the spe-cific needs of each application.

For more information, log on to www.parkingtoday.com and click on “Marketplace/New Products.”

WORLD’S FIRST CONTACTLESSCREDIT CARD PARKING METER

The Visa “payWave,”which is undergoing trials inLondon, will be fully opera-tional on the Metric Parkingstand (No. 01110) at 2008Intertraffic Amsterdam. Thecontactless credit card,which will be demonstratedto visitors using a specialversion of the Aura pay anddisplay machine, is a part-nership between MetricParking and CreditCall.

The contactless card has been introducedespecially for low-value transactions where theuser needs to pay fast. Parking is seen as aperfect application for the new cards, whichbring exceptional convenience for motoristswho simply want to park and pay as quickly –and easily – as possible.

The payWave offers users a superior alter-native to all existing payment methods, includ-ing coin, mobile phone, and even traditionalchip and pin credit cards, while having the low-est cost of implementation due to the simplici-ty of the card reader.

For more information, log on towww.parkingtoday.com and click on“Marketplace/New Products.”

LIGHTEDMETROBOLLARD

Ideal Shieldhas added theLighted MetroBollard to itsBumper PostSleeve Line. Itfits over exist-

ing 6” diameter posts, stands 57” highor can be cut to custom heights, and isavailable in a variety of colors. Poweredby UV LED technology and made fromLDPE thermoplastic material, it is animpressive and cost-effective way toprovide accent lighting for walkways andentrances. Through the darkest, cloudi-est, snowiest and foggiest days of theyear, the UV LED light will charge. TheLED light provides 100% energy savingsand has an three-year warranty, makingthe Ideal Shield Lighted Metro Bollardnot only environmentally friendly, butalso providing beauty, protection andaccent lighting to your facility for yearsto come.

For more information, log on towww.parkingtoday.com and click on“Marketplace/New Products.”

public funds (i.e., not in parking garages paid for by userfees).

It seems to me to be sensible that all infrastructureshould be paid for by the folks who use it. For instance, inWashington, DC, 37% of the people don’t own or drivecars. Why should they pay for the parking spaces used bythe other 63%? Here in LA, I almost never go downtown, orto Hollywood, or Brentwood or Westwood, so why should Ibe charged for the parking spaces on the streets of theseareas of the city?

If the folks who park in front of my house every day(and, including the side street, there are about 10 per day)were charged $25 a week to park there (get a permit, usecellphones, whatever), that’s $13,000 a year. On my block(completely around all four sides), there are about 80spaces used periodically for parking. Now that’s 100 granda year. If that could be collected and used to repair thestreets that haven’t been repaired or paved in more than 30years, fix the curbs that are crumbling, replace the burned-out street lights, paint over the graffiti – well, you get thedrift – what a wonderful world it would be.

For you greenies out there, maybe my next-door neigh-bor would figure out that he didn’t need four vehicles andsell one of them. Or the guy down the street who has fivebroken-down Camaros, perhaps he would find that rotatingthem on and off the street would be just too much work anddonate a few to charity.

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An apartment building cattycorner from me hasunderground parking. However, I suspect that a number ofthe folks don’t park underground because it’s more con-venient to park on-street. Perhaps charging would moti-vate them to use the parking provided. (I think some of it isstack parking, and, of course, no one wants to have tocome down and move their car so another can get out, orperish the thought, think about it ahead of time.)

Perhaps if folks had to pay to park their cars at home,they would consider using the bus that stops 300 feet fromour front doors and can deliver us to within a few blocksof half the city. Then when the buses were at full ridership,the expansion of a light rail would be more economicallyfeasible.

Charging for on-street parking begins to nudge ustoward solutions to so many urban problems – congestion,pollution, infrastructure costs, rapid transit, and the like.

All for charging for parking in front of my house.

‘Parking wars’ – boring realityI note that reality shows (such as “Parking Wars”) –

where there is no script and thus no writers to strike, plusno leading actors to get outrageous salaries – are verypopular with the networks. They are inexpensive to makeand there seems to be no end of people willing to makecomplete fools of themselves. Having now actually seen



New ProductsMOUNTING SYSTEM TILTS SURVEILLANCE CAMERA ANGLES

Mounting System Tilts Surveillance Camera Angles Dotworkz introduces the E-Z Lock Pole Mounting System

that employs a tilt-and-locking mechanism to enable the posi-tioning of surveillance cameras at the exact viewing angle need-ed to compensate for slanted poles or walls, or to set a camerato monitor an upward/downward application, such as an escala-tor or cars traveling on a steep hill.

Precision fabricated from rugged 18-gauge steel, the E-ZLock is compatible with virtually all camera enclosures frommajor manufacturers, including the Dotworkz D2. It is exception-ally easy to install, requiring only a standard screwdriver, plus it

offers the versatility of fitting to poles with diameters ranging from 1” to 2.5”.


CARL WALKER CONSTRUCTION’S NEW WEBSITE Carl Walker Construction, experts in parking garage construc-

tion, repair and waterproofing, and design build, has unveiled itsnew corporate website. Designed as an information resource forcurrent and potential clients, it features video messages fromthe firm’s president, Leonard Tsupros, as well as case studiesshowcasing company projects, testimonials from clients and cur-rent project updates. The website also details information on thedesign-build process for parking garage construction.

The site features an “Ask the Expert” section that allows potential customers to completea simple questionnaire and receive information that’s specific to their parking garage construc-tion needs, which can help determine the type of parking structure that is right for them.


STACO FIRSTLINE 924 PROVIDESCOST-EFFECTIVE EMERGENCYLIGHTING POWER

Staco EnergyProducts Co. introducesthe FirstLine 924 three-phase UninterruptiblePower Supply (UPS) cen-tral emergency lightingsystem for 8-16 kW appli-cations. This true online,double-conversion centralinverter provides comput-er-grade power quality forany lighting system,including incandescent,

electronic fluorescent ballasts, high-intensity dis-charge (HID), high-pressure sodium (HSD), andmetal halide (MH).

In addition to providing a continuous 90-minute(minimum) power supply during blackouts, theFirstLine 924 isolates and protects the connectedload from damaging sags, swells, harmonics, noiseand voltage imbalances in the primary AC supply.Isolating the connected load from irregularities in theprimary AC supply can significantly increase the lifeexpectancy of lighting systems and reduce the long-term cost of ownership.

For more information, log on to www.parkingtoday.comand click on “Marketplace/New Products.”

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drug dealers, this is probably the closestthey come to regularly dealing with thelegal system. And they hate it. The problems are all those of the Philadel-phia Parking Authority, the mayor, thepoor signage, but certainly there is noconceivable way that the problem istheirs.

Remember, 90% of the cars that areparked illegally are never given a ticket.That means we are training the citizenryto “roll the dice.” Chances are that youwill get by with it. Think about the num-ber of times you have returned to anexpired meter or overstayed the two-hourlimit and there was no ticket on your car– 9 out of 10. It’s worth “giving it a shot.”

Personally, I think we should bootevery car that has one or more outstand-ing tickets, and tow them if there are two.It won’t stop the complaining, won’t stopthe caterwauling, but it will get a lot ofcars off the streets. That would be a goodthing.

On “Parking Wars,” the bootingcrew has the most contentious job, par-ticularly in rough neighborhoods. In one

incident, they found an offending carand felt fairly comfortable booting itsince a dozen U.S. marshals armedwith M16s were nearby taking downa miscreant for some infraction orother.

As for “Parking Wars,” I don’tsee it having the popularity of, say,“Survivor,” “The Great Race” or“Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grad-er?” You can see yourself in theseshows. It’s difficult for people, Ithink, to completely relate to the nincompoops who act like idiotswhen they obviously have steppedover the line.

My guess, “Parking Wars” willbe gone by summer.

Artist, stick to your brush ...

Some of these blog entries were inMarch. You could have read them then,and commented if you liked, by loggingon to www.parkingtoday.com and click-ing on “blog.” JVH updates the blog almost every day.


“Parking Wars,” I will update you on theplot.

First, we meet the parking enforce-ment officers and find out a bit aboutthem. Then we hit the streets, either as acitation writer or on a “booting team.”The officers tell you about the neighbor-hood, wave at people, and deal with nut-tos who have parked their cars illegallyfor weeks. Some citizens take their medi-cine with aplomb; others cry, threaten,and otherwise mug for the camera.

Back in the office, folks line up topay their fines and collect their cars thathave been towed. This is where the aver-age IQ of parking scofflaws comes to thetop of the list. They are there to pick uptheir cars. They are ready to pay a $200fine. They find that they need to showproof of insurance and that the car isregistered to them.

One guy was irate because his insur-ance was lapsed, and a woman had togain access to her vehicle to get the reg-istration. One more problem – the regis-

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tration was lapsed. So she called hergramma in Florida, who went online andpaid the Pennsylvania vehicle’s registra-tion. As soon as the payment showed upat the parking office computer, the carwas released.

That was it – people who think theyare above the law, that the no-parkingrules didn’t apply to them, people whosimply disregard the tickets and drive off,leaving the ticket in the street. In mostcases it’s not just the parking citation,but the onion peels back and we findunregistered, uninsured and many timesunsafe vehicles. If people ignore thesmallest of rules, and most easy to fol-low, why not ignore the rest.

Frankly, after the first 10 minutes, Iwas bored. It was the same old same old– same complaints, same dumb reasons,same epithets.

Most of these folks were poor. Mostof them grew up in a society where theyweren’t expected to take responsibilityfor their actions. For those that aren’t

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a parking lot of savings 2008, pages 33-48.pdfthat trades at an ev to ebitda of around 11 times or...

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