NOT LAVERNE & SHIRLEY’S CITY ANYMORE:

How The City of Milwaukee Improved Its Parking Operations

By Cindy Angelos

and

Paul Klajbor

Presentation Overview• Historical Look at the Operations

Organization and Review of New Technologies Implemented

– 1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities

– 1990’s: Unification and Integration– 2000’s: Further Unification and

Technological Revolution• Multispace Parking Meters

– Pilot Program– RFP Process– Pay by Space– Installation– Transition– Tips for a successful install

• Where do we go from here?

Historical Look at the Operations Organization

• 1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities– Traffic Engineering– Milwaukee Police Department– Department of City Development– City Attorney’s Office– Municipal Court– Privatized Vehicle Towing Contractors– Parking Commission Oversight

1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities

• Traffic Engineering– Meter installation,

maintenance & revenue oversight

– Administer parking garage leases or management contracts

– Administer & maintain metered and Permit (non leased) surface lots

1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities

• Milwaukee Police Department– Decentralized enforcement– Data-entered all manual citations– Collected citation revenue at districts– Staffed tow dispatch desk– Annually sold 160,000-180,000 night parking

permits– Staffed night parking permission desk

1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities

• Department of City Development– Leased out about 30 surface lots to local businesses

• City Attorney’s Office– Reviewed citations by up to 7 Asst. City Attys.– No access to citation database

• Private Vehicle Towing Contractors• Parking Commission Oversight

– Citizen board– Status Quo activity

1950-1989: Divided Responsibilities

• Results– No coordination or information sharing– Wrong information given to citizens– No preventative maintenance on physical assets– Parking rates not tied costs– Enforcement not a priority– Lead to revenue loss for meters, lots, permits,

garages and citations– Parking fund almost insolvent

The 1990’s: Unification and Integration

• Parking Financial Manager position created• Field staff moved from Traffic Engineering to

Administration• Leased Lots moved from Dept. of City Development to

DPW Administration division• Citation processing and revenue collection privatized• Tow impound lot de-privatized• Hand-held citation writers purchased for police controlled

civilian enforcement officers• Parking meter shop personnel moved to DPW

Administration division

The 1990’s: Unification and Integration

• Parking Financial Manager position created– DPW Administration division focus– To fend off financial insolvency of Parking Fund

• Field staff moved from Traffic Engineering to Administration– Oversaw garages, lots and meter layout and

collection

• Leased lots moved from DCD to DPW Admin– All parking lots under one division for accountability

The 1990’s: Unification and Integration

• Citation processing and revenue collection privatized– Removed police staff from administrative

procedures– Cost savings over manual process– Increased speed in processing citations– Dedicated customer service reps and

payment center collections

The 1990’s: Unification and Integration

• Tow impound lot de-privatized– Administered by DPW

Administration– Public accountability

improved– Costs reduced– Tow database created

to track all vehicles

The 1990’s: Unification and Integration

• Hand-held citation writers purchased for police-controlled civilian parking enforcement officers– To reduce illegibility errors– To reduce data entry errors

• Parking meter shop personnel moved to Administration Division– To increase accountability

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Parking Enforcement moved from Police to DPW• Tow dispatch moved from Police to DPW• Implemented IVR and web payment for citation

payment 24 hours a day• Created Citation Review Manager position in

City Attorney’s office• Enrolled in tax intercept program for unpaid

citations• “Notice of Appearances” and “Summons and

Complaints” commenced

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Replacement of cashiers with pay on foot technology in all 4 city garages

• Installed electronic kiosks for sale of night parking permits and citation payment

• Installed license plate recognition units on two enforcement Jeeps

• Implemented pay by space meters

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Parking enforcement officers moved from Police to DPW– Officers were centralized

for efficient deployment

• Tow dispatch moved from Police to DPW– Available to public 24 hours

per day– Increased customer

service by responding to specific citizen questions on parking

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Implemented Interactive Voice Response system and web payment for citation payment 24 hours per day– 173,745 citations paid in this manner in 2006

• Creation of Citation Review Manager position in City Attorney’s office– More consistent reviews made with access to citation,

permit and tow databases– Fewer voided citations– Paid with Parking Fund revenue

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Enrolled in tax intercept program for unpaid citations– From 2003-2006, $6.6 million intercepted– Representing 127,976 citations paid

• ‘Notice of Appearances” and ‘Summons and Complaints’ commenced– Forced scofflaws to adjudicate or take

responsibility for unpaid citations

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Replacement of cashiered revenue control equipment with pay-on-foot technology in all 4 public garages– First installation in Milwaukee

• Told it wouldn’t be accepted here

– Approximately $1.6 million using automated technology

– 34.2% using credit cards– Extremely happy with the installation– Other private garages switching to this technology

here

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Installed electronic kiosks for sale of night parking permits and citation payment– Issues permit and receipt with entry into real time database– Accepts cash, check and credit card with check black list

• Saves revenue loss

– Saves hundreds of hours of police time at 6 of 7 districts– High reduction in legibility/data entry errors for manual

entry– Valid permits downloaded into handheld ticket writers

every 24 hours– More than 50% of permits now issued via kiosk

The 2000’s: Further Unification and a Technological Revolution

• Installed license plate recognition units on two Jeeps– Downloaded into units:

• Night parking permissions• Stolen auto reports• Scofflaws of more than 3 outstanding citations older than 30

days

– Also use for non-metered time zone restrictions– Has helped locate violators much more easily– If state passes legislation that permits municipalities

to ticket legally parked vehicles with unpaid citations, technology will be extremely valuable

City of Milwaukee Parking Revenue1990 vs. 2006

2006 1990

Surface Lots $ 22,642 $ 184,900

Parking Permits $ 2,796,663 $ 1,643,400

Metered Parking $ 4,159,082 $ 1,833,500

Parking Garages $ 6,840,452 $ 3,211,300

Towing $ 5,825,028 $ 285,000

Miscellaneous $ 274,142  

 Sub total $ 19,918,009 $ 7,158,100

Parking Citation Revenue $ 20,444,892

Subtotal $ 40,362,901 $ 7,158,100

Transfer to General Fund & PILOT $ (16,167,299) $ (782,000)

Total Revenue Balance $ 24,195,602 $ 6,376,100

Milwaukee Parking OperationsMeters

• 6,250 metered parking spots– 5,950 on street metered spots

• 4,800 Duncan single space meters• 1,124 metered spaces served by 103 multispace

parking meters

– 300 off street meters

• $4.328 million in revenue in 2006

Multispace Parking MetersPilot Program

• Began looking at installing multispace parking meters in 2002

• In 2004 the City conducted a pilot program on Jefferson Street with pay by space Reino meters

Multispace Parking MetersPilot Program

• Program was a success– Showed the public would be accepting of

multispace meters– People loved the credit card feature

• Also showed some areas of concern– Previous numbering system was confusing to

some people– Inability to network the meters

Multispace Parking MetersRFP Process

• RFP- Request for Proposals

• Brought in consultants to assist in writing the RFP

• Months spent writing and re-writing the RFP

• Released in September of 2006

Multispace Parking MetersRFP Process

• Received 6 proposals• Scored all the proposals and narrowed the

list down to 4 finalists• Conducted a reference check of each

finalist• Brought each finalist before our selection

committee for a presentation– Use selection committee to get buy-in and

advice

Multispace Parking MetersRFP Process

• An “Apparent Successful Vendor” (ASV) was selected from among the finalists

• Automated Parking Technologies (APT) was the ASV

• APT was proposing Digital Payment Technologies (DPT) Luke meters

Multispace Parking MetersRFP Process

• One Luke meter was installed in January of 2007 for testing

• In February of 2007 the City signed a contract with DPT for the purchase and installation of 105 multispace meters

Multispace Parking MetersRFP Process

• Features of the Luke– Large bright screen– Networked meters– Receipt provided– Runs on windows program– Modular parts– Currently uses cellular

modems to communicate• May change to Wi-Fi or

RF communications in future

Multispace Parking MetersPay By Space

• Pay by Space meters– Most cities use Pay

and Display– Ours allow for easier

hooding for special events

– Snow in winter posed problems with painting street

– Chose meter marker design

Multispace Parking MetersInstallation

• Originally intended to be solar powered

• Changed to recharging off of the streetlights

• Required us to work with Street Lighting to install the meters

Multispace Parking MetersInstallation

• Downtown business district was targeted

• Selected best sites for installation– Looked for high usage areas– Looked for blocks that had more than 6

metered spaces

• Ultimately 103 units were to be installed with 2 units kept as spares– 1 Unit lost to an accident

Multispace Parking MetersInstallation

• Coordinated work between several parties– DPW Meter shop– DPW Street Lighting– APT install crews– DPT working on software

Multispace Parking MetersTransition

• Communication– Held kick off press conference

with Mayor’s office– Had articles on TV and in the

paper– Used City websites to promote

and educate the public about the new meters

– Had the downtown public service ambassadors handing out instructional brochures

– Had parking enforcement distribute instructional brochures

– Used BID districts to disperse information to their members

Multispace Parking MetersResults

• We average:– 3,700 transactions a week– About 25% of transactions use credit card– About 33% of deposits are by credit card

• Public response has been good– Like receipts– Like being able to pay from any meter– Like credit card feature

Multispace Parking MetersTips for a Successful Install

• We could have been improved– You can NEVER

spend too much time educating the public

– Informational stickers were added later

– Smaller first install to catch any and all problems

Where Do We Go From Here?

• Self clearing boots for vehicles if law changes?

• Update the technology for the Duncan meters still in use

• Continued deployment of multispace meters

• Pay by phone technology for meters

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

QUESTIONS?