POINT OF VIEW


T What’sNew?


BY JOHN VAN HORN


HE INTERTRAFFIC AMSTERDAM 2010 showin lateMarch should give us some idea of what we will be seeing at the IPI exhibition May 10-13 in Las Vegas.Themajor players (revenue con-


trol companies, on-street equipment suppliers) are the same, and theirwares on display, for themost part, are the same.


Sowhatwas newat Intertraffic?Not a heck of a lot.Most of


the features were cleaner, better, faster, prettier versions of what was seen two or even four years ago. I was impressed with a parking guidance systemfor garages


that nowuses video tomonitor each parking space.With the LPR feature, you can key in your license plate number and it will tell youwhere you are parked. Itwas spun as “green” – park quicker, less pollution and fuel usage, etc. There also was a new gate. I recommend that you check it


out at the IPI show.Try to find themotor.Very fast, very rugged. I liked it. One emphasis, however,was different. Itwas “green.” Every-


where at Intertraffic, there was a “spin” that turned what you saw last year as a gizmo to help park cars or collectmoney into a giz- mo that saves electricity, lowers a carbon footprint, orwhatever. The push this year was power stations for electric vehicles.


This is a way to collect money from people who plug their elec- tric cars into outlets in the parking garages and charge the batter- ies while they are working or shopping or having lunch. It’s great – you use the ticket you pull on entry to turn on the electric “pump”;when you leave, you pay for your parking and your pow- er at the same time. The concept of shutting down pay-on-foot equipment when


not in use and saving powerwas neat, too.Of course, suppliers of pay-and-display equipment have been doing this for years. Everywhere I looked at Intertraffic, there were solar cells and charts showing howmuch energy was saved by using this or that company’s gear. As far as I could see, however, very few changes weremade


to the actual equipment (maybe some paint or a few words here and there); however, the PR folks and graphics designers had a field day. IPI Executive Director Shawn Conrad and BonnieWatts, its


Sales&MarketingVP, were there. It’s been years since the Inter- national Parking Institute sent someone to Intertraffic. It was great to see themwaving the red, white and blue. But outside of a few here and there who were employed by


the exhibitors, Shawn and Bonnie nearly doubled the number of Americans attending. Bob Caplin of Next Parking and his wife were the other two. Oh, and John Hammerschlag was in atten- dance, looking for ideas for his next garage. OK, I’m sure there were others, but I didn’t see them. Manufacturers spend big bucks on Intertraffic. Some of


8 MAY 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


the booths cost more than a quarter of a million dollars. No lie. The parties in the evening rival the “after” parties at theAcad- emyAwards. Plan to attend IntertrafficAmsterdam 2012. It’s worth the


trip, even if you spendmore time looking at the Rembrandts than at the exhibit hall. “International” is going to be the parking industry watch-


word for the coming years. Expect to see parking events in Chi- na,Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, Brazil and theMiddle East. These will be “new” events and will begin to bring parking information to countries that really need it.


*** I wasn’t going to comment on this, but I just can’t stop


myself. I attended a very fancy dinner the other night at one of the most expensive hotels in Beverly Hills. The “do” was put on by The Rosenfield Forums, a program of the UCLA School of PublicAffairs. It appears that the funding group supports, with apparently a lot of money, forums of public interest across the country. Fair enough. This one startedwith the dinner on aThursday night and then


held forth on Friday with presentations by four academics, a pub- lic sector administrator and a think tank founder. FormerMassa- chusetts Gov.Michael Dukakis was in evidence. He is a visiting public policy professor with UCLA’s Department of Urban Plan- ning. Plus, LAMayorAntonioVillaraigosa spoke at the forum, and California state Sen.Alan Lowenthal addressed the dinner. From my point of view, everything was as expected. During


cocktails before dinner, I was able to chat informally with Sen. Lowenthal and his wife, Dr. DebbieMalumed. They were nice people. Probably wouldn’t have minded to have had a drink or two with themafterwards. Here, is my “however …” Lowenthal spoke at dinner for


about 20 minutes, and frankly I was amazed.. He spoke in vague generalities, defended the California Legislature, which has a reputation only slightly better (or worse) than the U.S. Congress, and spoke mostly about getting projects that cost money through the Legislature. Huh? The state of California is bankrupt. It has nomoney.There is


nothing to spend. But I guess Job 1 in Sacramento is finding places to spend money. (BTW, his wife, who sits on boards and commissions aswell as being anMD, had just returned fromDC, where she lobbied and, according to her, got funding for some project or other.) But back to Lowenthal’s talk. Doesn’t anyone understand


that there is no money! We are in a recession. We need to do things to get business back on track. These legislators are simply oblivious to it all. Don’t getmewrong, I’mnot saying that Sen. Lowenthalwas


alone in his comments. He got a rousing round of applause from the professors, grad students and local government bureaucrats that filled the roomand dined on lobster, prime rib and finewines


Continued on Page 10


AndWhat’sGreen…


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