POINT OF VIEW


The IPI, Parking Free and Free Parking


BY JOHN VAN HORN T


HE IPI SHOW IN DENVER WAS grand. If this iswhat newExecutiveDirec- tor Shawn Conrad and his crew have in store, the IPI ismoving out.


Jim Hunnicutt dropped by our booth at the IPI to say hello.


He accused me of being famous. I told him that he was the famous one; I was just notorious. Jimis one of the founders of the IPI.He said thatwhen they


had their first show, there were four companies that put their wares on card tables. The IPI has come a long way, baby. Jim said that technology has moved so far along that he’s not sure what a lot of the things in the room do.A wonderful, charming man, JimHunnicutt. Where do you network at the IPI? It’s not in the meeting


rooms; it’s in the bars, around the booths and even on the street. I walked through the lobby of the


Hyatt Regency, the main hotel for the conference, and ran into half the Fed- eralAPD sales team; they were head- ing out for a sales conference. Jack Provencher of Federal was talking to Ruth Beaman of IntegraPark. Jack ran off to the meeting after Joe Wilson and Bob Kane hurried through, spilling tidbits about 13 under being the winning number in the golf tour- ney and that Bob had won the “longest drive” trophy. Ruth, her partner Kyle Cashion and I went into the bar for a


“RecessionMitigation.” The local authority is balking since it would cost about $50,000 in decreased revenue each year. From the city’s point of view, that’s a bad thing. The merchants are saying that their customers complain


about parking costs and that free parking would bring in more business. I wonder if the merchants have considered the fact that free


parking would also bring in folks who aren’t customers, but just want a place to park for free – employees, sightseers, those visit- ing friends, and the like.What will they do if instead of people complaining of paying for parking, they complain of no avail- able parking? I have not heard of a placewhere “free” parkingwas institut-


ed that business increased. In virtually every case, increased busi- ness was related to better stores, prices, more reasons for people to come downtown.


If the merchants are so worried,


Robert, Rick and Frank all had BlackBerries, which went off with e-mail simultaneously.


soda – yes a soda – and were joined at one point or another by RobertMilner fromthe University ofMaryland, Baltimore; Rick Decker from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport; and Frank DelMonico, this year from Laz Parking. Everywhere you turned it was parking, parking, parking. Robert,Rick and Frank all hadBlackBerries,whichwent off


with e-mail simultaneously. It wasAndy e-mailing them to be sure to checkmy PT Blog and to check for the ShowDaily News, an e-magazine that we put out every morning during the IPI show. Now that’s goodmarketing! Back at the setup, it was coming down to the wire. I found a


Luke P and D machine by Digital sitting in an aisle three away from their booth. It was heavy, and I wondered how it got there. No one seemed to know, except that it was bound for StreetS- mart, where they have some sort of business relationship. Nine- teen folks fromthe union showed up and it wasmoved.


*** It’s a tangled web they weave ... when they demand “free”


parking. Macclesfield, in England, is considering “free” parking on Saturdays. The local merchants are demanding it as part of


6 JULY 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


why not have a pile of pound coins and give them to people who com- plain. Problemsolved. OK, that wouldn’t work since I


would simply walk up the street com- plaining at every store. However, cer- tainly a “validation” type of program wouldwork, and I’msure the P andD supplier could help with a “two-part ticket,” one for the car and one for val-


idation, or to give to the merchant to get a pound or whatever. Problemreally solved.


*** Alternative-fuel vehicles get “free” parking?Well, they are


thinking about it in Estes Park, CO, which is somewhere near Boulder. The proposal is to select a few parking spaces and reserve


them for alternative-fuel vehicles. There is some discussion that would allow drivers of these vehicles to park there all day long, while those drivingBelchfire 12swill have normal parking times. By the way, the city of Cincinnati is considering allowing


electric cars to park for free. How many are there in the Cincin- nati area? Eight.Will it never end? OK, say we allow high-mileage vehicles to park all day for


free, thus taking themoff the road.But the low-mileage SUVs, of which there are many in that area of Colorado, have to move on and spew their poison into the air. Also, what is an alternative-fuel vehicle? Is it a hybrid?


There are Lexus hybrids that don’t get 30mpg.What about pedal power? CNG, LNG, body fat, electric? Iwonderwhether the idea shouldn’t be based onMPG, not the type of fuel. There are gas- powered vehicles that get 50mpg.Why shouldn’t they qualify?


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