Europe ClosesDown One thing I did realize during our talkswas that, althoughwe


are all Europeans and all in theory exchange ideas via our nation- al organizations and the EPA at the biennial EPA Congress, park- ing people in the different countries do not really talk to each oth- er. I have sown the seed of a Europeanmeeting programatwhich, in a low-keyway, people canmeet to talk and share ideas. Perhaps this is something for you, John, since I don’t think


the EPA will, and any national association attempting this would be seen as trying to usurp the EPA role? I don’t usually comment on thingsAmerican – that’s JVH’s


job – but I saw something recently the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper that rang a bell. “Barbara” wrote to the Click and Clack auto column about her experience parking on a hill (I think you have some of those in SF). She had parked her car and visited a nearbymuseum.While


she was gone, her car had started to roll, and a Good Samaritan had blocked the wheel to stop it. Tom and RayMagliozzi went on to explain good practice for parking on a hill. Some years ago here in the UK, she who must be obeyed


borrowed my shiny new redVolvo to visit a friend who lived on a hill.When she came back, no car. She thought that it had been


Tur ning parking innovations into realit y


          


             


Frank O’Leary, Treasurer Arlington County, VA


                           


                  


                  


             


     the 21st Century parking pass iPark 


                 


SEPTEMBER 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com 45 Your full-service


solution for:    Site civil engineering Feasibility studies     Parking structure design Parking revenue control Condition assessment   Sustainable design


stolen, but a passer-by pointed her to the bottom of the hill, where the car was lodged against a tree. The front had been pushed in 18 inches, but being aVolvo, it was still driveable. The tree was alongside one of the busiest roads in the area


where if the car had carried on, it could have caused a really bad accident, so things could have been a lot worse. Unfortu- nately, the insurance company had no sense of humor, andwhen I filled in the “who was driving at the time of the accident” box with “no one” they got really sniffy. Wokinghamis a typical small English town nearme. In the


town center, there are 240 street parking spaces where you can stay for a maximum of 30 minutes for free. The trouble is that no one makes sure that the rules are obeyed, so parkers stay for as long as they want. The council is proposing to levy a charge to solve the problem. Now we can argue the rights and wrongs of free parking,


but I don’t think that’s the issue here.The parking is for 30min- utes, and the council has the power to regulate it and to ticket offenders.They don’t do that because it’s “too difficult,” so they are going to charge the locals for their failure.


Continued on Page 46


Parking. And so much more.


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