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Parking as Economic Stimulus05-14-09 | News

Parking as Economic Stimulus

The International Parking Institute estimates the ?EUR??,,????'?????<

It?EUR??,,????'?????<www.parking.org. The institute has members from 18 countries, including suppliers and operators. The institute also certifies administrators of public parking.

All organizations shorten their names to an acronym, and they all have an annual conference. The IPI annual meeting is May 17-20 this year in Denver.

You may wonder what the estimated 1,600 people who will attend this gathering will discuss. Well, the message this year is parking lots as part of the economic recovery. First off, you have to realize the ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Downtown parking, in particular, is a source of revenue for cities and plays a large role in economic development. Cities also tax businesses that manage parking lots, and those taxes have risen. There have been proposals in some cities to eliminate those taxes in central business districts on weekends.

With fewer people going out to spend their money, even the parking industry is in a slump, but drivers aren?EUR??,,????'?????<

Chicago has leased its parking meters to a private operator in a 75-year agreement, and thus raising more than $1.1 billion to help ride out the economic downturn. In the Loop downtown, the hourly rate just rose from $3 to $3.50, and neighborhood parking meter rates just climbed 400 percent, from 25 cents to $1 an hour. (Ed?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Colorado Convention Center in Denver will be charging the parking conventioneers $10 to park in their garage. A few parking lots in downtown Denver have reportedly cut their daytime rates by a buck, from $8 to $7.

The 2009 conventioneers will attend such sessions as collecting fees by phone, credit cards and online. There will be a session on managing congestion. This is a good one. This editor once sat for an hour trying to exit a 5-story parking lot because there was only one exit open and each car had to stop at the gated booth.

And finally, even this convention present awards?EUR??,,????'?????<