Author: Ben Verdugo, Dixon Resources Unlimited

Politics and Parking can have a profound impact on how we manage parking operations on a day-to-day basis. Top-down policy decisions at the state and federal levels can significantly improve or impede how municipalities plan, budget, resource, and implement various mobility parking programs and projects.

When legislative actions improve parking management, parking efficiencies are improved through overall utilization and compliance, but a utility benefit is an increase in parking revenues. Revenues that can be reinvested and redeployed for mobility and parking initiatives can allow a municipality to reserve funding for large-scale capital projects and multi-year mobility programs.  For example, in Philadelphia, Bill No. 230489 allows the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) the use of camera-based parking enforcement technology on buses to target illegally parked vehicles blocking transit stops and bus lanes with the goal of decreasing traffic congestion and improving traffic safety. According to a recent story published by Technical.ly, an online news organization, in other cities where this camera-based technology is already deployed, 9 out of 10 drivers who receive a violation ticket did not receive a second one.

When legislative actions make parking management burdensome, local parking programs are left with administrative and programmatic challenges that severely hamstring budgets, staffing resources, parking availability, and overall customer satisfaction. Legislators in California, via Assembly Bill 1022, have been proposing to eliminate municipal authority to tow or immobilize a vehicle for five or more unpaid parking citations and increase the number of unpaid tickets that prevent people from renewing their vehicle registration from one to six. Although it was held in committee last month and is considered dead, chances are it could be reintroduced in January or February of 2026. If approved, this could severely impact parking availability, safety, City budgets due to a lack of revenues, and overall compliance.

Another bill in California that was adopted and went into effect on January 1st  of this year, California's "Daylighting Law," officially known as Assembly Bill 413, prohibits parking within 20 feet of crosswalks, whether marked or unmarked. Although the aim of this bill is in the right place by seeking to reduce vehicle vs cyclist and pedestrian collisions, cities are now faced with having to update signage, stripe curbs, remove paid parking, change enforcement coverage, and all the management and resourcing that comes along with this bill. As of now, while some cities have made progress in proactively managing their curbs, others are challenged by resource restrictions.

So, as parking professionals faced with policies and bills that are handed down from the top, what can we do? Besides growing thick skin and being adaptable, we strengthen our impact through:

• Learning about the process and who has influence

• Seeking to understand diverse stakeholder motivations

• Helping to define unintended operational consequences

• Positioning ourselves, agencies, or departments as trusted resources

• Tell our stories with good data

• Joining the conversation with other Parking Professionals!

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References

Huffman, Sarah. “Next Week, AI Will Start Issuing Parking Tickets in Philadelphia.” Technical.Ly, Technically Media, 2 May 2025, technical.ly/civic-news/ai-cameras-septa-ppa-tickets/.