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“The university is a series of individual entrepreneurs held together by a common grievance about parking.” Clark Kerr’s observation from his time as Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley still rings true. Decades later, parking remains one of the most persistent sources of frustration on college and university campuses. Students circle lots looking for spaces, faculty want reliable access near offices and classrooms, visitors struggle to understand where they can park, and administrators are left balancing competing needs with limited resources. What has changed since Kerr’s era is the technology available to manage parking. Yet many universities still rely on physical permits, spreadsheets, and manual processes that no longer align with the expectations of modern campus communities. Parking has become part of the daily campus experience, and outdated systems can undermine that experience before the day even begins. University parking is inherently complex. Faculty, staff, resident students, commuters, athletes, and event attendees all have different needs, usage patterns, and expectations. Managing these demands fairly with legacy tools almost guarantees confusion and dissatisfaction. Cloud-based digital parking management platforms are built to handle this complexity. They provide flexible tools that adapt to different user groups and demand patterns, while offering online self-service for permits, payments, and renewals. Automation reduces errors, eliminates the cost and waste of physical permits, and frees parking staff from routine administrative work. Financial oversight improves as well, with automated reporting and account-level tracking across departments or campuses. Rutgers University’s digital parking management program illustrates the impact of this shift. By moving to a modern cloud-based system, the university was able to combine permit types, enable online transactions and system-wide access, improve event and guest parking, and gain real-time data for planning and pricing. Compliance improved, complaints declined, and parking became more predictable for users. For many people, parking is their first interaction with campus. Digital parking management helps ensure that experience is efficient, transparent, and far less frustrating, turning a long-standing grievance into a strategic operational advantage. Click here to read the Parking & Mobility magazine article. Chris Perry, PTMP, is the Senior Vice President of Parking Base. He can be reached at chris.perry@parkingbase.com.

If the past several years revealed anything about urban mobility, it’s that the curb has quietly become one of the most politically charged, economically valuable, and publicly visible pieces of city infrastructure. Leaders from Austin, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. participated in IPMI’s Building Blocks webinar, where they shared how curb space has transformed from simple parking real estate into a multi-use frontline for transportation, commerce, and public life in their cities. In the not-so-distant past, the curb was a brief pause. A moment between where we were and where we were going. We parallel parked the car, checked for signs, maybe paid a meter, then went on to our destination. Much has changed. The once quiet edge of the street is now a full-blown stage for rideshare zones, sidewalk cafes, e-commerce deliveries, bike lanes, EV charging, micromobility, and bus priority projects. As Ken Hustings noted, curb space has become so valuable that a meter rate increase in Los Angeles was not only acceptable; it helped the city preserve staff positions during a fiscal crisis. The public’s relationship with the curb shifted in a very real way during the pandemic. As downtowns emptied and front doors became loading docks, people noticed just how much work the curb was doing behind the scenes. Take-out, package deliveries, and temporary restaurant patios all depended on it, and when it wasn’t managed well, the impacts were hard to ignore. David Lipscomb, Washington, D.C.’s curbside manager, recalled that this moment was eye-opening for residents. A minor inconvenience had quickly become a safety and access issue as delivery vehicles stacked up, cafe tables spilled onto sidewalks, and curb space was pushed to its limits. The public began paying attention to what mobility professionals had long understood: unmanaged curb space creates chaos. Awareness is just the first step. Turning that awareness into better outcomes requires updated policies and a different kind of leadership. Today’s parking and mobility professionals aren’t just managing assets; they’re also storytellers, educators, and coalition builders. Joseph Al-Hajeri, Austin’s Park Enterprise Manager, described his role as “getting the public to nerd out” about curb management using data, pilots, and transparent communication so that complex policy becomes shared understanding. In today’s rapidly evolving mobility landscape, the curb has become the new City Hall: a high-stakes, high-visibility arena where decisions play out block by block. And those who manage the curb are emerging as some of the most influential communicators shaping urban policy and public understanding. Maria Irshad, PTMP, MPA, is the Deputy Director for The City of Houston (ParkHouston). Maria can be reached at Maria.Irshad@houstontx.gov.

We received so many great responses to the January/February 2026 question that we wanted to share them all!

In 2023 my home state of Minnesota adopted the “Safety Stop” or “Idaho Stop” for bicycles.  This allows bicycles to treat a stop sign like a yield sign.  So if no one is coming, the bike can roll through the intersection.  It was interesting to hear the feedback from regular vehicle commuters who’s first reaction was often along the lines of, “That can’t be safe.  Why do bicycles get to break the law?”  While there is a good amount of data to show that overall this is safer for cyclists, another advantage is better flow for regular vehicles.   When presenting information to groups of people that you are trying to convince it is helpful to frame it with the benefits to the individual person.  Someone that hasn’t commuted on a bicycle and maybe hasn’t ridden one since childhood probably doesn’t think much about how traffic flows with bicycles.   So the next time someone says bikes should obey all of the traffic laws of a car, ask them to think about a situation where they are behind a bike. With a safety stop, the bike is able to proceed through the intersection and is out of their way before they need to navigate the intersection.  They don’t need to wait behind the bike as it stops, then gets going again, possibly a little more wobbly for a few feet until they are out of the way and you are able to navigate the intersection. For thoughtful motorists, understanding the positive benefits to themselves and overall traffic flow can help turn them into allies. Ben Schnabel, PTMP, is an Assistant Director for Parking Operations at the University of Minnesota. Ben can be reached at schna015@umn.edu.

Share: David M. Feehan A Tribute and Reflection By This tribute article honors a good friend of the parking industry, Mr. David M. Feehan. I was introduced to Dave in 2003. Dave was president of the International Downtown Association at that time. A colleague of Dave’s who ran the Downtown Business District in Long Beach, CA, had become aware of a planned parking study to be put out to bid by the city. He suggested that if we were to pursue this study, adding Dave Feehan to our team could benefit the research and ultimately the entire downtown. Incorporating a process Dave had developed that he called the “Advisory Panel Process,” Long Beach turned out to be the first of 15 such partnerships that included communities as diverse as Houston, TX, Provo, UT, and Providence, RI, to name a few. David Feehan is a world-recognized expert in downtown revitalization. For more than 50 years, he has provided leadership and management to successful downtown and business district organizations, founded and directed a technical assistance center for community development organizations and a public policy organization, authored numerous books and articles, and taught at two universities. He is often quoted by news media throughout North America and elsewhere. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings both in the U.S. and internationally, including speaking engagements in Turin, Quebec, and Taipei. Dave also provides consulting services to many government agencies, organizations, and associations. He has served on numerous boards of directors and has chaired the boards of the International Downtown Association, the Responsible Hospitality Institute, and other organizations. As the chief executive of three downtown organizations and one community development corporation, Dave managed major real estate and infrastructure projects, successful business attraction and retention programs, and an award-winning parking system in Kalamazoo, MI. As the chief executive of two technical assistance centers, he provided organizational development, marketing, fundraising, and other management support to more than 500 nonprofit organizations. As a consultant, Dave helps downtowns, business district organizations, units of government (and even a few parking systems) develop visions and missions, strategic plans, innovative programs, and transformational processes. As an author and professor, he co-edited and wrote the most widely recognized textbook on downtown management, Making Business Districts Work, and is a frequent contributor to journals and trade publications. As I began to focus on the relationship between downtown management and parking, I became involved with Dave and the International Downtown Association (IDA). Parking was almost always a significant and challenging issue in downtown environments. After several years with IDA on advisory panels and working with downtowns across the U.S., I was invited to be on the IDA Board. The Advisory Panel Process Dave developed a unique public engagement process that he called the “Advisory Panel Process.” Dave used this charette-like planning process with downtowns of various sizes and complexity to address issues such as homelessness, retail revitalization, and a host of other downtown management issues. Together, we also used this process to significant effect regarding downtown parking. The experience of these three- to four-day panel processes generated deep dives into each of the 15 or so communities we engaged with. I think those most impacted by these truly exceptional experiences were myself and the three or four invited “experts” that we would recruit for each panel. These were active parking/mobility program managers/directors who each had excellent and replicable programs from around the country. Dave continues to shape the industry through his consulting practice and ongoing participation with the IDA, the Association of Town Centre Management in Europe, and many other organizations that call on Dave for guidance and technical expertise.  One example of this that I participated in directly was Dave’s leadership of the Symposium on Urban Space Management (Simpósio de Administração Compartilhada de Espaços Urbanos) held in Maringa, Brazil, in 2010 (see above). In summary, Dave is the consummate professional, a recognized industry leader, and a person deeply admired and respected by clients, colleagues, and peers alike. He is respected both for his expansive knowledge and genuine concern for others. On a personal note, I feel deeply fortunate to have had the privilege of working with Dave on more than 20 projects over the years. Thank you, Dave, for your many contributions to making our urban centers (and a few parking programs) more vibrant, better-designed, and better-managed. Table of Contents