Thursday, November 15, 2012

C  I  T  Y    O  F    A  T  L  A  N  T  A

Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell convenes meeting to discuss a number of on-going concerns with the City’s parking enforcement program

ATLANTA – Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell convened a meeting on Monday, November 5 at Atlanta City Hall to discuss the City’s parking enforcement program with representatives from Park Atlanta, a subsidiary of Duncan Solutions.

The meeting was a part of a coordinated effort to address continued challenges related to the parking program, and to respond to the lack of customer satisfaction with the program.  Meeting attendees included representatives from the Mayor’s office, a representative from the Department of Public Works, Public Safety Committee Chairman Councilmember Michael Bond and Councilmember Kwanza Hall.

During the meeting attendees discussed a number of issues and areas of concern including: 1) operations and procedures, 2) enforcement equipment, 3) innovative measures to improve the customer experience and 4) customer education.

Council President Mitchell expressed concern over the outdated equipment being used to collect fees during the meeting. He stated that the single space coin meters are difficult for customers to utilize, resulting in lower participation and greater non-compliance.

“In order for the parking program to be successful, emphasis must be placed on facilitating the payments of reasonable parking fees versus exploiting the trap of extracting fines, “ said Council President Mitchell. “I firmly believe that we can improve the program and customer experience through equipment upgrades and leveraging technology.”

Some of the new and innovative payment methods include a payment by phone option, the creation of a monthly parking pass, the installation of more multi-space parking meters, and the use of credit /debit card enabled single space meters. Mitchell also encouraged greater customer transparency through the use of the Park Atlanta website.

Monday’s meeting is a part of a coordinated effort by Council Members to enhance the customer experience with parking within the city.

Councilmember H. Lamar Willis introduced legislation to amend the current contract with Park Atlanta during Monday’s full City Council session. The amendment is designed to revise and improve the operations of the city’s parking management program, improve processes and how Park Atlanta responses to customers.

“I look forward to working with Council Members Michael Bond, Kwanza Hall, the administration and Park Atlanta as we roll out these enhancements to help address some of the challenges citizens currently have with the parking program in the City,” Mitchell said.  “We will continue to meet to develop specific yet implementable measures to improve our city’s parking enforcement program.”