Park Tucson wins 2016 Common Ground Award
Park Tucson wins 2016 Common Ground Award
Park Tucson, the City of Tucson’s parking division, was the recipient of a 2016 Common Ground Award from the Metropolitan Pima Alliance (MPA) on Nov. 4 at MPA’s 12th annual Common Ground Awards ceremony.
The awards recognize community leaders, development projects, and special programs that succeed by overcoming great obstacles through collaboration. Park Tucson won for collaborating to promote economic development in Tucson’s emerging urban center.
Park Tucson collaborated with a host of organizations, neighborhoods, businesses and individuals to improve and communicate the availability, convenience and value of City-managed parking in Tucson’s urban center; become more financially sustainable; and enforce parking regulations in a manner that complements and supports Downtown’s economic resurgence and growing popularity.
Park Tucson:
- Overhauled the access and revenue control systems at its five public garages – creating a simplified, more convenient and customer-oriented garage parking system.
- Replaced outdated coin-only parking meters in the Downtown area and University/Main Gate areas with “smart” meters that are powered by the sun, communicate with a computerized central management system and allow customers multiple means of payment, including the new GoTucson app.
- Collaborated with Sun Link and Sun Tran to expand Park Tucson’s parking meter payment app, “GoTucson,” to include streetcar and bus fare purchases. GoTucson is the first app in the world to allow customers to pay for both parking and transit.
- Collaborated with the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, individual businesses and three adjacent neighborhood associations to install “smart” meters in the 4th Avenue Business District – the first meters ever to be installed in the 4th Avenue District.
- Collaborated with the City’s Finance and Information Technology departments and City Court to implement a new hardware and software enforcement system that allows the division to collect fines through multiple payment options. This new system also contributed to the Mayor and Council’s reduction of all parking ticket fines by 29-34% by allowing Park Tucson to collect on-time payments and not charge processing fees.
- Collaborates with the City of Tucson Economic Initiatives Office, Visit Tucson, and Gem Show operators to bring a seamless parking and shuttle system (GemRide) to buyers and sellers at Tucson’s largest economic event, the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase. Conveniently located parking is linked to the shuttle system, which has seen steady increases in ridership each year since its launch in 2012.
- Collaborates with representatives of its 15 neighborhoods that participate in its Residential Parking Permit Program as well as businesses, Tucson Unified School District and the University of Arizona through a task force process to develop recommendations for improving the program, including strategies for making better use of restricted parking areas near business districts.
For more information, visit www.tucsonaz.gov/park-tucson.
The Metropolitan Pima Alliance is dedicated to advocating responsible development in the Pima County metropolitan area and furthering the interests of the real estate and development industry through education, public policy advocacy and networking.