Greetings SWPA Member,

I can’t believe we are already seven months into the year. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Recently I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my career and current job, and have come to the conclusion that having fun is vital to success. If you don’t enjoy your job and the people that you work with, it’s hard to come to work each day. The Southwest Parking Association has allowed me to meet many friends in the industry and has created a new group of people that I enjoy working with. Fortunately, my employer has allowed me this opportunity and has also surrounded me with wonderful people to work with.

As our Annual Conference and Trade Show approaches I would encourage you to consider the benefits of networking and creating relationships with others in our industry. This in conjunction with the formal informational sessions that we offer will make for a very well rounded conference.

The conference committee has been working diligently to make your conference experience as enjoyable and beneficial as possible and they deserve recognition for that. Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to the plate and volunteered to serve!

I look forward to seeing everyone in October. In the meantime, enjoy the summer and hopefully you are in cooler weather than I.

Jim Sayre

President

P.S. Please accept our apologies for not publishing a May newsletter. With IPI and several other industry events in May it was a busy month and as such we were not able to get the newsletter published. We hope to be back on track with our monthly publishing.

Chevron, Fresno State Partner in Solar-Power Parking Project
(Special thanks to Gabe Mendez for his submission of this article)

Construction has begun at California State University, Fresno on a solar panel-topped parking structure system being built by Chevron Energy Solutions, a Chevron (NYSE: CVX) subsidiary, that will be the largest of its kind at any university in the United States.

Photovoltaic panels installed atop 10 metal shelters that will shade more than 700 parking spaces from the San Joaquin Valley sun, will convert the sun's energy into 1 megawatt of electricity. That's about 20 percent of the university's base demand and equivalent to the power needs of 1,000 homes, said Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Fresno State vice president for administration and chief financial officer.

The $11.9-million project received approval from the California State University Board of Trustees last summer and is scheduled for completion by this fall.

The work will be done in phases to minimize the impact of parking lot closings on students.

Phase 1 will start with renovation of the south part of student parking Lot V, which is at Woodrow and Shaw avenues, directly west of the Student Recreation Center, said Bob Boyd, associate vice president for facilities management.

University Police Department is working with the contractors and Save Mart Center officials to minimize the impact of the project on big events at the arena by opening some of the construction area to parking. Most events, however, occur in evenings when there are the fewest students, faculty and staff on campus. A substantial part of the work will occur after Commencement (May 19) and the end of spring semester classes, which decreases parking demand.

Using alternative power will ease the burden on local power supplier Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and the entire California power grid, especially during peak electricity demand periods such as those that occur during very hot weather. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption by power generating plants.

Fresno State President John D. Welty said the solar power project is "a great example" of the university's goal to "lead the way in helping to advance sustainability initiatives and utilize scarce natural resources."

"Solar power is an important resource in the global energy portfolio," said Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions. "Through this project, Fresno State is demonstrating that clean, renewable power is commercially viable and growing in demand."

The photovoltaic solar project is in keeping with our Strategic Plan and is part of our comprehensive Campus Master Plan currently in progress.

"The Strategic Plan addresses our need to become a more environmentally aware campus by expanding recycling, sustainability in building design and construction, improved energy efficiency and environmental education," said Teniente-Matson.

This project also is integrated with the educational mission of the university, aligned with the College of Engineering and the Physics Department. In both of those areas, an information kiosk will provide online, real time status of the photovoltaic production, conversion and electricity output.

"All aspects of this project will expand and enhance our campus education on sustainability and our community's knowledge of solar energy while reducing our energy cost for the next 30 years," said Teniente-Matson.

The solar-power project is just one of the university's "green campus" initiatives, many of which are part of the Campus Master Plan, which will guide development of the 363-acre academic campus through the next decade and beyond.

Parking is a major consideration in the master plan as the university seeks to add spaces to meet growth needs, but not at the expense of committing more than the current 75 acres devoted to parking.

Josh Kavanagh

One of our current board members and long time SWPA member Josh Kavanagh has left the University of New Mexico and also the Southwest region. Josh and his family decided that the warm sunshine of New Mexico and the Southwest was too much for them so they decided to move up to the 'drizzly' Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle, Washington.

Josh has accepted the position of Director of Transportation Services for the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. His department is part of the University Facilities Services organization. In his new role Josh will oversee parking, shuttles, transit contracting, motorpool, solid waste, recycling, surplus, and moving/storage.

Josh has promised to stay involved in SWPA as much as he can and we look forward to his continued support of the organization.

Everyone at the Southwest Parking Association would like to pass along our well wishes to Josh and his family as he embarks on his new venture. Josh, best of luck to you with your new opportunity at the University of Washington, go Huskies. And a note from the editor - it really doesn't rain that much - it's the little secret of those that live in the PNW that helps keeps the outsiders away - it's a wonderful place to call home.

Additional Member News

The SWPA board is interested in hearing from those within the membership that have some exciting news that they'd like to share with our membership. If you have had something excited happen to you recently or your organization (job change, promotion, project success, etc.) we'd like to hear from you. In addition if you have recently read any articles that you feel would be of interest to our membership we'd like to hear about those as well.

Our goal with this section of the newsletter is to pass along news that is happening within our membership and to have others share in the successes of our membership. Please send any news or information that you'd like to share to Todd Dorsey at tdorsey@t2systems.com.

In addition if you have recently read any articles that you feel would be of interest to our membership we'd like to hear about those as well.

Thank you, we look forward to hearing about all of the exciting things that are happening within our membership.

SWPA's Annual Conference and Trade Show 2007 will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2nd - 4th, 2007, the week leading to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. But it's not just a bunch of hot air...it will be three days of the best educational programming for parking and transportation professionals in the Southwest.

We will enjoy golf at the University of New Mexico's Championship Golf Course, a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, and dinner at the International Balloon Festival Museum - make your plans to join us!

A CAPP Seminar will also be offered at this conference and trade show. The seminar is yet to be determined. Please visit www.parking.org/seminar for more details regarding the CAPP seminar.

Hotel Update - Based on the overwhelming interest in this year's conference - held in conjuction with the Albuquerque International Ballon Fiesta and a CAPP two day seminar - the SWPA is moving the conference to a larger facility.

The Association would like to express it's gratitude to our new and former host facilities for their efforts to address our needs during one of Albuquerque's busiest hotel weeks.

Our new host facility will be the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid, which is also the official host hotel for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The Marriott has provided for an expanded exhibit hall and larger room block while honoring our original conference rate of $129 per night, including the first weekend of the Balloon Fiesta. This rate is $50 - $100 less than comparable rooms anywhere else in town during the Fiesta so book early and stay late - even our expanded room block will go quickly.

To book your room please contact the hotel directly at 1-800-262-2043, mention the group code - SPASPAA - for the promotional rates that are mentioned above.

You can find additional information about the hotel at www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/abqmc-albuquerque-marriott-pyramid-north/

Sponsorship Information - If you are interested in being a sponsor for this event please contact Jim Sayre, President at (602) 543-3206 or Gabe Mendez, Treasurer at (480) 890-2613. There are many wonderful sponsorship opportunities still available and we appreciate the continued support from our sponsor organizations.

Registration Information - This information will be available shorlty on our website.

For additional conference information, please contact Mike Torrez at (505) 924-3942, mltorrez@cabq.gov or Josh Kavanagh at (206) 685-1567, joshkav@u.washington.edu.

Photo Violation Technolgies Helps to Revitalize Niagara Falls
Parking Network, June '07

Photo Violation Technologies Corp. (PVT) is looking forward to beginning their first citywide trial in Niagara Falls.

The city is currently in midst of a multi-million dollar revitalization process to re-establish itself as the premium North American tourist attraction. Niagara Falls is building new conference centers, enhancing green space, developing new commercial properties, and putting in new walkways. The city wants to compliment the redevelopment of the historical site with tourist friendly technology. This led Niagara Falls to Photo Violation Technolgies and the PhotoViolationMeter (PVM), the parking meter that people are calling The Worlds Friendliest Parking Meter."

The first wave of PhotoViolationMeter machines are already installed, and ready for public use. Tourist will get to enjoy the convenience of user-friendly options such as: the Every Way to feature, which allows drivers to make payments through cash, credit card, debit card, smart cards, and their cell phone; the No Fine feature where drivers can swipe their credit cards and choose to let the meter add time automatically, denying the risk of violation; and the Grace Periode feature that will allow drivers to pay for time they over parked instead of receiving a violation.

The PhotoViolationMeterPBS will make its debut in Niagara Falls. The PBS is the first and only self-enforcing multi space parking meter on the market. Niagara Falls will be the first city in the world to use the PhotoViolationMeterPBS, which can handle over 100 spaces, and offer the same user-friendly features of the PVM