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President's Message
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Greetings SWPA Member,
Well, it's been a great couple of months with the SWPA Scholarship Golf Classic and Front Line Training in Arizona, and the annual IPI conference in Dallas. These events were enjoyable, seeing and talking too many of our colleagues. For anyone that did not have the opportunity to attend either of these events, we hope you are able to make it next year. The Golf Classic and Front Line Training once again was a tremendous success, providing financial support for future scholarships.
As a result of our new Emerging Leader Scholarship program recently established with IPI providing matching funds, we were able to award two scholarships to the IPI annual conference. The recipients of these scholarships were Albert Gonzalez from ASU's Polytechnic Campus, recipient of the IPI Emerging Leader Scholarship, and Laura Wilburn from the University of Arizona, recipient of the SWPA Scholarship. Congratulations to both of you.
This coming fall (September 23–26) we will be hosting the 7th Annual SWPA parking conference and trade show at the Arizona Golf Resort in Mesa, Arizona. This annual event provides our members the opportunity to learn new information from the many concurrent presentations and attending exhibitors. If anyone has a presentation they feel would be of interest to our attending members we would welcome the submittal to Theresa Fletcher at Theresa.Fletcher@asu.edu. Heading into Las Vegas' summer heat I will be more than ready to join everyone in Mesa. We will provide more details over the next couple of months.
Tad
Tad McDowell |
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Parking In The News
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Tasers used to settle parking dispute
COLORADO – Two Colorado men tried to settle a parking lot argument using Tasers.
Harvey Epstein, co-owner of Mamacitas restaurant and Casey Dane, a supervisor with Colorado Security Services, hit each other with Taser guns over an argument after Dane clamped the wheel of a vehicle parked behind the Epstein's eatery.
While both Epstein and Dane had their hands on pistols, they hit each other using stun guns. Neither man needed medical attention after the incident, according to the Associated Press.
Colorado Police Sgt. Pat Wyton told the Camera, "It was just kind of a bonehead deal."
Motorcycle, Scooter Riders Ask Dallas for More Parking
DALLAS – As more people turn to motorcycles and scooters to save gas money, a group of Dallas motorcycle riders has started an online petition for more parking. With gas prices going up, the motorcycle industry reports increased sales of fuel-efficient motorcycles. Dallas riders such as Jeff Floyd and Raine Devries, who ride their bikes all over the city, said Dallas does not have enough parking.
"There's no place to park," Floyd said. "There's designated compact car parking; there seems to be an influx of SUV parking, but there's really nothing to address the motorcycles and scooters," Devries said. As more bikes and scooters hit the road, parking spaces fill up. "We're going to see more and more problems with parking," scooter owner Louis Giamalva said.
Devries started an online petition asking the Dallas City Council to create more parking spaces for two wheels. Devries said riders would rather park in smaller spots instead of parking in a spot big enough for a car. "We would like to have designated parking so that we don't have to commandeer so much space," she said.
Floyd said he has run into problems while parking in a car parking spot. "I've actually had people try and move my bike before," he said. "They'll actually try and physically scoot the bike over." At last check, more than 300 motorcycle owners have signed the petition. The city council has yet to respond to it. Private companies such as the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas are considering adding motorcycle parking to cater to their guests.
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SWPA Member News
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| Pictures from the
2nd Annual Scholarship Fund Golf Classic
and the Front Line Staff Training |
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Conferences and Event Information
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2008 SWPA 7th Annual Conference and Trade Show
September 22 - 26 at the AZ Golf Resort in Mesa, AZ
The Toledo Ticket Company & Pictoform - Presidential Partners
Hotel Reservation Information - For Hotel Reservations and information, please call 1-800-528-8282 or
1-480-832-3202. When making your reservations, be sure to reference the 2008 Southwest Parking Association (SWPA) Conference.
Room rates: Deluxe Room ($110 + tax); One-Bedroom Suite ($130 + tax): Premium One-Bedroom Suite ($170 + tax) all single occupancy and $15 + tax for additional adult.
For additional conference information, please contact Gabe Mendez at (480)
890-2613, or at gabe@downtownmesa.com.
For the World Travelers in SWPA
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Technology Update/Vendor News
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Near Field Communication (NFC): How it might change our daily lives.
Haven't heard of NFC? Well, you are not alone. Many people are asking "What is Near Field Communication?". In a nut shell, NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology standard designed for intuitive, simple and safe communication between electronic devices. NFC communication is enabled by bringing two NFC compatible devices within a few centimeters of one another. Applications of NFC technology include contactless transactions such as payment and transit ticketing, simple and fast data transfers including calendar synchronization or electronic business cards and access to online digital content.
This technology is designed to make purchases, accessing facilities and transportation systems, and getting information on the fly much easier. Consider the intuitive simplicity of holding an NFC-enabled mobile phone close to a terminal to purchase products or services – just touch and go. Think about how easy it would be to set up your wireless home office just by holding your PC, keyboard, display, and mouse close together. Imagine downloading an MP3 of your new favorite song in seconds while you're on the road. How would you like to stroll right into a sports arena without needing paper tickets? Consider how simple public transportation would be without cash, cards, or tokens.
Millions of people around the globe already have experience with NFC-enabled products and services. In Europe and Asia, trials of this new technology have successfully illustrated how people carrying mobile phones or smart cards with built-in NFC can make purchases, get directions, exchange information, and buy transportation simply by bringing them close to NFC-enabled devices embedded in:
- Parking access systems
- Information kiosks
- On-street meters
- Retail registers
- Advertising signs
- Street posters
- Vending machines
- Thousands of other devices, systems and signage
Rapid progress has been made since 2004 toward an NFC-enabled world. Strategy Analytics forecasts mobile phone-based contactless payments will facilitate over $36 billion of worldwide consumer spending by 2011. According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, one third of all mobile phones will be NFC-equipped in a span of three to five years.
NFC Forum members are developing products that enable consumers to pay for physical goods, enter controlled environments like arenas or parking areas, and access digital services anywhere, at any time, using any NFC-Forum-compliant device. Keep your eyes and ears open because soon you will be seeing this new technology in many applications. The leap to parking systems is easy to imagine.
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| Just for Laughs |
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