City of San Mateo Parking Program Update
City of San Mateo Parking Program Update
San Mateo, CA – The City of San Mateo often reviews programs to ensure their efficacy and reevaluate how we can better serve the community as a whole. In 2018, the City of San Mateo was met with a significant level of community dissatisfaction regarding its parking enforcement efforts, and we responded to the community’s needs after listening to advice on where the program needed to be. As a result of the lack of emphasis on enforcement, the City received feedback from the community and did a comprehensive deep dive into reshaping how we enforced parking. A team of City staff looked at enforcement models in other cities, listened to community feedback, and evaluated best practices in order to start rebuilding the parking enforcement program.
In response, City Council conducted a study session in January 2019 to discuss parking enforcement. The session revealed significant challenges, including staffing shortages that resulted in a lack of directed enforcement. Additionally, there were concerns that the current level of enforcement was not sufficient to best meet the needs of the community. Based on the staff’s study, several improvements were recommended to City Council to meet the needs of our community.
City Council directed the San Mateo Police Department staff to pursue a hybrid staffing approach, utilizing a mix of City and contracted enforcement staff to enhance service delivery and frequency of enforcement. Additional recommendations included crafting a model that would re-invest existing revenue, maximize the number of contracted employees, and incorporate technology where possible.
The City also weighed the impact of increased parking enforcement on low-income populations by adopting a low-cost parking permit option to better support low-income workers in the entire downtown area. The Downtown Parking Permit allows qualified low-income individual to purchase an all-inclusive parking permit for $40 per month to park all day in certain City-owned parking facilities.
Serco was the company selected as the original contractor to provide parking enforcement services. The contract was executed in November 2019 and Serco (later renamed LAZ Parking) commenced enforcement in the city in late February 2020. The San Mateo Police Department continues to oversee the program and provide direction to LAZ Parking based on community feedback and the needs of the city.
In addition to providing parking enforcement services, LAZ Parking monitors equipment and signage, reports on damage observed, and performs other duties as needed, such as traffic control for the City and operational support at special events. We learned the new level of service exceeded prior levels and was more in line with expectations of our community.
As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. At that time, the City elected to suspend most parking enforcement outside of enforcement related to safety and accessibility issues. During this period, parking enforcement officers were directed to provide education over enforcement, resulting in a significant number of warning citations being issued in 2020-2021. Even with the temporary suspension, the City saw an increase in citations in 2020-2021, which was the direct result of contracting with an external service provider who was able to service the expectations of our community.
With COVID-19 restrictions being lifted in 2022, the City reactivated all parking rules and the service provider responded by issuing parking citations for community-initiated complaints, observed violations in the downtown commercial district, Residential Parking Permit Program zones, street sweeping violations, and other violations outlined in the California Vehicle Code.
While the increase in the number of citations is due to efficiencies created within the new program, the City has no quotas or goal metrics in citations. Bottom line, we are not in the business to make money from this program and revenue generation is not the intention. Please review the attached cost analysis for a better understanding of this service the City provides to its residents. The City measures its success by ensuring parking availability (especially in our business districts and residential zones), increased quality of life for our community members, and fewer complaints.
Based on feedback, the City of San Mateo re-engineered our approach to parking enforcement, designing a hybrid model that appears to be supported by community members. The model consists of scalable, contracted services to address downtown parking, our growing residential parking permit program, and other regular services; while retaining police-specific resources to handle abandoned vehicle abatement and other requests that might require a community policing-type response. Following a request for proposals (RFP) and evaluation process, LAZ Parking is responding to the needs of our community and they continue to evolve. Parking enforcement requests can be submitted to LAZ Parking by email at [email protected] or by calling (650) 398-3082. All abandoned vehicles must be reported online at https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/685/Abandoned-Vehicles.
MEDIA CONTACT
Alison Gilmore
Public Information Officer | Support Services
City of San Mateo Police Department
200 Franklin Pkwy, San Mateo, CA 94403
650-522-7626 | [email protected]
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Address/Location
San Mateo, CA Police Department
200 Franklin Pkwy
San Mateo, CA 94403
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 650-522-7700
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