Alternatives coming for payment at Charlottesville’s municipal garages

The City of Charlottesville has ordered new equipment for the two municipal parking garages to offer an alternative way to pay to store vehicles.

In December, parking operator Metropolis began using a new system called Computer Vision which allows for exit and entry after users have entered their credit card number, license plate number, and telephone number. Their privacy policy lists a wide range of data that may be collected including biometric data generated through facial recognition software.

Albemarle County resident Alicia Lenahan said she was concerned any data might be used by the Department of Homeland Security to locate immigrants, noting the city has already shut down Flock surveillance cameras and opted not to use a software package called Peregrine.

“Of particular concern is DHS access to biometric and location data,” Lenahan said. “You are naive to accept security assurances from yet another tech company.”

On January 5, Charlottesville Economic Development Director Chris Engel told City Council that the city will buy two new kiosks to provide an alternative to those concerned that Metropolis may be collecting and selling data based on the virtual transactions powered by AI.

“You still have to enter your license plate, but you don’t have to register with a system, so to speak and do it on a QR code,” Engel said. “So we think that will give a different option and alleviate at least some of the concern that we’ve heard.”

How did we get to this point?

Some history

Charlottesville has been involved with downtown parking since 1975 when the garage on Market Street opened for business. For many years, the city partnered with the private Charlottesville Parking Center who operated a surface lot on Water Street. The city and CPC turned that space into a second parking garage that is run by the city but the land underneath is still owned by the private company.

In August 2014, local business owner Mark Brown bought the company from shareholders.

“Then there was a change in ownership at CPC and there was a change in outlook on that relationship internally,” Engel said.

CPC sued the city in March 2016 alleging that the city was conspiring to keep fees at the Water Street garage below market-rate. Decisions were governed by a 1994 agreement that allotted the eight seats on the board of directors according to a percentage of ownership. The city initially held a majority of seats but Brown purchased enough spaces to cause their control to drop below the threshold.

Brown hired former Mayor Dave Norris to run the CPC and also threatened to close the Water Street garage if the dispute wasn’t resolved. The city countersued alleging breach of contract when CPC bought 106 spaces from Wells Fargo.

In the meantime, City Council adopted a parking plan in November 2016 that included the purchase of two commercial buildings on Market Street for the purposes of building a new garage. This included an ill-fated pilot of parking meters on downtown streets that began in September 2017 but abandoned before its completion. The city also abandoned the new parking garage after opposition from members of the Charlottesville Planning Commission. The city still owns the two lots.

Charlottesville and CPC settled in July 2018 that required Brown to sell some of the spaces back to the city. The city would take over management of the garage but CPC would continue to be paid for a ground lease for the underlying property.

The terms of the ground lease required the condominium association for the Water Street Garage to begin paying the CPC a market rate to rent the land beginning in 2023. In August 2024, City Council agreed to pay at least $1.8 million a year.

The next operator

Before the settlement, the city hired a firm called Lanier Parking Systems to operate the Market Street garage while CPC continued to run the one on Water Street. A company called Reef Technology purchased Lanier in 2018 during the contract.

“The parking industry is rapid, rapidly consolidating and whatnot,” Engel said.

When the contract ended, the city put out another request for proposals and the contract was awarded to a company called SP Plus in 2023. That firm has since been bought by Metropolis but the city alone sets rates. The company installed a new system in December.

“The system involves a camera, optical character recognition and or license plate recognition to start and end a parking session,” Engel said. “The previous system, you had to stop, put down your window, grab a ticket, and the ticket started your session. And then you had to put that ticket back in the system on the way out, along with your money to fulfill that session.”

Engel said the new system is easier and more efficient and is not unlike the same kinds of systems that power rental scooters. He said people do not need to put in their name, but do need to put in a credit card number, a phone number, and a license plate. Engel said the HUB Parking Technology Datapark systems purchased in 2019 for $350,000 used thermal imaging printers that were at the end of their useful life. He said the company has not been good at servicing the equipment.

“We had one cash machine at the Market Street Garage at the elevator area that had been out for about six months prior to our transition last week,” Engel said. “And that was because of an equipment piece that couldn’t be replicated. They’re not making the part for it anymore. So they basically kind of have to harvest parts from other older machines and try and make them work. And they were just unable to do it.”

Engel said parking companies are moving to software-dependent systems rather than ones that use physical equipment. The city paid $85,000 to install the system that Metropolis uses.

Engel apologized for some businesses not knowing about the transition.

“We did not engage our business partner, Friends of Downtown Charlottesville, as well as we should have until it was basically launch time and it was a little late,” Engel said.

Engel said about 8,000 people have signed up since the new system went operational. He said users do not have to download an app because the system will know who they are when they drive in. Engel also told Council that people can use cash to pay as there is an attendant on site, but acknowledged that depends on staffing. The kiosks will arrive in about a month.

Engel said the system does not collect any biometric information and there’s no facial recognition. He claimed any data collected is only used to facilitate a parking session.

“It’s literally only like 6 inches around the rear license plate,” Engel said. “It’s not even the front. There’s no side views. There’s nothing like that. Some companies are doing biometrics, but we are not. Metropolis is probably experimenting with it, but it’s not part of their contract here and it’s not in place here.”

Engel said Metropolis has to comply with all federal, state, and local laws. He said they do not sell any of the data they collect and people can opt to have their data deleted. He said that class action lawsuits against the company apply to situations where Metropolis provides enforcement functions.

“I would also say that to date, our experience with the local staff and with the Virginia SP + Metropolis staff has been positive,” Engel said. “They’ve been quick to rectify any issues. There were a couple on day one where the wrong rate was charged, full refund was given within the day, and that that has happened and they have been responsive.”

City Councilor Michael Payne said he did not like the Metropolis’ Computer Vision system in the same way he did not like the Flock system of license plate readers intended to assist law enforcement track suspects.

“I think it’s a system that just makes people’s lives marginally worse, sacrifices their data and doesn’t provide them a benefit,” Payne said. “It is just advanced private equity profit. And the business model is very new and explicit of establishing a nationwide monopoly in parking management, using AI to mass surveil customers and then monetizing it.”

Payne pointed to the company’s data policy which indicates that biometric information can be collected, as well as other data that the company says they have the right to sell. Engel said he thought their policy was hard to decipher.

“I haven’t been through the whole thing word for word, but I’ve asked the specific questions that we’ve heard of which you’re reflecting in your concern, and they’ve shared the link again where you go to opt out,” Engel said.

Councilor Lloyd Snook also had concerns about the collection of data.

“If we assume that the only purpose for which data will ever be used is to try to figure out how to charge somebody for parking, number one, I think that’s hopelessly naive,” Snook said.

City Manager Sam Sanders said the intention was to address a need.

“There have been many complaints about interfacing with the parking garage,” Sanders said. “This was viewed as a way to do it better. I recognize that the challenge of technology is a bit problematic, and we’ve been in that conversation.”

Sanders said the city will continue to monitor the situation.

Interested in the history behind this article? Here are some previous articles written by me and others:

Relevant articles:

• Brown’s buy: Charlottesville Parking Center sale finalized, Courteney Stuart, C-Ville Weekly, August 12, 2014
• Charlottesville Parking Center files lawsuit against Charlottesville, Sean Tubbs, Charlottesville Tomorrow, March 14, 2016
• Management could close Water Street garage over suit, Chris Suarez, Charlottesville Daily Progress, April 19, 2016
• City files countersuit against Charlottesville Parking Center, Sean Tubbs, Charlottesville Tomorrow, April 29, 2016
• City Releases Parking Action Plan And Announces Key Property Acquisition, Council press release, November 15, 2016
• City to purchase Guadalajara and Lucky 7 property to expand parking, Aaron Richardson, Charlottesville Tomorrow, November 15, 2016
• Truce: City and Mark Brown settle parking garage dispute, Lisa Provence, C-Ville Weekly, July 25, 2018
• Charlottesville PC recommends adjustments to FY22 capital budget, including defunding parking garage, Sean Tubbs, Information Charlottesville, February 10, 2021

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