Teamsters to Demonstrate in Support of Parking Contract

Local teamsters on Monday are planning to demonstrate in front of City Hall in support of a three-year $9 million contract with Parking Concepts Inc. that would bring all nine city-owned garages under the control of one management company. 

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m in front of City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave. The City Council is expected to deliberate on the issue at its meeting Monday, which begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Teamsters held a similar demonstration on Friday.

“The city will be awarding a parking management contract for Pasadena’s nine parking lots to one contractor,” said Beto Lopez of Teamsters Local 911. “By doing this, the city of Pasadena can save up to $2 million, according to two audits conducted in 2018 and 2019. The city conducted a request for proposals  (RFP) and evaluated various companies for this RFP and staff determined to recommend the contract to the parking company who received the highest score from the RFP’s panel as well as three Municipal Services Committee votes. One of the council members in the committee voted no against the staff recommendation and may try to award it to another company that ranked third on the panel’s evaluation.”

Teamsters Local 911 represents more than 4,500 parking attendants throughout Los Angeles County, including Pasadena.

Last week, the council’s Municipal Services Committee approved the Transportation Department’s recommendation for the city to enter into the contract with Parking Concepts Inc. for the management, operation and maintenance of all nine city-owned parking structures.

Currently, the parking garages are being operated by three separately contracted vendors.

The city owns nine parking garages located in the Civic Center and Old Pasadena areas. 

The three Old Pasadena garages (Schoolhouse, DeLacey, and Marriott) are currently operated by Parking Concepts, Inc., under a contract with the Old Pasadena Management District on behalf of the city. 

Five of the six remaining Civic Center garages (Holly, Paseo Subterranean, Los Robles, Marengo and Del Mar) are operated by Modern Parking, Inc., under contract with the city.

One Civic Center garage, Plaza Las Fuentes, is operated by ABM, under a contract with Downtown Properties on behalf of the city. 

In 2013 the city contracted Lance, Soll and Lunghard, Certified Public Accountants, (LSL) to conduct an audit of the city’s parking operations. On Oct. 20, 2014, the LSL audit recommendations were presented to the council’s Audit/Finance Committee. The audit recommended that the city should directly oversee garage revenue functions, both transient and monthly, to prevent any revenue loss.

“Combining all the garages under one operator will allow for a more efficient staffing plan that not only saves labor costs but also provides a more consistent positive customer service experience to the garage system patrons,” according to a city staff report.