Despite previous warnings issued to Canadian owned parking management company Impark and Bay Street by the Emeryville City Attorney and the EPD, they have continued to issue parking “notices” on vehicles parked in the metered spots behind the eastern section of shops. KTVU 2 Investigates has exposed the illegitimacy of the metered parking notices that wrongfully imply an actual affiliation with the City and EPD.
2,130 of the $60 tickets were issued by Impark last year and apparently 47% were actually paid (The notice provides the incentive of a $30 “discount” if it is paid within 30 days). “They seem to be intimidating people and trying to get money and almost extorting money from people” commented S.F. resident Kevin Toda in this video interview. Enforcement of the City-Owned strip between the main shopping areas is the responsibility of the EPD despite an attempt by Bay Street to take over parking enforcement here. Bay Street & Impark, responding to this criticism after this segment, have temporarily suspended issuing these notices.
2 Investigates: Company issues private parking tickets despite warning to stop
By Simone Aponte
2 Investigates exposed a Canadian company issuing its own parking tickets at an Emeryville lot, despite warnings from the city that private businesses are not legally allowed to give citations. Impark, which operates lots across North America, argues that the company-issued tickets are not technically citations, but “notices” of a debt owed to the corporation by drivers who violate their parking terms or overstay their meters.
Frustrated customers contacted 2 Investigates after receiving $60 tickets from Impark at a metered, privately-owned parking lot near Emeryville’s Bay Street shopping district. The so-called E-meter lot is located underneath the main parking structure east of Bay Street, which is accessible from Christie Avenue. The upper levels of the lot require drivers to take a ticket from an automated machine, drive through a barrier gate, and pay parking fees upon exiting. But the E-meter lot, located in a loading zone beneath the main structure, does not offer drivers timed parking slips. Instead, drivers who park there pay coin-only meters.
Impark’s spokesman said the company was hired to enforce parking regulations in the structure by Bay Street’s property management company, Madison Marquette.
Read More on KTVU.com →