Houston's Parking (and Pillaging) Commission
THE CITIZEN-LED PARKING COMMISSION: KPRC-2 recently ran a story about drivers complaining how their cars were being booted even though they had paid to park. Color us unsurprised; after all, Liliana Rambo's Parking Commission has been a disaster pretty much from the get-go. But buried in KPRC's story was this gem:
A company called Equipark is among the new players in the arena. Chief Executive Officer Joe Martin said, "We're doing anywhere from 30 to 60 boots a day."
He admitted that he helped craft the city's boot ordinance while serving on the city of Houston Parking Commission.
"It kind of dawned on me that there may be a business opportunity here," he said.
Martin said he stepped down from the Parking Commission before the City Council passed the law to avoid a conflict of interest.
Back in 2006 when Mayor White announced the formation of the Houston Parking Commission, he made a big deal of calling it a "citizen-led" commission, with nine mayor-appointed members. Joe Martin was one of those average citizens. And after Joe "Citizen" Martin helped create the city's boot ordinance, a little light bulb went off in his head and he said, "Aha! I can make some money!"
Why in the world didn't the city have commission members sign something akin to a non-compete clause? Or at least an I-will-not-benefit-off-my-insider-knowledge-clause?
We wondered back in 2006 why no local media was interested in checking out the new Parking Commission members, and now we are wondering HOW Mayor White chooses the commission members.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/22/09 04:29 PM | Print |
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