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Recognizing Parking Industry Professional Excellence

L.A.’s Ken Husting and Conduent’s Matt Darst win IPMI awards

Ken Husting, Principal Transportation Engineer for the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and Matt Darst, Director of Curbside Management for Conduent Transportation, recently won recognition for their bodies of work in the parking industry.

Both gentlemen were acknowledged with separate Professional Excellence Awards for Innovation during last December’s 2021 International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) Parking and Mobility Conference and Expo, which was held in Tampa, Fla.

IPMI is the world’s largest association of professionals in parking, transportation, and mobility. The IPMI Parking and Mobility Conference and Expo brings together professionals representing every level of experience and segment of the parking, transportation, and mobility industry. This annual event advances the parking industry by providing networking, education and industry recognition, along with the largest display of parking and mobility technologies, and the opportunity to connect with the global parking community.

About the IPMI Awards

Ken Husting received a Professional Excellence Award for Innovation for his work in the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) Bureau of Parking Management, where he led the implementation and expansion of LA Express Park, the nation’s most advanced congestion management program. Husting has helped transform parking citations processing for the city, implementing creative payment relief programs, including a Community Assistance Parking Program (CAPP) that helps motorists experiencing homelessness to settle unpaid parking citations through community service, for example. During the early days of the pandemic, LADOT extended the due date for parking citations and imposed a citation penalty freeze. Additional amnesty and penalty waivers for unemployed motorists also reduced financial burdens for drivers in need.

Matt Darst received a Professional Excellence Award for Innovation for his continuing efforts to leverage advanced analytics to help improve equity, accessibility and sustainability in municipal curbside management operations. During the pandemic, he has been focused on repurposing curb space and reimagining loading zones to help cities better optimize curbside management. Darst also devised opportunities for municipal government agencies to ensure social equity and accessibility for marginalized and underserved communities. His use of advanced data analytics models have helped local governments better manage resource allocation to ensure balanced and fair enforcement.

The 2021 IPMI professional recognition awards underscore the ongoing need to focus on accessibility and equity in parking enforcement. “It has been an honor to be acknowledged by IPMI for my work and that of my team’s efforts. LADOT’s amnesty program reduced penalties for almost 500,000 delinquent citations over three years. Our continuing partnership with Conduent Transportation brings valuable benefits to our city, to motorists, and to our ability to manage demand for available curb space,” LADOT’s Husting stated.

 “Sometimes disadvantaged motorists are excluded from policy discussions about the curb. As more and more cities begin to rethink curb lane optimization, they’re thinking about how data can be used to make curb management more equitable and sustainable,” said Conduent Transportation’s Darst.

In 2022, Conduent Transportation will continue working to bring greater accessibility and equity to state and local parking operations around the world. Upcoming in May, Darst will moderate an IPMI panel discussion about social equity and the curb entitled “Impartial Parking Policies and Curbside Equity.” IPMI members can register here to attend the virtual event on May 4, 2022 at 2pm EDT.  

In the meantime, it’s important to acknowledge the progress made, especially in cities including Los Angeles and Chicago, which also won an IPMI 2021 Award of Excellence for its data-driven programs to reform parking fines and enforcement that help reduce disproportionate financial impacts on marginalized and low-income families.

Here’s to good health and success in the year ahead -- to our clients, everyone in the parking industry, along with the people and communities they serve.

 

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