POWER OF THE PEOPLE
56 service providers throughout LA County to provide opportunities for CAPP participants. Husting was directly involved in the state Legislature’s draft of Assembly Bill 503 about the processing of parking violations. His thoughtful feedback helped shape the mechanics of the extended low-income payment plans, which became a requirement for parking programs in California. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it became apparent that LADOT’s parking program needed to offer additional payment relief programs. With the City Council’s approval, LADOT extended the due date for parking citations and imposed a parking citation penalty freeze. The department went even further, developing a package of COVID-19 parking programs that included a parking citation amnesty program, penalty waivers for the unemployed, and an incentive program for motorists who pay their citations early. Husting also authorized reduced parking meter rates in LA Express Park areas. The amnesty program reduced penalties for almost 500,000 delinquent citations over three years old with a reduction amount of $42.3 million.
PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Innovation
Matthew Darst DIRECTOR, CURBSIDE MANAGEMENT
Conduent Transportation Chicago, Ill. Before moving to the private sector, Matthew Darst was the first deputy director of revenue for the City of Chicago, managing more than 450 personnel. His reengineering of business processes and implementation of performance management systems led to increases in boot productivity and enforcement productivity and a reduction in meter repair time. At Conduent Transportation, Darst oversees an analytics team to improve customer convenience, increase parking revenue, and promote sustainability. He has been at the forefront of identifying, establishing, and implementing new and innovative ways the curbside and its enforcement can flourish. He has spent the past year focused on the use of the curb, COVID-19 responsiveness, and social equity. Darst led a team to reimagine the use of loading zones. Through advanced analytics and machine learning models, they recommended new measures to optimize loading zones. These 30 PARKING & MOBILITY / JULY 2021 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG
measures are expected to lead to a decrease in double parking violations, a decrease in traffic congestion, improved safety, more efficient commercial interactions, better retail and restaurant accommodations, and improved enforcement. During the complexities of the pandemic, Darst has sought to mitigate COVID-19’s spread through the use of curb repurposing, virtual transactions and hearings, and other reduced face-toface interactions. He has focused on how publicly available data proxies such as parking complaints can predict compliance with shelter-in-place protocols. He is also evaluating how parking complaints can determine when and where assemblies occur, potentially predicting where infections are more likely. Parking data also demonstrate when people will return to areas they once frequented and provide insights into areas that will be avoided. As local governments aimed to implement programs during the pandemic to ensure social equity and access to marginalized and underserved communities, Darst devised opportunities for these governments to engage affected communities in mutually beneficial ways. For example, the implementation of economic relief programs such as amnesties and self-enrolled payment plans have allowed consumers previously excluded (financial or otherwise) from compliance to reengage and provide a positive revenue stream to local governments. Darst has also used data and analytic models to detect and measure violation over-saturation in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods. These models have helped local governments better manage their enforcement schedules and resource allocations to ensure enforcement is fair and balanced.
PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Marketing
Lauren Santillana Berghell INTEGRATED MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
UCLA Transportation Los Angeles, Calif. Lauren Santillana Berghell leads a thriving marketing and communications team responsible for promoting UCLA Transportation’s broad portfolio of programs and services. With her marketing strategy geared toward encouraging alternative transportation, UCLA’s employee drive-alone rate has dropped to less than 48 percent—a university record.
