Metro

The Altoona Parking Authority has a new day-to-day boss.

He is local native David Curtis, who has worked in parking operations for the city of Wilmington, Del., and in financial management for the city of Beverly Hills, Calif., and who takes over local parking operations in the downtown as a city employee.

Curtis is replacing Metropolis, a parking management firm whose contract the authority board voted to terminate last month, citing dissatisfaction due to issues that included public confusion about signs, repeated ticketing of a city worker who cleans the Transportation Center and tensions connected with a Metropolis request that farmers market vendors park in a spot that was inconvenient for them.

The dismissal seemed to shock Metropolis employees last month, and they didn’t comment at the time, but on Tuesday, Metropolis senior manager Jessica Bilko issued a statement.

“It has been a privilege to partner with the city of Altoona and serve its residents and visitors over the duration of our operations (which end Friday),” Bilko wrote.

“We are incredibly grateful to the local community, our city partners and the dedicated team members who supported our locations,” she wrote. “As we transition our focus, Metropolis remains deeply committed to investing in and supporting impactful public and private partnerships across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for years to come.”

Curtis intends to bring a “customer service mentality” to the job, he said.

That will mean having a system in place that meets the needs of downtown residents, workers and visitors — including legible signs, functioning meters and an efficient use of available spaces, he said.

Curtis intends to be a good partner with the authority board, the city manager and city departments like Public Works and Community Development, with whose work his will intersect, he said.

“It’s very much a team effort,” he said.

He’s willing to be a “punching bag” when people have complaints, but when things are working well, it will be “100 percent” because of the cooperation all around, he said.

There are tensions between elements of parking management that call for achieving a balance between competing interests, Curtis said.

There’s tension between the cost of obtaining and managing the land required for parking vs. customers’ desire for unlimited free parking, he said.

And there’s tension between enforcement prohibitions, time limits and tickets vs. that same wish for unlimited free parking and the customer service mindset, he said.

Curtis has discussed with City Manager Christopher McGuire the possibility of creating a map to standardize parking zones in the downtown, but on a six-month trial basis, so adjustments can be made if necessary, and so the public won’t be surprised at those adjustments, McGuire said.

Such trial initiatives were used when Curtis worked in Wilmington, based on provisions in that city’s code, according to McGuire and Curtis.

There are provisions in Altoona’s code that should allow such flexibility, according to Curtis.

Curtis has been working with the city’s Public Works Department to produce signs to replace signs owned by Metropolis that will be removed when Metropolis’ tenure ends this week.

Those designate parking spaces that a couple of downtown businesses pay to reserve for their customers.

The poles will remain.

Curtis has also been examining authority lots to determine whether it may be possible to create additional spaces by adjusting striping patterns, even if it’s only two or three spots here and there, he said.

“That makes sense,” said authority Chairman Cory Tubo.

Curtis suggested that the authority consider whether it makes sense to sell off or privately lease Lot 24, located across the 10th Avenue Expressway from the Altoona Housing Authority’s 11th Street Towers, given maintenance costs for that lot and because it’s the one with the lowest usage rate among authority assets.

It’s an interesting thought, “but any time you’re talking about taking parking spots offline, it’s a challenge,” Tubo said.

Curtis, who started June 15, will be earning $55,000 a year.

Curtis grew up in Hollidaysburg and attended Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.