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Downtown Parking Management Plan 9 sale of permits at a higher cost to non-residents could be considered if there is sufficient capacity. This may include businesses, employees or even BART riders.  Manage the integrity of the parking system with an understanding of systemic and fiscal impacts. The public parking system should be managed efficiently and cost effectively. Ideally, the parking system (on and off-street) is managed to cover its own direct debt and operating costs; however, decisions about pricing in the short term will have to balance parking supporting the downtown or covering its cost. 2.2 Program Challenges The adoption and implementation of a parking management plan is rarely a smooth process. Over time it will require a variety of adjustments and upgrades to program components. It should be expected that there will be a period of adjustment for various stakeholders and users as they acclimate to the program. This includes necessary changes to old patterns of behavior that made the system function sub-optimally. This is why it is important to keep the focus on the guiding principles as the program moves ahead. As strategies are adopted, there are a variety of challenges that will need to be considered and addressed. These include: Systemic non-compliance – Despite the best efforts of parking enforcement, field observations confirmed that many employees are parking in short-term parking areas and moving their cars every two hours to avoid citations (two-hour shuffle). Some employees have developed their own warning systems to alert others of parking enforcement activities or even go so far as to wipe off chalk or devise other means to avoid parking citations in direct violation of city parking regulations. This behavior occurs regularly in the Washington Plaza where it is regulated as part of Section 504 of the Maintenance, Operation and Reciprocal Easement Agreement1 (MOREA).2 In some cases, this type of activity is condoned by business owners and managers who often engage in the same practice.2 There is a perception that others are moving their cars in front of “my business” and taking “my customer” parking, while they also move their car in front of other stores. For best success, the business owners and managers need to become partners in implementation. Safety – Another challenge is personal safety and the perception of a safe environment in the downtown. This issue is acute during early evening hours and late evening when limited pedestrian activity, low light and nearly empty parking facilities can impact feelings of security. This concern is amplified if someone is new or unfamiliar to the area, leading to a sense of isolation when walking by closed businesses and along empty sidewalks with limited to no pedestrian scale lighting. Poor pedestrian wayfinding and information systems for parking facilities also exacerbate this issue. Technology Challenges – Advances in technology have had an overall positive effect on parking management and the development of better parking systems in recent years. However, these new innovations can create unanticipated problems as they can add layers of complexity to administration, management and operations, if both the technology and vendor/service provider are not carefully selected. In some cases, the technology may not work in a manner that best serves the customer. The City’s mobile LPR and garage LPR units have had some technical difficulties in the past year, resulting in extra labor and the need for hand-chalking and ticketing by the parking enforcement officers. This in turn has made it easier for violations to escalate. 1 Maintenance, Operation and Reciprocal Easement Agreement between San Leandro Plaza Associates and Plaza Partners and City of San Leandro, December 1981. 2 Confirmed by in-field interview by consulting team on July 24, 2015. 607