The Pacific Intermountain Parking and Transportation Association (PIPTA) is an association of parking and transportation professionals across nine western states. We offer opportunities to collaborate, discuss challenges, share information, and learn about industry best practices. One of the most valuable aspects of a state and regional association like PIPTA is the community and joining PIPTA is a chance to form meaningful connections with industry peers. 

But who even is PIPTA? 

Buckle up your Birkenstocks, and let’s take another ride around the beautiful Northwest to meet some of the incredible people behind PIPTA. 

First, we arrive at a bus stop in Seattle, Washington where we meet PIPTA President Mike Estey on his way to work as the city’s Manager of Curbside Management. Mike is passionate about implementing data-driven policies and making tangible, positive impacts through the work he does. In his spare time, Mike can be found cheering (and possibly getting worked up) from the sidelines watching his two sons playing basketball and soccer. Mike is truly family-focused. He cooks family meals on weekends, shuttles his sons to games, watches movies with his family, and even takes family vacations across the world — most recently to London, Scotland, Paris, and Barcelona. Mike is excited that Seattle is the host city for our next Annual Conference from September 6^th through 8^th, 2023. Be sure to mark your calendars, and ask him about our signature PIPTA cocktail, the Black Opal!

Next, we hop into her hybrid car and drive over to Boise, Idaho with Linsey Hartke who is our PIPTA Treasurer. Linsey recently was promoted to Director of Parking, Transportation, and Safety Systems at Boise State University (congrats, Linsey!), and her background is in athletics and event parking. She loves to watch sports and spend time with her kids on the weekends. Linsey has successfully litterbox trained two bunnies, Edie and Fancy—there is nothing she can’t do! Linsey’s favorite PIPTA memory is from the conference in Boise when she attended a fun event at JUMP and went down a five-story slide! 

Now let’s drive over to Longmont, Colorado and meet with Melissa Yates, CAPP. You may recognize her as our host of the PIPTA Parking and Mobility Pulse webinar series. Melissa works hard to offer valuable opportunities to our members through her role on the Education & Training Committee, and she is now a Senior Customer Experience Manager at FLASH. Melissa loves to take advantage of the beautiful landscape in Colorado, and she frequently goes hiking and mountain biking. Melissa also knows how to play the violin and has taken ballet lessons in the past. Despite her parking management expertise, Melissa has shamelessly received more parking citations than she can count, but luckily this challenge has been resolved since she introduced an employee parking program in Boulder in her prior role with the city. Melissa’s favorite PIPTA tradition is the custom PIPTA pint glass offered at each Annual Conference. Make sure you grab your own PIPTA glass next year. Cheers to another fun year at PIPTA!

We hope you enjoyed riding around the Northwest and meeting some of the fantastic people who support PIPTA. We are looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming events!