State & Regional Spotlight

Since our last update around this same time last year, the Michigan Parking Association (MIPA) has celebrated successes with member activities and engagement, and we were able to assess both our successes and challenges to line up a calendar of activity in 2023 that truly sets the foundation for future years and our continued growth.

MIPA executed a very successful golf outing last year and plans to repeat that success with this year’s event on July 17, 2023. We are revisiting the same location and format that received positive feedback in 2022 – this year’s outing returns to Tanglewood Golf Course in South Lyon, Michigan. We hope to see an even stronger turnout and support from our sponsors, allowing us to hand out some great golf skills and raffle prizes.

MIPA started 2023’s activities off with an in-person training event focused on workplace violence prevention. We were fortunate to have Dr. Kenneth Wolf as our speaker. His wealth of experience in topics including behavioral threat management, crisis management and intervention, and stress management was valuable to all who attended. We were pleased to see some new faces in attendance at this session, and we hope the attendees are spreading the word about the value that can be obtained from MIPA-provided training resources.

Our association is also looking forward to the third quarter of 2023 which will bring our annual Fall Conference, scheduled for September 27–28, 2023, to be held at the Flats Hotel in Grand Rapids. We anticipate a day and evening of networking on the 27th, including opportunities to visit the annual ArtPrize event. The massive art competition, taking place from September 14th through October 1st, provides many fun and inspiring activities for our attendees to indulge in while making and renewing connections with industry colleagues.

Our theme for the conference is The Road to the Future. Highlighting what is expected to be a list of intriguing presentations will be our keynote speaker, Timothy Slusser, Chief of Mobility Innovation for the City of Detroit. Tim has provided me with a sneak peek at his presentation content, and I know it will interest all who want to know what is on the horizon for the integration of parking and mobility. There may even be some helpful information on getting access to some available grant funding!

Lastly, MIPA has been fortunate to add a few new faces to our Board of Directors. Joining us in the past year has been Hal King, CAPP, who recently took on the role of Parking Manager for the City of Lansing, and Julie Parisian, who re-joined us after a short time away.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to join us for our annual event, now is the time to sign-up and see how MIPA continues to bring value to the parking and mobility industries across Michigan. ◆