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Charlottesville council hears detailed briefing on new Metropolis parking system as residents raise privacy concerns
Summary
City staff defended the switch to a license-plate-based Metropolis system for downtown garages, citing lower upfront costs and operational efficiencies; council members and public speakers pressed staff on data retention, legal limits on automated enforcement and vendor procurement.
City officials on Tuesday defended a recent switch to a license-plate-based parking management system run by Metropolis (implemented via the city's contractor SP Plus), while residents and council members pressed staff for clearer privacy safeguards and procurement details.
Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development, told the Charlottesville City Council that the new computer-vision system replaces a ticket-based workflow and requires a web‑based start/stop flow tied to license plates and a phone number. Engel said the capital cost for the Metropolis computer-vision rollout was about $85,000 — markedly lower than a $350,000 equipment upgrade the city purchased in 2018 — and that staff expect modest operating savings over time. “The data that they’re capturing is only used to facilitate the parking process,” Engel…
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