City parking superintendent pitches unified 'Park Newport' brand and app

Staphys Manousas, introduced by staff as the superintendent of parking, presented a proposal to create a unified municipal parking brand called "Park Newport," featuring a single website/app for maps, permits, payments, and enforcement information and a consistent signage and uniform program intended to reduce driver circulation and confusion.

"We are, proposing an initiative, to create a unified parking system for Newport," Manousas said, describing a white‑label ARC Newport app, branded signage and uniforms, and operational consolidation that would make municipal parking look like one professionally managed system to residents and visitors. He said the effort would be paid from the parking (enterprise) fund and that some back‑end providers and contracts could remain in place while the public‑facing interface and branding are standardized.

Councilors asked whether the new branding would replace the recently rolled‑out residential permit program, whether the app would support multiple languages and non‑car modes, and whether dynamic occupancy signage would be integrated. Manousas said the residential permit functions could be migrated into the public‑facing platform, that many modern parking platforms support multilingual interfaces, and that variable message signage and coordination with the multimodal transportation plan are part of a longer‑term effort. Several councilors welcomed the idea as a way to improve wayfinding (citing poor visibility of Gateway and other municipal signs) and urged close coordination with Bike Newport and RIPTA.