MonkeyParking suspends SF operations

MonkeyParking, the iPhone app that allows drivers to auction off their public parking space before they depart, suspended its bidding service in San Francisco on Thursday, a day before a city-imposed deadline to cease operations or face a lawsuit.

The company, which is based in Rome and operates there, posted a statement on its blog saying, “we are currently reviewing our service to clarify our value proposition and avoid any future misunderstandings.”

Dennis Herrera, the city attorney, had threatened a lawsuit seeking damages of $2,500 per violation if MonkeyParking continued operation.

He was very clear about those misunderstandings in a cease-and-desist letter sent on June 23 to Paolo Dobrowolny, the CEO. Herrera cited a provision in San Francisco's police code that prohibits people and companies from buying, selling or leasing public on-street parking and mandates fees of up to $300 for drivers who violate the law.

"Technology has given rise to many laudable innovations in how we live and work — and MonkeyParking is not one of them," Herrera said in a written statement. 

Dobrowolny described Herrera’s letter as “an open violation of free speech.”

“I have the right to tell people if I am about to leave a parking spot, and they have the right to pay me for such information,” Dobrowolny said in a statement.

The city attorney’s press secretary, Matt Dorsey fired back on June 27 that MonkeyParking’s argument was bananas. “Let’s be honest. It’s like a prostitute saying she’s not selling sex — she’s only selling information about her willingness to have sex with you,” Dorsey said. “It’s semantic hair splitting — and it’s absurd.”

On Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Dorsey said the office would not comment on MonkeyParking’s lastest move until after the Friday deadline.

Al Jazeera