PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Parking Authority Board announced Monday it has selected a new executive director. After a lengthy national search, the board chose a familiar face.
Deputy Mayor for Labor Rich Lazer will be the new executive director, replacing Scott Petri who was fired last March.
The Parking Authority has been a bastion of Republican patronage since it was brought under state control more than 20 years ago, but Lazer is an unabashed Democrat.
“I’m hoping they picked me because of my credentials and what I can bring to the organization,” Lazer said.
Lazer has handled labor negotiations and employee relations for the city for seven years and created the Office of Labor to safeguard particularly low-wage workers within the city limits.
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“I’ve worked with the {Parking} Authority, SEPTA, the ports. I worked with all the different departments in the city. They’re a big labor organization. They have AFSCME and Teamsters and DC21 employees down there, so I think my experience from all the work I’ve done here can transfer over there and do some good stuff,” said Lazer, who also worked with commerce agencies from the Zoo to the Pennsylvania Convention Center as deputy mayor for labor.
He thinks he brings that useful experience to a Parking Authority that is working to chart a new course.
“They play a vital role, a public safety role with speed cameras and red-light cameras, regulating parking in neighborhoods, in commercial corridors but also in residential neighborhoods,” said Lazer.
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“I think there’s a lot more the authority can partner with the city on, especially quality of life issues.”
Board Chair Beth Grossman says Lazer’s skills will help the board chart a new path. The authority has been putting increased emphasis on its role in public safety.
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Lazer was chosen from more than 50 applicants. But his departure is another blow to the Kenney administration, which has lost almost all its original appointees. Lazer says it’s a natural evolution.
“This opportunity presented itself. I’m excited to jump in on it, and sometimes you’ve got to seize the moment,” he said. “It’s coming to the end of the administration, and people start to look and see what the next chapter in their life is going to be.”