A sign posted at the Portland Square parking lot on Cross Street, which is operated by Unified Parking Partners, alerting customers of fluctuating rates. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The Rhode Island attorney general is suing a Maine parking company for allegedly deceiving customers, reflecting complaints Portland residents have been voicing for years.

Unified Parking Partners, or UPP Global LLC, has approximately 300 parking sites in several states along the East Coast, including many in downtown Portland. Though Portland residents and visitors have criticized the company’s business model for years, Maine leaders haven’t taken legal action.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed a civil lawsuit against the company in the state’s Bristol County Superior Court, alleging that UPP charges fees disguised as taxes, fails to disclose parking rates before customers enter its lots, and issues “citations” that look very similar to government-issued parking tickets and threaten consequences from the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles.

A spokesperson for Towne Park, a Philadelphia company that recently acquired UPP, said Thursday that the company is aware of the lawsuit and is conducting an “internal investigation” into the matter.

“We are committed to operate at the highest of standards and to follow all state and local laws,” Bev Dribin wrote in an email. Dribin did not respond to questions about whether the company has an attorney who will respond to Neronha’s complaint.

The lawsuit echoes grumblings made around the greater Portland area for years, in which residents have complained about UPP’s expensive rates and misleading signage that makes it appear as if its lots are run by the city.

Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, said Thursday that she couldn’t discuss whether that office is pursuing its own legal action because they don’t discuss pending investigations.

Hayes said the office has received 19 complaints against UPP in the last five years, some of which it has helped mediate and resolve.

The city of Portland has said it has no oversight of the company, which operates on private properties, mostly through lease arrangements with businesses.

Visitors and residents alike have complained about public and private parking in the city in light of a rate increase and stricter enforcement. Mayor Mark Dion recently told the Press Herald that he has heard a lot of complaints about UPP, whose rates are much higher than the city’s.

“I tell people to be really cautious,” Dion said. “We have no more jurisdiction than setting the price of a steak dinner at a restaurant. They’re not doing anything that enters the public arena.”

City spokesperson Jessica Grondin declined on Thursday to discuss the allegations raised against UPP in the Rhode Island lawsuit and whether the city is worried about the company appearing to imitate public parking enforcement.

ABOUT THE COMPLAINT

Rhode Island’s lawsuit was filed under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which prohibits parties from “engaging in unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce.”

Neronha says UPP charges Rhode Island customers a 7% fee, identified as a tax, even though its lots in Rhode Island are tax exempt. Neronha said UPP does not share any of these “taxes” with the government.

The company also threatens “tickets” and “citations” in its signage, but Neronha said it doesn’t elaborate on what a violation is. (He notes that some customers who stay only a few minutes past their prepaid time might receive a fine that’s 10 times higher than the hourly rate.)

The “tickets” call for a $63 fine and threaten that a failure to pay might affect license and vehicle registration privileges, the complaint states. But that’s misleading, Neronha wrote, because UPP has no authority over vehicle registrations. He said UPP is “acting as a government imposter” in the state.

The Rhode Island attorney general also criticized a “junk” service fee, charging 10% on top of the hourly rates, and he complained that customers aren’t informed of what they’ll have to pay until they have already parked.

UPP told the Press Herald in 2022 that it uses a “dynamic pricing” model, where rates change based on the time of day and week. Its chief operating officer acknowledged that parking is especially expensive at more popular times.

UPP IN PORTLAND 

Two years ago, the company reported it ran roughly 50 lots and garages in greater Portland, 25 of which were downtown. Dribin did not respond to questions Thursday about the current number of UPP lots in Portland.

In 2022, there were UPP lots across from Merrill Auditorium, near Cross Insurance Arena, at the south end of India Street, and on Cumberland Avenue and Casco Street. There were several on Commercial Street, where demand for parking is high.

Dribin also did not respond to a request to discuss UPP’s current parking rates. Customers have complained that the prices are well beyond what’s affordable.

One Portland resident and business owner wrote in a letter to the Press Herald in May that UPP was charging more than $17 an hour downtown. She said she was spending $1,000 a month so her workers could park. A longtime visitor wrote in a letter Wednesday that he was upset to see that a lot downtown was charging a minimum of $28 for two hours.

“It’s killing Portland businesses! It’s taking from waitress tips. And it will drive tourists away,” he wrote. “What a sad end to years of great adventures. We won’t be back.”