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(It’s a pay-on-entry facility for game day. Can’t have Husker fans waiting to pay on exit.) Here’s where the parking gurus in Lincoln need some input.


How can they keep the garages open, allowing people who want to come downtown to visit clubs or restaurants on Friday night, and ensure they don’t leave their cars overnight and drive out with the game-day fans and end up parking for free? One way might be to issue large dated permits to put on your


dash. If you have a permit, you arewaved out; if you don’t, use the one lane that still has a collection booth open and force those cars to pay the full amount for the time stayed.The football fans would be just waved through; the scofflaws would be made to pay. Or how about this? Post a sign at each lot saying that it clos-


es at midnight (or whenever) and any car in the lot after that time will be towed. This would motivate people to get their cars out before game day. I kinda like this one, and I’m sure the towing companies would love it. Anyone out there have a solution?


SolutionOne, fromCharley: The issue is not letting the people out for free after the game.


The issue is space.Aquick check to theirwebsite says themax fee is $6; they sell the game-day parking at $14. They don’t want a garage full of cars before the game-day traffic comes, so they are basically reserving the garage. They are losing out on the Friday night revenue, which can be big in a college town. I also bet they are losing out for the people that leave their cars until Sunday for the $14. Get rid of the pre-sell. Raise the rate to an event to an hourly


rate that a normal football patron would then pay about $15; the private lots in that area are charging $20-$25 for the game day. Say five hours at $3. Start the rate on Friday at 5 p.m. with no 24- hourmax. If peoplewant to park all night, fine, they pay for it.


This seems to be a dangerous game they are playing with


space…Towing cars is not an option, PR nightmare, and it’s not realistic to tow1,000 cars. Long lines after a game is not a real issue if you have the


proper equipment. My experience shows that the egress of a foot- ball game is not anything that a pay-on-foot facility can’t handle. People stagger out of the stadium (some do physically stagger after tailgating all day), stop to get another beer and a bite to eat or buy a t-shirt, etc. This is what we do in State College, PA, and PSU football


fills our garages every home game. Our PARCS, though not new, can handle the egress with no problems, and our stadium holds 30,000 more people. Our garages fill up the Friday night before, then empty, then fill again on game day.


SolutionTwo, fromManuel: We face a similar situation with a large garage we manage


along the Rose Parade route (in Pasadena, CA).The city pre-sells passes for the parade, and we also sell passes the morning of the event.The challenge is clearing the garage at 2 a.m.We have opt- ed for the passes on the dashboard or get towed. This has worked fine for us. Signs are placed at all the entrances informing parkers that they need to be out by 2 a.m.The police department willmake a pass through the garage issuing tickets and then having the cars towed. They typically do not issue more than a couple of tickets. Not too bad for a 1,600-space garage!


JVH You could have read these entries when they were originally


posted at Parking Today’s Blog – and commented, if you liked – by logging on to www.parkingtoday.com and clicking on “blog.” JVH updates the blog almost every day.


PT Keep No Secrets From Employees


facilitates that kind of alignment, Studer says. “It’s all about a shared sense of urgency.” Makes sense, right? When employ- ees know that customer spending in the industry is down, say, 30% and that a new competitor is eating into your market share, they tend to get focused and fast. • A culture of transparency heals “we/they” divisiveness.


Studer often warns clients about the we/they phenomenon – the perception that separate groups inside a company work at cross-purposes. It might manifest as staff vs. management, or this branch vs. that branch, or corporate vs. everyone else. • It keeps good people from leaving. High-performers


don’t thrive in an atmosphere of secrecy and uncertainty • Transparency eliminates “Park Ranger Leadership.” If


you get lost in the woods a few times and a park ranger always shows up and leads you to safety, you won’t develop any sur- vival skills.You wouldn’t have to. The same is true of employ- ees who wait for their park rangers (senior leaders, that’s you!) to lead the organization out of the economic wilderness. • It facilitates the best possible solutions. In transparent cultures, leaders encourage employees to solve problems


themselves. Because those employees are often the people closest to a problem, and because they must live with the outcome, they almost always design the most effective, effi- cient solution. One more thing, says Studer: Don’t think of transparency


as a “crisis control” program. It’s a long-term commitment. When the good times roll around again, the strategy will serve you just as well.


Read PT’s Sister Publication


PARKINGWORLDAt www.parkingworld.com


Find Out What’s Happening in Parking, Worldwide. NOVEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com 57


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