POINT OF VIEW


fromthe two garages – over $15,000 amonth – but the city isn’t pushing for her to go to prison.


A ThiefGoes Free, Random


Thoughts, If It Bleeds… BY JOHN VAN HORN


WOMANWORKED AS A SUPER- VISOr in two parking garages in down- town Honolulu. Both it appears were owned by the city. She admitted to stealing nearly half a million dollars


The reason is typical. It seems the city didn’t realize that the money was being


stolen (a whistle blower filled them in), and they really can’t prove it. Neither the city nor the operators had enough documen- tation to go back and support an audit, which would have proven the loss. Oh, they know the money is gone. It’s pretty easy to figure


out. Count the number of cars in the garage on an average week, or month, and figure the aver- age amount of money that should have been paid per car, and do the math. OK, so you are off 20%. So what?At least you have a ballpark number. And that number is half a mil. Hell,maybe itwas only $400k? It’s still grand theft. However, if you have all


West PalmBeachTVreports that booting companies are hit-


ting cars in honor-box lots and booting cars that have paid. Correspondent Mark writes: “Don’t have any firsthand


knowledge of this particular situation, but once again the park- ing business gets a black eye in the press.Why don’t they ever publicize the positive things we do, like the thousands of dollars of parking we give away on a daily basis to charitable or civic groups; or change a customer’s flat tire in the rain; or stand alongside someone for an hour or more waiting for a locksmith because they locked their keys in the car?Maybewe need to start a parking PR group whose only job is to issue press releases every time someone in the industry does something good? Come on,Mark – If it bleeds, it leads. No one wants to read


the money stashed away, you can hire a pretty good lawyer. I can hear the conversation dur- ing the negotiations. It probably went something like “gee, if you don’t let my client walk, she can talk about what a shoddy job you civil servants did supervising the people’smoney.That could go all theway to themayor. I think I have the number of theHon- oluluAdvertiser right here inmy Blackberry.” And the rest is history.Our heroinemoves to Japan and lives


handily on her lucre, and in the end, get this, has to pay $200 a month restitution. She will be caught up in about 275 years. The judge wanted to give a stronger sentence, but the DA settled. My auditor friends tell me that it is seldom seen to be in the


best interest of the operator or the owner, whether it is the city or a private firm, to prosecute. Unless they set up a “sting” and get the cops involved, prosecutors don’t want the case, plus in these situations, everyone looks bad. Best to just fire the individual and let it go at that. I think this is somuch hooey. Until we put thieving employ-


ees in jail, we will continue to have thieving employees. If they know that the worst that will happen is a pink slip, why would they alter their behavior? This is the kind of public relations that takes one hell of a lot


of “good works” and “toy exchanges for citations” to counter. ***


6 SEPTEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


They want to read about the ax murderer who worked on “P2” or about how customers were cheated, or how valets took cars on a joy ride.


about the parking attendant who was a good guy; they want to read about the ax murderer who worked on “P2” or about how customers were cheated, or how valets took cars on a joy ride. The IPI has a program called “ParkingMatters” that is try- ing to spread the good word. I wish them all the luck in the world.When they presented at the BOMA show, 15 people showed up to hear the speakers (one was me.) By the way, the speakers did an excellent job telling these building managers how to keep their parking oper- ators fromstealing fromthem. There is no win for the


parking industry; however, there are things we can do.


• Check our policies – be sure we aren’t setting rules that


shoot us in the foot (e.g., writing tickets in the minute that the “free parking” time is up, having citations that are challenged automatically denied, etc., etc., etc.). • Inmy business, the customer is always right. In the parking


business, the customer is almost always wrong. • Paymanagers enough so we can get people who canmake


decisions that make sense and that protect our image as well as our incomes. • Train, train, train. Our parking staffs must be con-


sumer-centric, particularly in municipal and airport settings. Parkers should be considered customers, not people to be cited and towed. You get the point.To change our image,we have to change it


fromwithin. One “toys for tickets” programat Christmas doesn’t erase the bad taste in the mouth of the person whose car was towed oneminute after hismeter expired.


*** Some Random Thoughts About Parking:


Many garage designs are bridges turned back on themselves. •Theweight of people, furniture,walls, and infrastructure in Continued on Page 8


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