The “State” of Parking Today John Van Horn, Editor and Publisher
My “State of the Magazine” missive is published
mid-year in our People in Parking2 directory. In past issues I have focused on our staff and what we are attempting to do with our publication. This year I want to write a bit about philosophy. Not Schopenhauer or Kant, but the philosophic approach we take here at PT. I believe a successful magazine has to be read. And
to be read it has to be interesting as well as informative. That’s why from time to time you see articles that some from the academic or engineering side of our industry might call “silly.” I just read the July issue and found an article about “Shoes and Shoup.” Frankly it isn’t great lit- erature, but it’s funny and does drive home a bit of infor- mation about our parking rock star Don Shoup andmakes for some lighter reading. I find our articles on parking and pop culture some-
times to be at odds with what I believe about how the world should or does see us, but differences make for great conversations. When everything is the same, who wants to read about it? I also found in the July issue an article on the reno-
vation of a garage in Tacoma and how money can be made from older structures with some judicious addi- tions. There were my comments about the IPI show in Pittsburgh, mostly about the trade show floor, and our cover article about how lighting changes in a garage can mean big money to owners in cost reductions, and yes, make the facility more sustainable. Whenwe began PT, Iwrote virtually everyword. Boy
was that a challenge for readers, having to hack through my tortured prose every month. Now I note that beside my column, and the blog entries, I only created two arti- cles in the July issue. The rest were authored by some very clever folks who have found their way to my stable ofwriters –Melissa, Isaiah, Astrid, Jeff, Kathy and a few who want to remain nameless. They are joined every month by experts in certain fields who provide articles of parking interest. My goal is to have a balance between the lighter
approach and the statistical and management informa- tion that makes your jobs easier. We are fortunate that we answer to no board or membership, only to you, our readers. If you don’t like something, you tell me and we fix it. If you like a feature we may just buff it up a tad, and who knows, you may find more of the same. One major complaint we fielded in the beginning was the accuracy of our proofreading. Don’t get me
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wrong, we still make mistakes, but our copy editor, Bob, and our proofreaders Melissa and Andy keep them to an absoluteminimum.We even proof the ads our customers send to us. In one instance, the ad said to contact the company’s
sales manager by name, but the article on the page before noted that the person had just switched compa- nies and was now working for a competitor. Melissa noted the problem, and we saved a lot of face. All this makes Marcy and Kelley’s job easier and
enables themto sell a great product at a fair price.When people advertise in PT, they tell us their phone starts to ring. There is no higher compliment. You will see some style and layout changes in the
coming year – Shelly and Rad have been agitating for brighter colors and headlines – and so be it. I read some- where that you should always have a person on the cover. So we are making it a point to do so. Wait until you see what I have in mind for September 2011. Our internet operation is booming.We are receiving
tens of thousands of visits each month to our web site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook sites. As of this writing we are closing on a thousand “friends” at Facebook. Not bad for a specialized industry like this one. Webmaster Suda dropped in a feature a couple of
years ago, and I didn’t realize just how important it was. On our home page, in the upper right hand corner is a lit- tle box with the word “go” after it. If you type anything relating to parking in that box, you will be amazed at the information we have secreted away in the databanks here at PT’s intergalactic HQ. Look for major changes on our home page in the next fewmonths tomake this infor- mation even easier to obtain. And it’s all free – you don’t have to join or pay a fee. 2011-2012 will be the year of content. If you like
what you have seen in PT in the past, you will LOVE what you will see. Andy, Sue, and Joyce have taken many of my duties and I am now tasked with focusing almost entirely on what makes you look forward to PT each month. And I love it. See you around the web and in the pages of Parking
Today.
People and Products in Parking Directory •
www.parkingtoday.com
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