If by chance you’ve ever parked a car in Leicester, England, you might have been standing on top of royalty.

Scientists there recently confirmed that remains of a body found buried under a parking lot are, in fact, those of King Richard III. The reviled king holds a special place in English history as both the last Plantagenet king, occupying the throne before the Tudors took power, and of being the man who imprisoned his nephews to take that throne for himself.

The final resting place of Richard III, who was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, was a mystery for more than 500 years until last August, when archeologists and historians asked to dig in a parking lot where records indicated a friary was likely located centuries before. Permission was granted, shovels hit dirt, and before long, the researchers uncovered human remains.

Once the skeleton was unearthed, initial examinations showed strong indications that it was the former king, including a fractured skull and curved spin, but DNA testing did not definitively prove it was Richard III until recently. In the meantime, hundreds of tourists have flocked to the former parking lot, which is now an historic site (go figure), to get a glimpse of the last resting place of a much-maligned monarch.

The story of a long-lost king found hundreds of years after his death beneath a parking lot is a great example of the way history and parking are often intertwined and how parking can be a daily adventure. For more on the discovery check out these articles:

Richard III: The mystery of the king and the car parking lot. http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/world/europe/search-for-richard-iii/index.html

Body found under parking lot is King Richard III, scientists prove. http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/world/europe/richard-iii-search-announcement/index.html

Just think: what might you find beneath your parking spot?

Do you sometimes find it difficult to explain to people what you do as a parking professional or even what the parking industry is? Try explaining it to a bunch of middle school students. Better yet, try explaining it to them after they’ve had a chance to sit in of a firetruck and talk about what firefighters do all day.

That’s exactly what I had to do a few weeks ago and let me tell you something: if you can sell the parking industry to a room full of 12-year-olds, you can sell it to anybody. Don’t get me wrong–it was a great honor to speak at the McNair Middle School career day. The kids were great and had lots of questions. I think we have to admit, however, that if we’re going to talk to students about parking for 45 minutes, we have to find ways to spice it up a bit.

I was able to get their attention by talking about all the cool cars I get to see and some of the famous people I’ve seen and met while working in parking. That held their attention long enough to get to some of the so-called “boring stuff,” such as leading a team and managing revenue (it helps to make constant references to sports and video games).

All in all, it was a successful career day. Not only did I feel like the kids learned something but I also learned: Even 12-year-old kids are willing to listen to us talk about parking as long as we relate it to something they are already interested in or concerned about. I’m pretty sure this would work with adults as well. First McNair Middle School, next the world!

If you haven’t seen the wonderful little program Wordle, go to the website and create some “word clouds” from your own text.  It’s fun and free.

Wordle uses your text and creates an image that illustrates which words appear most often in that text.  I took last year’s Parking Matters blog text and ran it through Wordle to see what we have been blogging about, and thus what we have been thinking about.  The accompanying image shows the words used most frequently as the ones with most prominence.

Clearly “parking” is the winner – no surprise there!  But look at the words that come in below parking:  people, new, work, transportation, industry, time, employees.

Much smaller in size are some words that should be important to us all:  customers, team, strategies, planning, and management.

The real message here is that our words indicate the issues we are emphasizing, or not!  Especially in this economy, the five words mentioned (customers, team, strategies, planning, and management) will continue to be all the more important to add value to our services, both perceived and actual.

This year, give some thought to the words you use — the words you emphasize.  They indicate what is important to you, and they tell others what matters to you most.  The New Year is a great time to develop plans focused on the five words above, inspiring better relationships with staff and customers and clearly describing the objectives for the upcoming year.  

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”
― T.S. Eliot

You may remember Cy Ditmore–he’s one of the stars of “America’s Parking Lot,” the independent film about the infamous Dallas Cowboys Gate 6 Tailgaters. You met him back in September when the movie was featured in The Parking Professional (it was, incidentally, one of our most popular features to date judging by reader feedback).

Film director Jonny Mars let us know that the movie is available on both iTunes and video-on-demand as of yesterday (check your cable provider’s listing). Beyond what you might expect from a movie about tailgating, it tells a terrific tale and offers a terrific look at the families and neighborhoods that were formed in a stadium parking lot–Parking Matters®. And it’s the perfect companion for today’s Cowboys vs. Redskins game and tummy full of tryptophan,

Happy Thanksgiving!

I used to be a good traveling companion. At least, I thought so and people seemed to be willing to travel out of town with me.

Then I got really into parking. The more experience I gained in the parking industry, the more intrigued I became with its facilities, especially garages. I cannot pass one without going in, or at least drawing near for a closer look at how it is designed, how it operates, the technology it uses. Moth to a flame–nothing I can do about it. This pull intensifies when I am going to a new city or place, which I am fortunate enough to do quite often.

Of particular note are those structures with evidence of distress, cracking, lack of maintenance, or an overall lack of TLC. These unloved buildings get a lot of my attention. Confusing functional design also rises to the top.

I recently traveled to Florida with a parking colleague. In this case, shopping drew us to a particular garage, but that isn’t the point. Even with our two heads together, we could not figure out which way we were supposed to go. (Please, no comments about female drivers either–also not the point.) Our complaints were detailed, our position was righteous, and we were not to be quieted. We talked about the experience long after parking the car and getting where we wanted to go.

When I travel with colleagues and friends (those not fortunate enough to be directly involved with the parking industry), my experience is altogether different. When we enter a garage, they turn to me and state, very clearly, “Don’t tell us about the details. Don’t talk about the signage to the elevator, or retrofitting with energy efficient lights. By all means, do not point out where they should put the solar array!”

I suppose I should be happy that they know so much about parking, and how much goes into garages and their operation, that they no longer need my insights.

But maybe I need to make (more) friends in the parking industry to travel with.