John Walsh, Host of America’s Most Wanted, on Parking

February 28, 2013 By
Shawn Conrad

One of my first mentors was a gentleman who coached football, baseball, and any other sport he could sign up for at the local Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 9.13.43 PMelementary and high schools. Big Al was a great big, strong Italian man who had powerful catcher-mitt-sized hands–when he patted you on the back for a job well done, you’d land a few feet forward. We kids didn’t know it, but our coach worked the evening shift at the Congressional Post Office so he could spend daylight hours out on the ball field, teaching us the fundamentals of the game.

The guys I grew up with all respected Al for what he did for us, but also for the things we saw him do for others.  Along with his large frame, Al had a giant-sized heart and constantly looked after the downtrodden and the little guy.  Many times, a kid who didn’t have the means to buy a glove or a pair of cleats found a pair on his doorstep, out of nowhere. He never left a note, but we all knew they came from Al. He also made us call him when we got home safely after games. Those who forgot inevitably heard a knock at their door and knew the coach was standing there, just to make sure.

A flood of memories came rushing back to me this week as I read The Parking Professional’s March cover interview by editor Kim Fernandez featuring John Walsh, the advocate behind the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and host of television’s “America’s Most Wanted.” Most of us know Walsh’s horrific story–his son, Adam, was abducted 34 years ago from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Fla., and killed. It took 27 years before the Walsh family finally had closure and found out who the perpetrator was.

The part of the story you haven’t heard is that John Walsh thinks a trained parking professional may well have made a difference in the way Adam’s case turned out. He shared many great thoughts with us in his interview, but the overriding theme is that parking professionals can be a first line of defense against all sorts of crime in our communities, from burglaries to abductions to terrorism, and he has some concrete thoughts on how that can happen.

Reading this interview reminded me of Al because both men spent the better part of their careers helping their communities be better and safer places to live. Take a few moments to read the March issue and learn more about what Mr. Walsh has to say about the parking industry and the people who maintain and manage our garages and parking lots, and then share the interview with your staff members and talk about how you can put his ideas in place in your own operations. Everyone in the parking industry can play a role in making our neighbors–especially our children–safer in our facilities.

 

 

Filed Under: IPI in Action, Safety, Security

Innovative Parking Garage Safety

November 30, 2012 By
Mark Wright

Thanks to some smart choices by Brookfield Properties, plus innovative design work and fabrication by their solutions providers, patrons at the recently revitalized FIGat7th parking garage in downtown Los Angeles are better protected from wayward vehicles.

“The structure itself is about 16 years old, and was in great need of an update as well as safety improvements,” says Warren Vander Helm, managing partner of the Parking Design Group. “Our client wanted to make the garage more appealing and the wayfinding clearer while at the same time making it safer for pedestrians.”

Two things that stand out are the use of bollards to provide protected paths of travel for pedestrians traversing the new Level 1 loading area, and an innovative steel platform at the Level 8 pay-on-foot machines. There, two pay stations are located against the wall nearest the elevators, which means patrons using the machines have their back to approaching vehicles — a significant vulnerability.

“Brookfield wanted to protect the patrons — not to mention the pay stations — from being run into, but this is on the eighth floor of a post-tension slab parking garage, so core drilling large bollards into the floor was impossible,” explains Rob Reiter of Blockaides, Inc. “The answer was to build a steel platform that the machines would sit on, with steel bollards built into the platform to provide protection.”

The platform, says Vander Helm, “is just slightly up off the floor so enough structural members can go underneath. Now, instead of simply hoping that no driver would ever have a mishap near the machines, companies like Brookfield Properties can install pay stations virtually anywhere and be confident that safety has not been compromised. It’s a great, affordable solution.”

Filed Under: design, Safety

Sandy Side Effects: Where Do We Put All The Cars?

November 6, 2012 By
Brett Wood

First, let me express my deep sympathy for our friends and colleagues in the path of Hurricane Sandy last week. I know many were and continue to be affected, and our hearts and prayers go out to you.

I was watching continuous news coverage of the event last week, when one story in particular caught my attention. On Wednesday, the national news reported that people were beginning to make their push back into work in Manhattan and that the lack of subway services and reduced transit were causing hundreds of thousands of people to take to their personal automobiles to enter the city. The news was reporting the effects on congestion and traffic, but my first thought (as a Parking Geek) was, “Where in the world are all of those people going to park?”

Mayor Bloomberg did the right thing requiring everyone to carpool into the city. The requirement that all cars have at least three people to enter the city via the four East River bridges will effectively reduce congestion by more than half the potential capacity. The problem still remained that the number of people driving into New York was still likely larger than on a normal operating day.

As I grew more interested, I found the following research from local Transportation Planner Michael Frumin, from 2009. During primary morning peak hours, the New York Subway system carries nearly 400,000 people into the City. At the same time, the average vehicle occupancy entering the City was 1.2 people per vehicle, meaning that if the subway capacity was converted to vehicles, an additional 324,000 vehicles (and parking spaces) would be needed to handle the added capacity. Then, with an average of 325 square feet per parking space, the additional vehicular capacity would require almost four square miles of parking–that’s three times larger than Central Park.

While there are likely many more important lessons we will learn from Hurricane Sandy, it would be prudent for our transportation and parking planners to understand what happens when we take our country’s largest transit infrastructure offline. If that’s not a case for a renewed emphasis on improved TDM and transit infrastructure, I don’t know what is.

 

Filed Under: Perception of Parking, Safety

Parking Barking

November 1, 2012 By
Frank L. Giles

Recently my entire parking facility was abuzz with activity from a very large consumer event at the convention center. I was puttering along in my trusty golf kart (the Batmobile), surveying one of the parking lots. Suddenly, I heard a faint yelp coming from a blue SUV. I kicked the Batmobile into reverse and headed back to investigate. As I approached the parked vehicle I found that the yelping sound was actually the bark of a small white poodle mix dog locked in a pet carrier in the back seat. The windows of the vehicle were cracked about two inches and the owner was nowhere to be found.

The good news is that the authorities were called and the pooch was rescued and given water and a much-needed potty break. So here is the bad news… there are still pet owners among us who care enough for their pets to buy them designer collars, fancy pet carriers, and ride them around everywhere they go, but are still willing to leave their pets in lock vehicles on a sunny afternoon for hours. I confess that I was naïve enough to think that no one did this anymore, but I was wrong. This is a public service announcement; the next time you’re perusing your parking facility make sure that your parking is not barking.

Filed Under: Management, Safety

Keeping Your Herd in the Corral

September 20, 2012 By
Mark Wright

Sometimes when I look out at a busy parking area I see a herd — a moving multitude of four-wheeled wildlife — penned into a corral. Let something spook a member of that herd and there’s no telling what will happen.

At those moments, the fence around that corral better hold. The ‘fence’ might be a wall, a guardrail, or a line of bollards.

On August 4, 2012, a driver got honked at — twice — while trying to back out of a space in a multi-level parking structure in San Diego. Flustered, he confused his gas pedal for his brake, drove into a guardrail and went over the side.

That fence didn’t hold. As a police officer said to a 10News reporter at the scene when describing the guardrail that failed to stop the vehicle: “It…wouldn’t take a lot to go straight through that.”

Why did that guardrail have all the stopping power of toothpicks? I asked veteran consultant Jerry Marcus, owner of The Parking Advisory Group LLC in The Woodlands, Tex., to speculate.

“One possible explanation for this failure is poor maintenance of the facility’s barrier systems connections,” said Jerry. “Most likely, these connections were designed to code standards. Unfortunately, in many cases the every day wear and tear in a parking structure goes undetected. Patrons bump walls, connections deteriorate in the open air, and operators don’t take enough care to wash down corrosive ice melting chemicals frequently. An annual schedule of inspections will go a long way to keeping those ‘cows’ home.”

Coincidentally, ASTM International is developing a proposed new standard for testing low speed vehicle barriers, which is important news for safety-conscious designers and engineers.

What experiences have you had with parking area barriers? And how have standards and maintenance practices helped you keep your customers safe? All comments welcomed.

Filed Under: Safety, Security

Ordinances Aim to Enhance Safety

August 24, 2012 By
Mark Wright

Two local jurisdictions recently responded to vehicle-into-building crash tragedies with code changes intended to prevent vehicle incursions into storefronts:

Florida: Miami-Dade County amended its zoning code on July 3, 2012, with Ordinance No. 12-47 to require the placement of “anti-ram fixtures” in shopping centers. According to a statement from Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the measure’s sponsor, the ordinance “stipulates that these anti-ram fixtures will be placed in shopping centers when head-in parking is located adjacent to a storefront installation. The fixtures will be installed along the outer edge of the sidewalk to visually and physically separate the vehicular and pedestrian areas.”

New York: The Town of Amherst has been working on a change to its building codes for a number of months now, in an effort led by Councilman Guy Marlette to reduce injuries and property damage from such incidents. (The Amherst Bee reported earlier this summer that there had been 32 of these crashes in the area over the course of a year — a number considered average by the local police.) The ordinance would require “vehicle impact protection” adjacent to certain parking spaces and structures specified in the law.

“The changes that I will be presenting to the Amherst Town Board will serve to provide a safer environment for the public,” Marlette says. “While bollards are one such solution, we are also looking to include landscaping and a reinforced structure internal to the outside wall. Our changes to the building codes will also afford the developer the opportunity to redesign their parking lots to reduce the potential for vehicle/wall impacts, resulting in an overall safer design.”

Have similar ordinances been proposed or passed in your community? Let us know in the comments below.

 

 

Filed Under: Legislation, Safety

All Roads Lead to Technology

June 11, 2012 By
EmergingTrends_100sq

According to a new survey released today by the International Parking Institute (IPI), technology, sustainability, revenue-generation, and customer service are the top trends in the parking industry and the things most parking professionals are looking for.

The 2012 Emerging Trends in Parking Survey was released at the IPI Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., this morning. It showed that cashless, electronic, and automatic payment systems join apps that provide real-time information about parking rates and availability and wireless sensing devices that help improve traffic management as the top in-demand technologies in the industry.

More than one-third of respondents said that demand for sustainable services is a top trend, and that they’re talking about energy-efficient lighting, parking space guidance systems, automatic payment process, solar panels, renewable energy technology, and systems that accommodate electric vehicles and/or encourage alternative methods of travel. Technologies that help people find parking faster take cars off the road; an estimated 30 percent of people driving around cities at any time are looking for parking, wasting fuel and emitting carbons.

Survey participants also said that convincing urban planners, local governments, and architects to include parking professionals in their early planning processes is a priority; doing that, they said, would help prevent many design problems in final projects. And when asked where parking should be included as a course of study in academic institutions, nearly half of the survey participants said schools of urban study, followed by business or public policy schools.

The full survey can be accessed on IPI’s website.

Filed Under: Airports, Architecture, Breaking News, Building & Design, Customer Service, Future of Parking, Hospital & Healthcare, Inside IPI, IPI Conference & Expo, Management & Business Practices, Municipalities, On-Street Equipment, On-Street Parking, Parking Enforcement, Parking Lots, Perception of Parking, Planning, Real Estate, Retail, Safety, Security, Suppliers, Surface Lots, Sustainability, Technology, Wireless Communications

Preventing Garage Suicides

June 7, 2012 By
Isaiah Mouw

Cindy Campbell recently wrote an excellent blog post about being trained for the unexpected after a suicide took place in one of her parking facilities. In the past few weeks, there have been several examples in the news of people threatening to commit suicide by jumping out of parking garages. Thankfully in both cases, the police and authorities were trained for the unexpected.

Andy Troth (CAPP) and I wrote an article [PDF] about suicide for The Parking Professional a few years ago after dealing with suicide jumpers at our own parking facilities. The article outlines why suicide from jumping happens, where suicide from jumping most commonly occurs, how parking professionals should handle this tragic event should it occur in their garage, and how to help prevent suicide from happening. We reached out to some suicide experts, including Lanny Berman, Ph.D., ABPP, executive director with the American Association of Suicidology. What we found is that parking garages are prone to suicide attempts because they provide easy access to great heights, and jumping from great heights offers a high certainty of death. Suicide by jumping from a parking garage affects all market segments especially universities, hospitals and municipalities, so shouldn’t we be prepared?

To learn more on how to handle this situation should it occur in your facility, check out the article or visit IPI’s webinar on the subject.

Filed Under: Safety, Security

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Autobots!

May 23, 2012 By
Frank L. Giles

In the movie “Transformers,” the self-driving cars that transform into giant robots are called Autonomous Robotic Organisms, or “Autobots” for short. It seems that our friends at Google have given us an autonomous vehicle that drives itself just like in the movie. Ok, it doesn’t transform but I’m sure they’re working on that.

Google says that the car has been driven for 200,000 miles without an accident. It’s outfitted with video cameras, radio sensors, and lasers to help it navigate city streets and will allow a driver-side passenger to take control if he/she so desires.

What does this mean? Will the roads truly be safer with robot cars driving instead of people? Will speeding ticket become a thing of the past? Or valet parking for that matter? Will our personal Autobots be able to pay for our parking wirelessly, drop us off in front of the building or venue, and then proceed to the parking deck on their own?

Let’s face it: we’ve had cars that park themselves for a few years now and they haven’t exactly changed the world, so only time will tell if these vehicles will be practical enough to catch on. If they do, they could affect everything from parking to auto insurance to taxi cabs…and they may be able to take out a few Decepticons as well.

Filed Under: Safety, Technology

Hitting the Wrong Pedal

April 23, 2012 By
Mark Wright

Witnesses said it sounded like a bomb going off.

The sound they heard was no bomb. It was a 76-year-old woman driving her Toyota Camry through the glass entrance of a Publix supermarket in Palm Coast, Fla., on Saturday, April 14.

Store cameras caught video of the car coming from the parking lot, crashing in through the windows, sending a baby carriage — and its three-month-old occupant — flying, and hitting other people before coming to rest on top of an 83-year-old man.

News reports said the driver mistakenly hit her car’s gas pedal instead of the brake.

The Publix accident occurred just one day after a new report [PDF] from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) spotlighting the problem of pedal confusion made headlines.

The Associated Press announced the report, noting:

Accidents in which drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake tend to involve older female drivers in parking lots, a new government study has found.

One of the study’s most striking and consistent findings was that nearly two-thirds of drivers who had such accidents were female. When looking at all crashes, the reverse is true — about 60 percent of drivers involved in crashes are male, the [NHTSA] study noted. Another finding: Gas pedal accidents tend to occur more frequently among drivers over age 76 and under age 20.

While the prominent role of pedal confusion comes as no surprise to anyone tracking media accounts of vehicle-into-building accidents, the report’s spotlighting women drivers is nonetheless provocative. I hope that rather than inciting finger pointing, NHTSA’s work leads both to greater awareness and to a better understanding of why drivers of either gender or any age mistake the gas pedal for the brake.

Have you encountered such accidents in your own parking facility? Did they result in any changes in how you configure spaces or keep cars and pedestrians safely separated?

Filed Under: Safety, Security

Get Ready for Google Glasses

April 20, 2012 By
Shawn Conrad

Here come Google Glasses, “a pair of computerized eyeglasses that streams data onto the lenses in front of your face,” according to Barbara Ortutay of the Associated Press.

Google’s “Project Glass” could be the most revolutionary advancement since the internet, but also the most dangerous obstacle to safe driving since texting. Map directions and available parking could be displayed inside the lenses, just above a driver’s line of sight. This is not some futuristic project, though reports indicate it’s safe to say they will not be available this year. Google has already given prototypes to a select few and Heads Up Displays (HUD) may be coming to our galaxy faster than you might think.

Here’s a video that helps describe how the glasses would work:

ARVE Error: no video ID

 

This would be one of Google’s first adventures in the hardware development. Don’t think Apple is far behind, either. According to a Forbes blog, Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently spotted at the headquarters of gaming behemoth VALVE, and a VALVE blogger indicated “wearable computing” is on the company’s radar screen.

Personally, anything this new, creative and technological is something I find exciting and intriguing. I’m afraid to even think of the implications for intrusive advertising. This new technology may give us a whole new view of the world, literally and figuratively. And if everyone starts wearing internet-enabled eyewear, you can be sure one of the things they will be doing at the same time is parking.

Based on the integration of advanced technology into parking over the past few years, I have no doubt this industry has the collective will, brain power, and vision to maximize whatever hi tech innovation is around the corner. Thoughts?

Filed Under: Safety, Technology, Wireless Communications

Training for the Unexpected

April 9, 2012 By
Cindy Campbell

A recent sunny, southern California Friday afternoon that should have been a typical last day of the winter academic term turned out to be anything but at Cal Poly State University. A passerby discovered the body of a young man (later identified as a first-year student) in a vehicle parked in a busy campus parking lot. The tragedy was an apparent suicide by over-exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas. The young man had taken steps intended to keep others safe, posting signs on the inside of his vehicle windows that warned of the chemical. Along with police officers, members of our parking staff were on scene to keep pedestrians and vehicles a safe distance from the work of the hazardous materials team. It was a challenging task, as students were trying to pack their cars and leave campus for spring break.

When something like this happens, we naturally reflect on thoughts of our own families and hope to never experience such personal tragedy. We feel sadness and sympathy for both the victim and their family. On this occasion, another thought occurred to me, and it’s the purpose of this post: what if one of our parking employees initially came upon the situation? Would they have understood the potential dangers involved? Would they have reacted instinctively and opened the car door in an attempt to help the young man? We provide training on a wide variety of topics to our parking staff, but understanding and recognizing hazardous chemicals isn’t one of the topics we’ve covered in the past decade. Is it a standard training topic for your program?

Filed Under: College & University, Safety, Security

Eight Questions About Security

March 26, 2012 By
Bob Harkins

When safety and security of a parking lot or facility was mentioned before September 11, 2001, many rolled their eyes and yawned.  Since that unforgettable day, the concept and actions in parking security have taken on a new dimension. We all have a dog in the hunt.  So where do we begin?  Let’s start at the extreme and work back to the day-to-day.

  1. Terrorism: The greatest threat to our lots and facilities is an act of terrorism from a vehicle bomb. Parking facilities are often very attractive to people who wish to do us harm. Our facilities and lots are in key locations to do damage. What can we do?  IPI has partnered with the First Observer Program to train parking professionals on what to look for and what to do. In short, if it doesn’t look right report it! Our employees need to be the eyes and ears for bad people trying to do bad things. If you want training for your staff, click here. It’s free. More than 8,000 parking professionals are now First Observers. Are you?
  2. Basic Safety: We all need to walk our lots and facilities in daylight and at night.  How do you feel? Certainly lighting is a critical factor. Better ideas?
  3. Cameras: Most believe that if you have cameras, there is an expectation that they are monitored. If they are not, there should be signs to indicate that the cameras are for management purposes.
  4. Elevators and Stairways: The use of glass and openness has helped significantly with the feeling of security. Closed-in spaces can create fear and concern.  What are best ideas and practices?
  5. Entrances: Restrict pedestrian flow into a facility to specific pathways that can be observed or filmed. Watch shrubbery and bushes that can hide attackers. Some facilities have wire mesh screens to prevent access in areas other than designated entrances.
  6. Lighting: What is the proper or best lighting level for parking lots and facilities?  What are the most cost-efficient types of lights?
  7. Panic or “Blue Light” Buttons: Are they useful?  Buttons with two-way communications or just call technology? With the prevalence of cell phones, some facilities are re-thinking the need. What is your stance?
  8. Bus Stops: How do we protect and secure bus stops and reduce waiting time? Will mobile technology and GIS capability on transit vehicles provide real-time information about arrivals and delays?

What other questions should we be asking and what answers can you share?

Filed Under: Safety, Security

Backing into Green

March 19, 2012 By
Frank L. Giles

I still remember my dad’s 1978 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Whenever he and I stopped along the way on our adventures, he would always back into the parking space. It was almost ceremonial; he would swing wide to line the car up just right, place the ball of his left hand on the wheel, and pass his right arm just over my head so his hand was on the passenger headrest. With a slow smooth turn of the steering wheel, the car would glide into the space just right.

Believe it or not, he was doing something sustainable. I know—you’re thinking, “The only way to get a ’78 Caddi green is paint it.” As it turns out, backing into a parking space can be good for the environment. Now that I’m an adult I find myself backing into parking spaces just like dad did (minus some of the finesse), but I always justified it as being safer than pulling in forwards. There is less chance of hitting another car while backing into a space than there is while backing out into traffic. Also, it’s easier to leave a dangerous situation if you can pull straight out.

Now I have another reason to swing wide and glide into a space: turns out, it more fuel efficient. Studies show that it takes considerably more fuel to back up when the engine is cold than it does when it is warm. This means you help the environment and save a little money. So if you haven’t been able to start your personal green initiative head-on, take a cue from my dad and back into it.

Filed Under: Lighter Side of Parking, Safety, Sustainability

Giant Twinkies

March 12, 2012 By
Mark Wright

I’m staring through a tall expanse of picture windows at a parking lot as I tap out this post on my iPad. The windows are just about the only thing between me and the parking spaces a few feet away that house vehicles pointed directly at me. A very shallow curb extends a few feet out from the building.

Sitting here is stupid, given my history. But it’s a bright sunny day. The big windows draw my eyes out toward a beautiful blue sky. And I’m watching every vehicle that pulls in so I’ll be ready to leap if one of them fails to stop — or if a driver’s foot mistakenly hits the gas instead of the brake.

None of the people around me seem concerned as vehicles come and go from the spaces a few feet away. They’re chatting. They’re reading. They’re using mobile devices.

Well, far be it from me to interrupt them (“Who the heck was that wacko…and what’s a bollard?”).

If a parking professional sat next to me, of course, he or she would surely notice something missing. White-lined parking spaces? Check. Blue disabled-only symbols where appropriate? Check. Proper drive lane widths and clear sight lines? Check.

The missing element: a safety barrier between vehicles and the people sitting here behind all this glass.

An observation by the ever-insightful Homer Simpson seems fitting: “You know that little ball you put on your antenna so you can find your car in a parking lot? That should be on EVERY CAR!”

Ditto for safety barriers—bollards, boulders, planters—whatever’s appropriate for the site. Why shouldn’t every parking facility use them?

If we were to ask Homer for an idea about protecting pedestrians and building patrons from moving vehicles in parking areas, his answer might be, “Ummm, giant Twinkies?”

I’d hate to block that great view in front of these picture windows with four-foot Hostess products, though. (D’oh! Now I have the munchies.)

What are your thoughts? Post them in the comments below.

Filed Under: Retail, Safety, Surface Lots