The Parking Professional February 2018

THE INTERNATIONAL PARKING INSTITUTE

ADVANCING TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY

FEBRUARY 2018

26

SNAPPED!

Our 2017 photo contest shows the beauty, humor, and wonder found in parking.

2018 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS How to make the most of social media channels. 20

STRATEGIC PLANNING AND DOING Planning the planning session for real progress afterwards. 32

INTERNATIONAL PARKING CULTURES

Touch vs. tech around the world. 38

IPI COMMITTEE UPDATES Goals, plans, and timelines. 44

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FEBRUARY 2018

VOL. 34 | NO. 2 THE INTERNATIONAL PARKING INSTITUTE

Features

20

Current Social

The biggest 2018 social media trends and how parking professionals can make the most of them.

Interview with Ted Janusz

26

Snapped!

32

From Here to There

Our 2017 photo contest shows the beauty, humor, and wonder found in parking.

The best ways to shift from strategic planning to strategic doing.

By Colleen M. Niese, SPHR

38

Touch vs. Tech

A story about international parking culture.

By Michael Klein, CAPP, and Pieter Sprinkhuizen

44

Goals, Plans, and Timelines

IPI committees work to advance the parking profession.

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

EDITOR’S NOTE

Departments 4 ENTRANCE

Rethinking Needs

By Kim Jackson, CAPP

6 FIVE THINGS

Five New Laws in 2018

8 MOBILITY & TECH

Parking Innovators Share the Value of Parksmart Compiled by Trevyr Meade

1 0 THE GREEN STANDARD

Accessibility and EV Charging Stations

By Michelle Wendler, AIA

1 2 THE BUSINESS OF PARKING Being Well

By Julius Rhodes, SPHR

1 4 FINANCIAL MATTERS

Leaving Your Job? A Rollover Tutorial

By Mark A. Vergenes

1 6 PARKING SPOTLIGHT Take the FEMA Training Challenge

By Victor A. Hill, MPA, CAPP

1 8 ASK THE EXPERTS 5 0 IPI IN ACTION

Critical Industry Survey Coming

By Kathleen Federici, MEd

5 2 STATE AND REGIONAL

SPOTLIGHT New England Parking Council

By Kathryn Herbert, PhD

5 4 AROUND THE INDUSTRY

Goodbye, Comfort Zone

A

FEW WEEKS AGO, I found myself standing on top of a mountain in eight-degree wind and falling snow. I am a summer girl through and through, and to say this was out of my comfort zone is a bit of an understatement. Cold and snow and wind are not my idea of a good time. But it was the start of a new year, and I’d resolved to be a more active participant in life and my kids wanted to go snow tubing. So here we were. Top of a mountain, jumping on inflated rubber rings to go careening down to the bottom at speeds that made me hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut before climbing off and riding the carpet lift up to the top to do it again.

Just because I’m trying things out of my happy zone doesn’t mean completely throwing caution to the wind (literally in this case). I’d invested and prepared in advance: wicking base layer, fleece-lined leggings, ­water- and windproof snow pants, Polartec liners under down-filled gloves, the warmest jacket L.L. Bean sells (I asked the nice lady in Maine when I ordered—totally worth it), ear-hugging hat under my helmet, fleece tube scarf, sunglasses secured with a strap, and warm and waterproof snow boots. The family laughed at me, but whatever—I was out there, and it ended up being fun, much to my surprise.

Preparation makes a big difference when we step out of our comfort zones, and that’s what our article on strategic planning for parking organizations is all about. Deciding to plan is all well and good, but doing some homework ahead of time can make the process much more effective and super productive for your organization and its employees, even leaving everyone energized and ready to tackle new challenges head-on. Check it out starting on p. 32.

Other highlights this month are a Q&A with social media expert Ted Janusz on the biggest trends to follow on your social platforms this year (p. 20) and the winning shots from this year’s photo contest (p. 26). Of course, there’s lots more to read and share with your colleagues, either by passing around your print magazine or sharing the digital version; every IPI member gets that delivered to his or her inbox every month.

As always, please contact me with question or ideas. Here’s to stepping out of comfort zones, with proper preparation, of course.

Until next month…

6 0 PARKING CONSULTANTS 6 2 ADVERTISERS INDEX

fernandez@parking.org

6 2 PARKING BREAK 6 3 CALENDAR

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

3

ENTRANCE

For advertising information, contact Bonnie Watts at watts@parking.org or 571.699.3011.

For subscription changes, contact Tina Altman, taltman@parking.org.

The Parking Professional (ISSN 0896-2324 & USPS 001436) is published monthly by the International Parking Institute.

1330 Braddock Place, Suite 350 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone: 571.699.3011 Fax: 703.566.2267 Email: ipi@parking.org Website: parking.org Postmaster note: Send address label changes promptly to: The Parking Professional 1330 Braddock Place, Suite 350 Alexandria, VA 22314 Interactive electronic version of The Parking Professional for members and subscribers only at parking.org/tpp.

Periodical postage paid at Alexandria, Va., and additional mailing offices. Copyright © International Parking Institute, 2018. Statements of fact and opinion expressed in articles contained if The Parking Professional are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent an official expression of policy or opinion on the part of officers or the members of IPI. Manuscripts, correspondence, articles, product releases, and all contributed materials are welcomed

by The Parking Professional; however, publication is subject to editing, if deemed necessary to conform to standards of publication.

The subscription rate is included in IPI annual dues.

Subscription rate for non-members of IPI is $120 per year (U.S. currency) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

All other countries, $150. Back issues, $10.

The Parking Professional is printed on 10 percent recycled paper and on paper from trees grown specifically for that purpose.

4

Rethinking Needs

By Kim Jackson, CAPP

I

RECENTLY HAD OCCASION TO RETHINK how persons with medical conditions that do not rise to the level of disabled parking navigate our facilities and how important it is for our staff to ­understand their challenges.

I broke my ankle and required surgery, and after a two-week home stay, returned to work with a non-weight– bearing boot and crutches. Because it was my right ankle, it was impossible to drive to work. A colleague volunteered to drive me to and from work, which was both a gracious offer and gave me a sense of freedom.

On my first day back with a kneehigh cast, I realized we needed to temporarily park closer to the building than we normally would. Thanks to my job, I was able to get the kiosk ­officer to let us onto campus; this is not always possible for our customers.

We then needed to find a space close enough to the building to gain access from the most accessible point. I hobbled my way to the front door, thankful for a ramp, and pulled it. The door was heavier than I expected, and although I lost my balance, I remained upright and made a mental note to tell the VP in facilities the door is not accessible.

I was delighted to be in my office enjoying freedom from the house, but then I realized I had two meetings out of the office. Fear ensued as I tried to think not only of how I would get to the buildings where the meetings were held, but what the accessible entrances and paths to the meeting rooms, etc., were.

I was lucky to manage a ride from our enforcement staff; many of our

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

customers do not get this luxury.

If they cannot access a virtual meeting, they might not be able to attend.

Worse, they might be able to get to a meeting facility, but not the actual meeting room.

As the weeks passed, I learned just how difficult and tiring being temporarily disabled can be—I was exhausted every night. Using crutches requires great upper body strength, core stabilization, and concentration. Every move must be planned. By Friday night I was ready to hibernate until Monday rolled back around.

Then and now, I remind staff how challenging it was to navigate campus.

I’ve asked them to think of my trials when someone contacts the office for medical or short-term disability parking when they do not qualify for a handicap placard but need access.

Just walking may be physically exhausting. What a wake-up call.

KIM JACKSON, CAPP, is

director of parking and transportation services at Princeton University and a member of IPI’s Board of Directors. She can be reached at kimj@princeton.edu.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Publisher Shawn Conrad, CAE conrad@parking.org Editor Kim Fernandez fernandez@parking.org Technical Editor Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C yoka@parking.org Assistant Editor Monica Arpino arpino@parking.org Contributing Editor Bill Smith, APR bsmith@smith-phillips.com Advertising Sales Bonnie Watts, CEM watts@parking.org Subscriptions Tina Altman taltman@parking.org.

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5

THINGS TO KNOW

Five New Laws in 2018

I

T’S A NEW YEAR , and with it come new transportation laws across the U.S. From new taxes to restrictions on ride-

share drivers, to fees for electric-vehicle registration, states across the nation enacted new laws around cars, driving, and the way people get around. Here are five that went into effect Jan. 1.

South Carolina drivers choked down a two-cent-­pergallon gasoline tax in July. This year, they can get a tax credit for the same amount as long as they save their gas receipts all year. Those who spend more on maintenance— think oil changes, tires, and belts—can get a tax credit for those instead as long as they save their receipts. But not everyone is so lucky: Owners of electric vehicles will pay a new $120, one-time fee when they register their cars, while owners of hybrid vehicles face a fee of $60.

3

Ride-Share Driver Regulations in New Jersey

Transportation network companies (TNCs)—such as Uber, Lyft, etc.—in New Jersey must now register with the state department of transportation every year. In addition, their drivers must undergo background checks and certain criminal backgrounds will prohibit people from becoming TNC drivers at all.

2

California drivers are no longer allowed to park indefinitely at broken meters; instead, municipalities can restrict drivers to parking in those spaces for four hours at a time as long as they post signs saying so. Recreational marijuana use is now legal in California, and drivers will face stiff penalties for marijuana use while driving or riding in a vehicle. Another new law: Bus drivers whose vehicles have seat belts are required to ensure their passengers buckle up.

4

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

No Phone Calls with Handhelds in School Zones in Tennessee

Drivers in Tennessee face fines of up to $50 for using handheld cellphones while driving through active school zones. Hands-free devices are OK to call on, though. Also in the state, school bus drivers are now required to be 25 years old and complete a training program before they can drive students.

And vehicle front-end lights that are any color other than white or amber are now illegal.

5 PHOTO BY: LYNN CRONQUIST

New Parking, DUI Rules in California

Honoring Officers Killed in Minnesota

Minnesota drivers may now pay a $10 fee and donate $25 to the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association to display special license plates in memory of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Drivers of mopeds can apply for disabled license plates, and “start seeing motorcycles” license plates are now offered for all vehicles.

SHUTTERSTOCK / MR. ALIEN / MADPIXBLUE / KAREN ROACH / NIROWORLD / ENIGMANIC

1

Gas Tax Credit in South Carolina

Strategic Planning and Management Maintenance and Restoration Design and Construction Technologies www.kimley-horn.com/parking

MOBILITY & TECH

Parking Innovators Share the Value of Parksmart Compiled by Trevyr Meade, LEED Green Associate

811 Main

Houston, Texas Our rooftop is your oasis With the construction of the 811 Main garage and its green roof, downtown Houston gained one of its first rooftop gardens. Created as an amenity for building tenants, the garden offers an outdoor space where building users can immerse themselves in the natural environment as they meet, dine, or relax. While having a bold effect on our community, the garden treads lightly on the environment. It is watered using a condensate recovery system that harnesses the condensation produced by the building’s air conditioners to nourish the garden’s plants. Our garden project demonstrates a core operational value of our team: bringing more to our customers and community while minimizing our resource needs.

—Nichole Crossland, Parking Manager, Winpark

Charles Square Garage Cambridge, Mass.

We only charge for the space you use We pioneered an approach to encourage patrons to use smaller, less impactful vehicles. Through a partnership, we created the Nanomax system that uses sonar to automatically identify a vehicle’s size and price its parking fee accordingly. Using this system, we now provide small cars a discount. Larger cars consume more materials in manufacturing, require more space for storage, and often cause more emissions. This system allows us to charge parkers the true cost for the space they use and in the process, do our part to incentivize the use of more environmentally friendly vehicles.

—Djamel Ghili, Area Manager, Propark America

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

Bank of America Plaza Los Angeles, Calif.

You choose how to get here We seek to provide our tenants frictionless access to the building we support. The bicycle parking amenities we offer are just one example of how we accomplish this. We provide building tenants complimentary access to a bicycle room complete with lockable bike racks, lockers, showers, changing rooms, a water fountain, a bicycle mechanic workstation, and a Downtown Los Angeles map showing designated bicycle paths and Metro stations.

These amenities allow our customers to easily choose a healthier, more sustainable commuting option, whether a combination of cycling and mass transit or simply riding their bikes to work.

—Mario Izaguirre, Parking Facility Manager, ABM Parking Services

Garage at Post Office Square Boston, Mass.

Every drop counts We all know how valuable water is. When I took over operations at the Garage at Post Office Square and was introduced to the property’s groundwater pumping system, I knew something had to change. Around the clock, the garage would pump groundwater from its foundation, up seven stories, directly into Boston’s combined stormwater/sewer system. I began a search for a solution. A few years later at a green building event, I met an engineer who wanted to work with us to design a system that could harness this unused water for toilet flushing and garage wash-downs. This system now saves us thousands of gallons of drinking water each week.

—Pam Messenger, General Manager, Friends of Post O ­ ffice Square

Hoy & Forest Home Garages Ithaca, N.Y.

Garage and classroom While completing the Parksmart certification process, it dawned on me that our garages had untapped potential to help celebrate and encourage sustainable work on campus. We decided our parking structures would become sustainability billboards for the university.

We identified areas of the garages with the most pedestrian traffic and installed posters that publicize our campus solar project, highlight energy efficiency initiatives, promote our ride-matching service, encourage pedestrian safety, and advocate recycling. Our garages are now an educational platform and communications tool for the university.

—Bartt A. Smith, Coordinator of Projects, Cornell University

TREVYR MEADE,

LEED Green Associate, is certification program lead with Green Business Certification, Inc. He can be reached at tmeade@gbci.org.

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

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THE GREEN STANDARD

Accessibility and EV Charging Stations

By Michelle Wendler, AIA

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) global long-term Electric Vehicle Outlook forecasts, “The EV revolution is going to hit the car market even harder and faster than BNEF predicted a year ago. EVs are on track to accelerate to 54 percent of new car sales by 2040. Tumbling battery prices mean that EVs will have lower lifetime costs, and will be cheaper to buy, than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars in most countries by 2025-29.” According to the International Energy Agency, “The global electric car stock surpassed 2 million vehicles in 2016 after crossing 1 million in 2015.”

Another aspect of these installations that is still being addressed is how to provide accessibility for these stations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not have a standard for how to address the number of or methodology for installation of the accessible electric vehicle charging stations that should be provided. However, per the United States Access Board, an independent federal agency that promotes equality for people with disabilities, it is advisable to address access to EV charging stations so they are usable by people with disabilities. California is the first state to incorporate a requirement for this into the building code; other states such as Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, and Colorado provide guidelines.

Concepts Addressed

Preparing for the Future

A critical aspect of designing a parking facility is accommodating for EV charging. The increase in the number of stations increases the need for electrical conduits. Finding the routing for this conduit is always a challenge.

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Even though there is no common national standard, the following concepts are addressed by most guidelines or codes.

■■ Accessible spaces at EV charging stations should not count toward the minimum number of accessible car and van parking spaces required in a parking facility.

■■ Charging stations should be located so they have access for a person in a wheelchair on an accessible path.

■■ Reach range and turning radius requirements from ADA are good standards for accessing the equipment.

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■■ Use caution that bollards and wheel

stops do not obstruct the use of the charging station.

■■ In lieu of a specific requirement, the number of accessible EV charging spaces provided should be evaluated by taking the total number of EV charging spaces and assuming these are a separate facility when applying the table of required accessible parking spaces.

■■ Consideration should be taken when locating stations so that cords do not block pedestrian paths or accessible routes when plugged into a vehicle.

■■ Accessible EV charging spaces should be distributed on a site in a similar concept to the requirements for other ADA parking spaces.

■■ Charging equipment should not encroach into parking spaces or access aisles.

■■ Charging equipment can be shared between an accessible EV charging space and a regular EV charging space.

Because the ADA globally addresses the concept of equivalent facilitation, it seems prudent to address the guidelines of providing equivalent facilitation for EV charging stations. If you have existing EV charging stations and have not yet provided adequate accessibility for them, it is recommended to apply a similar standard used with other accessibility requirements. Include these recommendations in the list of items to be upgraded when modifications are made to your parking facilities.

MICHELLE WENDLER, AIA, is

principal of Watry Design and a member of IPI’s Sustainability Committee. She can be reached at mwendler@watrydesign.com.

SHUTTERSTOCK / 4045

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HE DEMAND FOR INSTALLATION OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) charging stations has increased dramatically in the last three years. In some jurisdictions, there are requirements for installing electric conduit now to provide infrastructure for future charging stations. Many clients are requesting more stations as they receive requests from employees, customers, staff, and students.

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

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THE BUSINESS OF PARKING | HUMAN RESOURCES

Being Well his is the time of year when many of us are trying to stick with resolutions.

It presents us with an excellent opportunity to be well, which begins with doing what we can and should to secure our own wellness.

We are all familiar with the concept of health, which essentially denotes a condition of being of sound body free from pain and disease. While good health is a laudable goal, it may limit our ability to see things in a more holistic manner. This is where the idea of wellness comes into being. Wellness is proactive and encompasses physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, occupational, environmental, and social components. It’s really a matter of balance and treating yourself well.

Balance

While balance sort of falls into the old adage of all things in moderation, it goes much further. Each of us has myriad responsibilities that we must address, but we need to ensure balance in our lives and make our personal well-being a priority. We should never put ourselves in a position of trying to do so much for others that we do less for ourselves.

While service to others is essential, we

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also need to reward ourselves for the good we do and the positive actions we take. To me, this is the essence of being well by doing well.

Second, we need to work to understand how the way we view ourselves helps us connect with our goals and aspirations on a level that is much deeper than gaining material things. Each day, we should set aside a brief moment to collect our thoughts and think about things that inspire us and might inspire others, too. This is a concept I refer to as positive self-talk and others call meditation, but whatever you call it, it needs to happen on a consistent basis.

What’s Going Well

I owe the next idea to my grammar school physical education and basketball coach, Andrew Summerlin, who often said, “If you’re driving a car and you don’t crash, keep doing what you’re doing.” All of us need to take stock of the things that are working in our lives

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

to see which are going well and how we can sustain them. In other words, identify what’s going right and work to replicate it.

Finally, we should never underestimate the effect of emotions and being able to express them appropriately: happiness, sadness, pleasure, or even anger.

All have a place in our lives, and we will experience all at various points. To the extent we learn to appropriately display our emotions and not let them rule us, we provide others with an opportunity to see and enjoy more of who we are as a person, and it encourages them to do the same.

So if these are some things we need to do to be well and do well, what tools do we need? Here’s the beautiful thing: You have all the tools either within you or around you. To be well and do well, you need personal motivation, which means no one can want something more for you than you want it for yourself.

You need a support system—they are really all around you but usually start with family. You will also need an understanding of the issues that face you and a willingness to address them by doing research and educating yourself on appropriate actions.

Armed with this information, you can and will be able to overcome any obstacles and increase your ability to be well by doing well.

JULIUS E. RHODES, SPHR, is

founder and principal of the mpr group and author of BRAND: YOU Personal Branding for Success in Life and Business. He can be reached at jrhodes@ mprgroup.info or 773.548.8037.

ISTOCK / SHIRONOSOV

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FINANCIAL MATTERS

Leaving Your Job? A Rollover Tutorial

By Mark A. Vergenes

A

RE YOU LEAVING YOUR JOB and considering whether to take a distribution from your 401(k), 403(b), or governmental 457(b) plan? If so, make sure you’ve considered all your options—there are four choices you can make when you’re eligible to receive a distribution from your employer retirement savings plan.1

This is the easiest option—don’t do anything: ■■ You’ll get continued tax-deferred growth (or potentially tax-free growth in the case of Roth accounts).

■■ While individual retirement accounts (IRAs) typically provide more investment choices than an employer plan, there may be certain investment opportunities in your particular plan that you can’t replicate with an IRA. ■■ You can receive penalty-free distributions as early as age 55 (50 for qualified public safety employees).

■■ Qualified plans generally provide greater creditor protection than IRAs. This may not be an option if your vested plan balance is $5,000 or less, if you’ve reached your plan’s normal retirement age, or if the payment is a required minimum distribution. Consult your plan’s terms.

Option 2: Take the Cash

Most plans allow you to take a lump-sum distribution of your account balance, but be aware: ■■ If you deplete your retirement plan, you risk not having enough money during retirement.

■■ All or part of your distribution may be subject

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

to federal (and possibly state) taxes, and the taxable portion may be subject to an additional 10 percent early distribution penalty tax if you haven’t reached age 55 (50 for qualified public safety employees).

■■ You’ll lose the benefit of continued tax-deferred (or tax-free) growth.

If your distribution includes employer stock or other securities, special tax rules may apply that can make taking a distribution more advantageous than making a rollover.

Consult a tax professional.

Option 3: Roll It Over

Distributions from designated Roth accounts can be rolled over only to a Roth IRA; distributions of non-Roth funds can be made to a traditional IRA or converted to a Roth: ■■ Your funds continue to have tax-deferred (or tax-free) growth.

■■ In most cases, you’ll have more investment choices with an IRA than with an employer plan.

■■ You can freely move your money among the various investments offered by your IRA trustee and among different IRA trustees/custodians using direct transfers.

■■ With an IRA, the timing and amount of distributions are generally at your discretion. (However, you must start taking required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs at age 70½).

ISTOCK / DAOLEDUC

Option 1: Leave It

■■ No required distributions must be made from Roth IRAs

during your lifetime.

Option 4: Roll to a New Plan

If you want to keep your funds in an employer’s retirement plan, some plans accept rollovers: Rolling over to a new employer has all the advantages of option 1 above.

■■ Moving money into your new account consolidates your employer plan retirement savings.

■■ New employer plans may offer new benefits. For example, you may be eligible for a plan loan and you may be able to delay required distributions beyond age 70½.

Should You Roll Over?

You need to weigh all of the factors and make a decision based on your own needs and priorities.2 Be sure to: ■■ Ask about possible surrender charges that may be imposed by your existing employer plan or new surrender charges your IRA or new plan may impose.

■■ Compare investment fees and expenses charged by your IRA (and investment funds) or new plan with those charged by your existing employer plan (if any).

■■ Understand any accumulated rights or guarantees you may be giving up by transferring funds out of your employer plan. It is best to have a professional assist you with this because the decision you make may have significant consequences—both now and in the future.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to roll over your entire distribution. You can roll over whatever portion you wish. If you roll over only part of a distribution that includes taxable and nontaxable amounts, the amount you roll over is treated as coming first from the taxable part of the distribution.

MIRUS Financial Partners, nor Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, give tax or legal advice. Opinions expressed are not intended as investment advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of determining your social security benefits, eligibility, or avoiding any federal tax penalties. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representations as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance information is historical and indicative of future results.

Notes 1

Special rules apply if you’re the beneficiary of a plan participant.

If your distribution is eligible for rollover, you’ll receive a statement from your employer outlining your rollover options. Read that statement carefully.

You cannot roll over hardship withdrawals, required minimum distributions, substantially equal periodic payments, corrective distributions, and certain other payments.

2

MARK A. VERGENES is president of MIRUS

Financial Partners and chair of the Lancaster (Pa.) Parking Authority. He can be reached at mark@mirusfinancialpartners.com.

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

15

PARKING SPOTLIGHT | SAFETY AND SECURITY

Take the FEMA Training Challenge

By Victor A. Hill, MPA, CAPP

I

PI’S SAFETY AND SECURITY COMMITTEE —with its new crop of members—is up and running. I’m honored to co-chair this committee alongside Robert Milner, CAPP, director of parking and transportation services at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. We worked in fire service and law enforcement, and we are grateful for the opportunity to take the reins and work with a committee that has a wonderful blend of representatives from the public and private sectors.

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Cooperation and Communication

Our committee plays an important role in studying the role parking operations and employees play in disaster responses and offering relevant information and training opportunities. A common theme that runs through these courses is the need for interagency cooperation and interoperable communication, terms of art that boil down to ensuring everyone works together to provide the most efficient aid to minimize the loss of services. Facets of FEMA’s Incident Command System (ICS) are taught as part of CAPP classes, and First Observer Plus Training was offered at the 2017 IPI Conference & Expo in New Orleans, La. First Observer Plus is also one of the courses available on the IPI website; it takes less than an hour to complete and provides one point toward CAPP recertification.

Other courses that offer CAPP points are: ■■ Introduction to ICS, 3 points.

■■ National Incident Management System (NIMS): An Introduction, 3 points.

■■ ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents, 3 points.

■■ National Response Framework: An Introduction, 3 points.

■■ Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Management and Operations, 4 points.

■■ Fundamentals of Emergency Management, 6 points.

That’s 23 total points, including the point for First Observer, and more than enough to get you past the recertification hump. Of course, you still need to balance these courses with points from

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We have an ambitious agenda this year. The first item is a challenge for our fellow IPI members: Complete the emergency response training modules offered on the IPI website. These online independent-study classes are offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and—even more exciting— offer points toward CAPP recertification.

The value of these points cannot be underestimated considering the training is free, the skills are invaluable, and you will receive foundational knowledge that will enhance your ability to work with other agencies in the event that disasters strike your area.

other c­ ategories—I’ll say that IPI’s other online offerings are outstanding. If you’re not sure how to tackle the courses, take them in the order they’re presented above.

The Courses

The intro course lays out the foundations of the ICS, and the concepts are scalable and transferrable. You don’t need an incident to use ICS. Its appeal is in its applicability to anything that requires organization and logistics. We use it on my campus for special events that can be as simple as a departmental breakfast or as complicated as a track meet that attracts thousands of athletes and spectators.

NIMS and the National Response Framework courses take the national view and contextualize ICS, while the single-­ resource course provides insights into specialized approaches.

EOC operations is important for understanding the nerve center aspects of incident management. The fundamentals class, which offers the most points, gives even more detail.

Benefits

IPI is offering credit for the FEMA courses, which provide immediate understanding and value to anyone who works in the parking industry. Walking the walk and talking the talk make a significant difference during disasters. Emergency responders and incident commanders appreciate liaising with officials who understand command structures and operational needs. Take the time to complete these courses and consider which ones your employees and others in your organization should enroll in. Visit parking.org/learnonline for the full list of courses.

damage assessment, workplace security awareness, active shooter, and mitigation measures that are disaster-specific.

The courses I’ve listed are the ones I’ve found particularly useful and are by no means definitive.

Be sure to share your experiences and ideas with IPI’s Safety and Security Committee. One of our goals is to provide examples of best practices that promote safety and efficiency in disaster response. My email address is listed here—please get in touch anytime.

VICTOR A. HILL, MPA, CAPP, is director of parking and

transportation services at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and co-chair of IPI’s Safety and Security Committee. He can be reached at vhill@uwlax.edu.

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TAKE YOUR CAREER TO A HIGHER LEVEL

Outside Resources

After you do that, look at the rest of FEMA’s offerings and keep going. As of this writing, the FEMA training website is training.fema.gov. Dozens of additional courses are available for free, and many of them are specific to the private sector, airports, municipalities, and higher education. ICS courses include specialized training for higher education and other disciplines, for example, and our employees are required to complete basic ICS and its higher education module.

Other courses worth considering cover social media, community emergency response teams, continuity of operations,

Save $300 on your registration!

REGISTER by Feb. 11

IPIConference.parking.org

Take a deeper dive with one of four higher learning pre-conference programs or conference enhancement workshops that will propel your organization and your career.

The added bonus – continuing education credits!

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ASK THE

EXPERTS

What’s your top tip for using social media?

Melissa Maraj

Marketing & Communications Manager Texas A&M Transportation Services Use automation for consistency. A social media scheduler such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Buffer, or SocialFlow allows you to plan and organize most of your social media engagement ahead of time, allowing you to stay actively engaged with your community.

L. Dennis Burns, CAPP

Vanessa Solesbee, CAPP

Michelle Wendler, AIA

Marlene Cramer, CAPP

Integrating various social media sites into a parking planning study has become a standard practice in the past few years. Leveraging a parking study as a community educational opportunity provides the sponsoring agency with a good foundation for future stakeholder involvement.

Have a documented social media strategy and don’t feel like you have to have a presence on every hot, new social media site.

Identify which outlets are most frequented by your current customers and desired audience. Then focus on developing regular, concise, and valuable content that will keep your followers engaged and informed about your organization’s work.

Successfully engaging with an audience on social media requires producing consistent, relevant content, which is a challenge when everyone is busy and schedules change on the fly. A content management tool such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social makes it much easier to schedule social media posts in advance, helping you send content at just the right time no matter what gets in the way of your day.

Stay positive, communicate the same message often, don’t avoid the hard questions, and be as honest and transparent as possible. Look for partner and allied groups that are also willing to spread your organization’s message and new ways to deliver it.

Regional Vice President Kimley-Horn

President The Solesbee Group

Principal Watry Design, Inc.

Associate Director, Transportation and Parking Services Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

HAVE A QUESTION? Send it to editor@parking.org and watch this space for answers from the experts.

The opinions and thoughts expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the International Parking Institute or official policies of IPI.

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GO ANYWHERE. Invest in yourself. Become an IPI member.

We have a spot reserved for you! Stay on top of new developments, connect with colleagues, and maximize your knowledge. Join the world’s largest association of parking professionals and watch your opportunities soar.

Benefits include: • Professional development through certifications, training, and on-demand learning • Discounted pricing on education, publications, and event registration • Leadership, networking, and volunteer opportunities to boost your career and your business

Don’t miss out – join today: parking.org

INTERVIEW

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NCE DISMISSED AS JUST A PASSING FAD, social media use for business is rapidly increasing. According to SocialMediaToday, the average person now spends 116 minutes on social media every day. The Parking Professional recently sat down with social media marketing speaker and trainer Ted Janusz to determine trends in social m ­ edia and how parking organizations should now be using social media to promote themselves.

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The biggest 2018 social media trends and how parking professionals can make the most of them.

The Parking Professional: What are the biggest mistakes businesses are making when using social media?

Ted Janusz: First of all, being afraid of the tools. To be effective with social media, be more concerned about your messages than the technology. Let’s relate this to something with which you are familiar: Once you figured out how to use your smartphone, email, or texting, what quickly became more important to you than the tool was who you were communicating with and what you were communicating.

I can understand intimidation. Many articles I read about social media marketing are filled with self-important geek speak, which can bewilder even highly intelligent businesspeople! But social media just comes down to human communication. Talk with your followers or connections as you would face-to-face with a friend; the technology is just the messenger.

Remember when teenagers would talk on the phone each day for hours? Well, they are still talking with each other, but instead of talking on the phone, they’re using social media to do it. Teenagers now spend on average more than nine hours a day on social media. These members of Generation Z—your next generation of consumers—will expect you as a businessperson to communicate with them in the same way.

A second mistake is to believe that there is a cookie-cutter approach to social media marketing success. You may think that someone somewhere must possess a magical formula that will make your posts go viral. But there is no such secret sauce!

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CURRENT SOCIAL

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There are now more than 70 million Facebook business pages. But why are so very few of them successful?

First, people have profiles on Facebook; businesses should have pages. Few pages work because creating one was usually a reactive rather than a proactive decision.

I was talking with a member of a chamber of commerce who desired a Facebook page. When I asked why, he replied, “Because the other chamber has one!”

The first step in creating a successful business page is to determine what you want to achieve for your parking organization with that page. For example, Freed Maxick CPAs, an accounting firm in Buffalo, N.Y., decided that they wanted to accomplish the following with their Facebook page: ■■ Humanize their employees. (Show that accountants are people too!).

■■ Showcase community involvement.

■■ Position the company as a thought leader in the community.

As a result, their strategy drives every post on their Facebook page.

What are the biggest trends right now in social media marketing?

First and foremost, influencer marketing, which means getting the endorsement of celebrities, thought leaders, and others who have large followings. Along with a steady rise in social media use, we are seeing a rapid decline in television viewing (especially among younger consumers).

So marketers are using influencers (both paid and unpaid) to get their messages out.

According to Captiv8, influencer marketing is big business. For influencers with 3 million to 7 million followers (think Kim Kardashian), they can charge: ■■ $187,000 for a post on YouTube.

■■ $75,000 for a post on Instagram or Snapchat.

■■ $30,000 for a post on Twitter.

These high-dollar figures should not be a concern for parking professionals, but they do prove two things: 1) social media is a legitimate marketing venue, and 2) parking professionals should also be using local

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The good news is that success in social media requires little more than your time and effort. Unlike with other media, you need not invest thousands of dollars into a marketing campaign. Instead, use helpful tools, which are free, such as Facebook Page Insights, Instagram Insights, or Twitter Analytics to find out what is working for you on social media. Then, do more of it. Use these tools to find out what is not working and simply do less of those things.

A third mistake is to believe social media is simply the 21st century version of old-fashioned interruption marketing, but now it’s free! The people who believe this don’t understand that social media is meant to be a method of two-way communications, which leads to engagement. “Get us a Facebook page,” they will say.

“Get us 1,000 fans, schedule posts using a site like Buffer or Hootsuite, then pump out those posts on a regular basis, to have our fans read all about us.”

I am honored to facilitate social media marketing workshops all over the country and to learn from my audiences. One attendee in Phoenix told me that instead what is working for her is the 10-4-1 posting principle. Out of every 15 posts she makes on social media: ■■ 10 posts will relate to something that is happening in the community.

■■ 4 posts will be what she calls “business light.” In other words, they focus on how her business is involved in the community. For example, a post might show her CEO working, but on the roof of a house to support Habitat for Humanity.

■■ 1 post will be the “hard sell” (information specifically about the business, products, or services).

She told me her followers will interact with the 10 posts about the community and the four business-light posts. Hardly anyone will like or comment on the hardsell post. But she knows they will have seen it.

Why? Because they engaged with the other 14 posts!

A fourth and final mistake is to believe that more fans (on Facebook), followers (on Twitter), or connections (on LinkedIn) are necessarily better. With social media, it’s quality that counts, not just quantity. It is far better that you have 100 followers who are actively engaged with you rather than 1,000 who aren’t.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video may be worth a million.

influencers in their communities (who hopefully can speak on their behalf on social media for free, or at least a lot less).

Nearly 95 percent of marketers who use an influencer marketing strategy believe it is effective. But when it comes to influencer marketing, New York Times best-selling author Jay Baer says, “True influence drives action, not awareness.”

One final note on influencer marketing: The Federal Trade Commission says, “If there’s a connection between an endorser and the marketer that consumers would not expect and it would affect how consumers evaluate the endorsement, that connection should be disclosed.”

The second big trend is the use of video on social media.

Blogger Nick Le asks, “Are you sick of getting the notification from your phone that your classmate in second grade has gone live on either Instagram or Facebook? Well, hopefully you aren’t because social media is moving to more real-time content and you’re about to see a lot more of those notifications.”

Videos on social media generate 1,200 percent more shares than text and images combined. You may notice when you access your Facebook app on your phone, there’s a place for you to create your story, and space for the video stories of your friends is now reserved at the top of the screen.

New York Times best-selling author John Medina says, “We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information and three days later you will remember 10 percent of it.

Add a picture and you’ll remember 65 percent. Reading is so inefficient for us. Our brain sees words as lots of tiny pictures. We have to identify certain features in the letters to be able to read them. That takes time.”

As a result, your post will always do better if it is accompanied by an image. I tell my social media marketing audiences, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video may be worth a million.”

After seeing the recent demise of social media video-sharing sites like Blab, Meerkat, and Periscope, I am a bit of a contrarian when it comes to video on the web. As Blab co-founder Shaan Puri says, “Most live streams aren’t interesting enough to justify stopping what [users] are doing to watch [a] broadcast.” In fact, only 10 percent of Blab’s users came back to the app on regular basis.

So how can you make a video interesting?

Very simply, ask yourself and answer these two questions: ■■ How does this video relate to my viewer?

■■ Why should they care?

If you do create video, how long should it be and what should it be about?

According to TubeMogul, the percent of your audience you will typically lose with a video is: ■■ After 19 seconds—10.39 percent.

■■ After 30 seconds—33.84 percent.

■■ At the one-minute mark—53.56 percent.

■■ By the two-minute mark—76.29 percent.

So keep your videos short.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy says that the No. 1 mistake most of his small-business clients make is that they don’t get and use testimonials.

So a video with a satisfied customer (remember the power of influencer marketing!), or a video showing one or

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Sit down and have conversations on real issues you’re facing that others have solved in our roundtable Shoptalks. These open forums allow you to shape the conversation for actionable takeaways.

J U N E 3 - 6 , 2 0 1 8 | ORLANDO, FLORIDA G AY L O R D PA L M S R E S O RT & C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R The industry’s elite professional development, dynamic networking, and largest showcase of innovative technology and service providers.

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CURRENT SOCIAL

In addition to creating videos, the real challenge for many social media marketers can be to find quality content on a consistent basis. Where can we get a continuous supply of content?

The key to social media marketing success (which is simple, not easy) is to determine what kind of content your followers want and to consistently give it to them.

One method is to use a site called BuzzSumo. Ben Perry, a web and mobile optimization expert in Boston, says, “I’ve used BuzzSumo for almost a year as a way to find good content to post on social channels and also to find good ideas for articles to write. It’s really so useful that it’s like cheating when used to repost articles on social. It tells you exactly what is trending today so you can be on point with your posts and get better engagement. The app is super simple to use and fairly flexible.

It’s also priced decently for what you get.”

Should you decide to write an article with the content to show you are a thought leader on your topic (content marketing is yet another viable—and free— marketing strategy you can employ), simply visit the homepage of your LinkedIn account. Click the button that says “Write an article.” At the top of the resulting template, you can fill in an image. (You can get dramatic, royalty-free photographs on a site like Pixabay.)

Enter a title, then either type or cut and paste from a Microsoft Word document the body of your article.

When you are done, simply click the “publish” button. Poof! Your article (which will appear without embedded ads) will then show up in the news feed of your connections on LinkedIn. But don’t stop there!

Include a link to your article on your website and your Facebook and Twitter accounts as well. A final step: Also enter a link to your article on Google+.

Why should you do this? Google+ never became the Facebook killer many thought it would be, but it is, of course, owned by Google. By also letting Google know

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about your article, it may get more favorable placement when somebody searches for the content you just wrote about. Using these steps, my most popular article, “What Really Happens When You Boost a Facebook Post,” has been viewed so far more than 2,000 times. Getting that exposure didn’t cost me a single cent.

There is an even easier (and free) way to get content: Cyndy Feasel’s husband, Grant, played for eight years in the National Football League and died at the age of 52, primarily from complications from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. As a result, Cyndy had a mission: She desired to raise awareness of concussions, subconcussive hits, and brain injuries in contact sports, especially among youth. So Cyndy set up a Facebook page: facebook.com/CyndyFeasel.

Cyndy was able to go from zero fans (people who like this) to more than 2,000 within the span of one year because she does four things extremely well with her Facebook page: ■■ Spreads out three to four posts per day. She is sure to post every day because out of sight becomes out of mind.

■■ Encourages and responds to all comments.

■■ Stays in her lane. Cyndy does not veer from her mission by discussing, say, a favorite recipe or the politics of the day.

■■ Mixes in personal posts as they relate to her mission.

Because most of her posts are not about herself, when she does mention family, these posts tend to get the highest amount of engagement.

To help Cyndy get a steady stream of content, she has set up Google Alerts around her topic areas. Once a day (usually around 8 a.m.) she receives an email with links to articles that have been published on the web in the last 24 hours that relate to her topics. Using her Facebook page, she will then share that information with her fans, who will then comment and share with their networks. This has allowed Cyndy in the last year to reach more people around the world and affect their lives more than she ever thought possible.

TED JANUSZ, MBA, facilitates workshops

nationwide, “Social Media Marketing for Bottom-Line Business Results—Not Geeks.” He can be reached at ted@januspresentations.com.

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more members of your staff as people and not just employees, tends to be well-received.

You could spend thousands of dollars to produce a video. Or you could use an inexpensive service like Animoto that can help you turn your still photographs, video clips, and music into video slideshows.

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e beauty, th s w o h s t s to conte Our 2017 pho in parking. d n u fo r e d n o humor, and w

We’ve seen a lot of unique ways to display a parking sign in our day but this is among our favorites. The Sign Boy sits outside Philadelphia’s Wanamaker building, appearing to offer human and canine tributes to parking (we can relate). It was designed in 1994 by sculptor Thomas Miles, known for his 26-foot tall, stainless steel sculpture of Ben Franklin that sits above Route 676 in the city. The Sign Boy is known as one of the most viewed public pieces of art in the city, and we love its style.

Thanks to photographer Larry Cohen, CAPP, executive director, Lancaster Parking Authority, for this submission.

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Best in Show

he Parking Professional’s 2017 photo contest received a record number of entries and judging was more difficult than ever. But IPI’s staff rose to the task, making tough calls and sometimes agonizing between choices to pick this year’s winners and a host of honorable mention choices— photos we loved and had to print. Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to this year’s winners. And now, on with the show!

Equipment

This photo of a parking guidance system in Bethesda, Md., won us over with its clean lines and s­ imple-butelegant showcasing of a sign that’s become both a landmark and a necessity in this busy, close-in, Washington, D.C., suburb. The photo was taken by Jeremy Souders, chief of management services for Montgomery County, Md., and submitted by Sindhu Rao, IT specialist III, in the county’s division of parking management.

Lot

Simple, clean, and surrounded by the landmarks of a growing suburb, this year’s lot category winner shows off easy-to-see wayfinding and clear direction for payment—in a fantastic splash of sunshine. Photo taken by Carmen Zaldivar, planner specialist II with Montgomery County, Md., and submitted by Sindhu Rao, IT specialist III, in the county’s division of parking management.

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Offbeat

What do you do with your horse while out and about? It can be a conundrum, but Jake and Beau seem perfectly content parked right here.

We’re not sure what the rules are on meterfeeding requirement for horses; if you know, please shoot us a note (we’re curious).

Thanks to Katherine Robbins, parking management, Boulder, Colo., for sending this great shot.

People

Parking professionals love their jobs and it shows! Leone Ivanoff, Easy Park parking services lead, stopped for a quick smile before picking up customers in an Anchorage, Alaska, parking garage—check out his Bubble Buddy vehicle (we kind of want to take it out for a spin, honestly)!

This photo makes us smile, too, and was taken by Melinda Gant, public relations, Anchorage Community Development Authority/Easy Park.

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Structure

Henry Li is a junior traffic engineer with ptc., but the man clearly knows his way around a camera. His beautiful photo was taken outside a shopping center car park across the street from the International Convention Centre Hotel in Sydney, Australia. We love the great lines formed by cars zipping by the parking structure!

General

Pedestrians on this Omaha, Neb., street get to walk past a gorgeous tile mural every day, making for what we’re sure is a more pleasant commute than going by a plain old building. This photo

by Michael Meyers, project manager, City of Omaha, captures the beauty of the street wonderfully.

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Honorable Mentions We couldn’t just stop with our winners this year— there were too many great photos left!

This is a beautiful photo that came with an even more beautiful story. Scott Fox, CAPP, director of transportation and parking services, University of Florida, struggled with decisions about caring for his elderly dad last year.

While soul searching, he felt pulled to the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in Cedar Key, Fla., where he’d watch the sunrise from a boat launch and then take a swim. One morning, he felt peace with the decision to move his father to receive better care. He took this photo, went home, and hasn’t watched the sunrise from here since.

Most of us have probably never seen a dogsled race but think these folks have a great perspective for doing so. Mush! Photo by Melinda Gant.

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Ain’t no party like a parking professional party, and they can happen anytime! Thanks to Bridgette Brady, CAPP, senior director of transportation and mail services, Cornell University, for this fun photo of parking pros meeting up on the street. Cameo appearance by Chris Austin, CAPP, University of Buffalo.

Brrrr! Photographer Melinda Gant, did this Anchorage, Alaska, meter function when you snapped this one?

’Tis the season for holiday decorations, bike share, and parking all in one place—we’re loving it! Photo by Carmen Zaldivar.

Geoff Bucher, master electrician with parking and transportation services at the University of Texas, captured this fabulous nighttime cityscape with parking front and center. Gorgeous shot, Geoff.

A sad reminder of 2017’s many challenges from Mother Nature, this submerged Houston parking lot was one result of Hurricane Harvey. Photo by Michael Cramer, principal, Parking Dynamics.

Garage art is a longstanding trend that keeps spreading and we love seeing it. This photo by Mark Lyons, CAPP, parking manager, Sarasota, Fla., shows off a piece we particularly like.

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The best ways to shift from strategic planning to strategic doing.

By Colleen M. Niese, SPHR

from

HERE toTHERE I

t’s quite satisfying to gather all key players from across the organization around the conference table to talk about completing strategies for the upcoming year. People become energized by envisioning how the company will function differently, clients and customers will be retained, and new business targets will be met. Employee engagement goes up, with productivity following suit.

The trick is to recognize that the real work begins after the last flip chart of the session is approved and all involved (both in and outside the boardroom) have to now shift from planning to doing. For however many months the plan dictates. And do their “real” jobs simultaneously. And implement the associated deliverables.

And drive change borne of those deliverables. It’s these challenges that lie between the intersection of planning and doing that will either make or break your plan.

So. How does any organization best ensure its hard work during the planning session pays off in the subsequent months during the execution phase? I have learned a few things in my many years of facilitating strategic planning sessions for parking and

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transportation organizations of all shapes and sizes, from those that are emerging in the marketplace to those that are quite mature, in both the public and private sector. Here are some of my lessons learned, practical insights, and best practices to help anyone interested in strategic planning—whether you’re planning your very first session or are on the other side evaluating what’s already been decided in the current cycle.

Prep Participants as Much as Possible

When I first started facilitating strategic planning sessions, I asked participants/clients to set aside at least a day and a half, or sometimes two, depending on

When the results are collected, set aside a one-hour team prep meeting that is completely dedicated to discussing the session. Start with the end game—setting the organization’s strategic plan—followed by the path (the agenda) you will all follow to get there, using the insights collected from the survey and addressing all questions. Be as specific as possible when describing the end state (the goals, their purpose, their importance) and who is to do what to help achieve it.

If there are articles you wish the attendees to review, or pre-session exercises for them to complete, send them out a couple of weeks ahead of time with a few reminders leading up to the day so everyone has plenty of time to complete and think about what they’re being asked to do.

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such variables as the agenda, number of participants, and the organization’s experience in the strategic planning space. Those days are long gone for two reasons: 1) most organizations can’t afford to take senior leadership completely offline for that length of time, and 2) if you set a meeting time, no matter if the agenda warrants the length, people will fill it with conversation regardless. Now I recommend no less than six hours, no more than eight. The length of time alone underscores a sense of urgency from start to finish, requiring folks to make decisions, stay on point, and minimize death by debate.

To get the most out of however many hours are set, prepare your participants to the best extent possible for success. You can start this process with a survey that asks the attendees to: ■■ Gauge their level of understanding and comfort in participating.

■■ Define their expectations for the session.

■■ Prioritize what they believe are the top organizational goals that need to be completed.

■■ Ask any questions regarding the process itself.

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The other piece to the prep phase is the plan model itself. Plan models come in all sorts of varieties: triangles, pyramids, circles, etc. Some put the customer at the top, others the employees, and still others the financial target, all of which have been developed by really smart people in their respective fields.

Honestly, I have yet to either find or design the one model that fits all organizations. Instead, what I’ve concluded is that the model that best supports the organization’s foreseeable direction and is reflective of culture is the easiest one to use. Therefore, I have modified my own model for every client I have worked with.

With that said, all versions commonly include: ■■ A direct tie to the company’s overarching financial objective.

■■ A correlation between how to drive profit through customer acquisition and retention and realize efficiency through organizational infrastructure and improved process.

■■ A foundation that is largely comprised of customers, employees, and technology.

■■ Supporting logistics for each strategy: who owns it, who is served by it—customer, employee, ownership— and whether it will make money, save money, or both.

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Lastly, include a CEO communique that clearly outlines the value everyone will gain from participating in the session, what expectations of the day he or she has for each participant—including the CEO. This should encourage participants to ask questions, raise concerns, and provide feedback regarding their own desires of what should be accomplished prior to the session. While all may not be aligned on what the final strategies will look like when walking into the session, they should be aligned on how they will define those goals from a process perspective and what each should be doing to get there.

Every year, I work with at least one client team that will complete its first strategic planning session. I can share from experience that the planning phase is fairly low on participation in terms of back-and-forth dialogue, and not many questions are asked leading into the day. I’ve concluded many times over that this is the “hearing about versus actually experiencing it” dynamic at play. I assure all concerned that once we kick off the agenda, a lot of what’s been discussed during the prep phrase will start to click. Then, the engagement, along with the conversation, will go up both in volume and quality.

In setting a small list of two to three strategic goals, it’s highly likely that one to all three will be accomplished with excellence on the other side of the session. However, if the list is long with, say, 11 to 20 goals, it is almost a certainty that none will be met by the day’s end.

Time to Plan

Everyone’s gathered, introductions have been made, the CEO has said some wise, inspired words. Now it’s time to turn the page and get about the business of building the plan. If you’ve participated in these sessions, you know this is the official jumping-off point for the team and that moving from general orientation into laser-sharp conversations is the first hurdle to clear.

At this point I like to facilitate an introductory exercise that gets the collective heads into the strategic planning space. Depending on the team dynamics, I’ll conduct either a visioning exercise in which the participants mentally picture their future state, a word association in which they define for themselves future success using descriptors, or a pictorial process in which they select images I have scattered across the table that best represent what they want the organization’s future to look like.

Like the model, one exercise is not better than the other. What’s more important is ensuring people have pivoted their thinking from what’s waiting for them on the other side of the door to what they need to accomplish by participating in the session. I find it hugely

helpful for team members to talk with each other about what the future looks like in successful terms and then connect that with the day’s agenda in terms of how they’ll get there.

Now that it’s time to actually begin building the plan, there are many paths teams can follow. S.W.O.T. (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is a common approach; so is examining the financial budget and discussing what needs to be done to achieve targets, or honestly assessing the accomplishments and disappointments with the past plan to identify what’s working, what’s not, and why, and carry those lessons into the current year’s planning. The mechanics of identifying strategies is as important as the following guiding principles: ■■ Less is more. As Sean Covey notes in the “The 4 Disciplines of Execution,” in setting a small list of two to three strategic goals, it’s highly likely that one to all three will be accomplished with excellence on the other side of the session. However, if the list is long with, say, 11 to 20 goals, it is almost a certainty that none will be met by the day’s end.

Early in my career I was part of a strategic planning group that set 12 (!) goals for a session, and I can still remember the first 20 minutes of every check-in meeting starting with reminding ourselves of what the heck the goals were before we could discuss status. You can guess how many we accomplished that year. I always recommend no more than three per year for the above and so many other reasons. But, at the top of the list is that success must be achieved to drive sustainability and future years’ momentum.

■■ What and how. The best strategic plans contemplate both the what (the plan) and the how (who).

I often share that I’ve seen better results from a high-performing team that created a B+ plan than from an A+ plan managed by a highly dysfunctional team. All teams have their own unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Those that are honest about their interpersonal relationships, capitalize on where they swim in the same lanes, address gaps (trust tends to be a common struggle), and work on improving team effectiveness just as hard as the plan itself THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

35

Albert Einstein is reported to have said that if he only had one hour to solve a problem, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and the remaining five minutes solving it routinely. will undoubtedly have better success with the results and leverage all that’s gained from improved working relationships.

■■ Common goals are paramount. I recently had the pleasure of working with more than 100 representatives from various geographic regions across the United States for a day at a professional association’s annual conference, facilitating each group’s 2018 strategic imperative plan. I gained a different sense of value when it comes to purpose of common goals that day. Each participant represented a different community, and those tables whose members figured out the one common goal that could serve each community (as opposed to agreeing each community would do its own thing) built a much richer plan and had complete buyin from all. Before they walked out the door, they also had agreed how to best leverage each other’s resources to speed up the goal’s development and set a target launch date that was a full three months ahead of all the other groups. This experience so easily translates into the corporate environment and can be best illustrated when it comes time to evaluate each goal.

When the goals are set in final draft form, it’s typically the point of the day that energy is high and the team senses with this major accomplishment that the agenda is going to start winding down. I suppose I’m a bit of wet blanket by reminding the group it’s time to evaluate each goal to make sure strategies are aligned with key drivers that were agreed upon at the start of the day.

For each goal, we walk through an exercise that asks the group to answer questions: ■■ What roles are needed to develop, execute, and monitor the goal’s deliverables?

■■ Which stakeholder groups will benefit from the deliverable?

■■ What departmental budgets will contribute to its development and ongoing management?

Visually, it becomes quite evident in a very short period of time which

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goals are common and which are individual. As you can imagine, the longer the lists of answers for each question, the more likely the goal is serving most, if not all, of the needs from the perspective of owner, customer, and employee.

Time to Implement

This is also the point where the planning really shifts into doing. I encourage all around the table to truly challenge each other as to who is going to do what from this point of conception all the way through steady state metrics reporting and every step between. And as we’re putting names to these various pieces, we’re also having a very honest conversation regarding commitment and accountability, along with whatever the team has agreed to, in terms of the supporting ground rules they’ll use going forward. To hold each other into account, I’ll document this and circulate the information post-session and include it as part of every month’s check-in meeting’s agenda.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said that if he only had one hour to solve a problem, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and the remaining five minutes solving it routinely. I like this quote when thinking about what happens next with the team after it has finalized the plan, communicated throughout the organization, and started with the business of doing it. For those folks who have spent their session being thoughtful about the business, authentic with their strengths and weaknesses, and mindful of all stakeholders’ concerns with the crafting the plan, the relative effort in executing does in fact play out to be the less-demanding part of the equation.

COLLEEN M. NIESE, SPHR, is principal of the

Marlyn Group. She can be reached at cniese@ marlyngroupllc.com.

PA R K I N G S O L U T I O N S C O M P E T I T I O N 2 0 1 8

DO YOU HAVE THE NEXT BIG IDEA?

Entries must be submitted by February 23, 2018.

The Parking Solutions Competition is a design and development parking challenge for college students. Finalists demonstrate creativity, innovation, realism, applicability, scalability, and presentation skills.

Visit parking.org/parkingsolutions and follow #IPIparkingsolutions for competition details and announcements.

parking.org/parkingsolutions 37

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

Touch vs.

A story about international parking culture.

By Michael Klein, CAPP, and Pieter Sprinkhuizen

C

ulture is something we all have in common but that also makes us different. All things in life are observed through our own culturally influenced lenses. This applies to everyday life—the food we eat, the music we listen to, and the way we interact with others, and certainly also our professional lives. Considering the parking industry from European as well as American viewpoints, we’ll see through two culturally influenced perspectives the similarities and differences in the international parking and transportation industry throughout the world.

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ISTOCK / TRAMINO

Tech

Zero-emission Smart Fortwo vehicle parked on the street. This model is one of the most popular electric city cars in Europe.

Even though European and North American parking professionals are all part of the Western world, the differences between the European Old World charm and newer, expansive, American cultures are enormous. Take the ways time is perceived: An American may consider a 200-year-old building ancient, but that may be the age of the home where a European person was raised! Also, consider distances and population densities. The European Union (EU) is half the size of the U.S. and has a larger population (510 million people in the EU vs. 325 million people in the U.S.), with land use providing for denser populations that offer less living space per capita and greater use of transit-oriented development (TOD).

Europeans consider 100 miles a long drive (and likely prefer to take the train), while that distance is a fun road trip for many Americans. In the U.S. this distance could mean that you are going to the next city or state, whereas in Europe you could easily end up in another country (or maybe pass one entirely).

Europeans are used to traveling abroad, both internationally and intercontinentally, as they have been doing so since childhood.

On the Road

Look at the cars we drive: Europeans tend to drive smaller cars with rounder designs instead of the big, square-shaped cars popular in the U.S. Those smaller European-style cars get better gas mileage, which helps with the high price of fuel in Europe (the European gas tax is much higher than the American—about two-thirds and one-fifth of total fuel price, respectively) and makes it easier to squeeze into the limited amount of parking, especially in historic cities that were established before cars existed. The most popular vehicle in the U.S. is the Ford F series truck, but it’s the quite small Volkswagen Golf in Europe. It’s a huge difference in both size and design—America goes big, and Europe goes small.

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

39

Seeing roads built for both cars and bicycles is not unusual in cities such as Amsterdam, where biking is a primary mode of transportation.

Doing Business

Let’s consider how business meetings vary between the two worlds. Scheduling a meeting is easier in Europe than it is in the U.S.—in Europe, when a meeting is set, it is set. There is no need to confirm as is often done in the U.S. Moreover, during business meetings, Americans may interact with clients, colleagues, and other peers in a more social way than in Europe. And during social events at conferences and trade shows, as well as during informal gatherings, colleagues become friends during the years. In many European countries, friendship may be getting too close to business from a social point of view, and such contacts may lead to issues in the future.

According to Peter Martens, former board member of the European Parking Association (EPA) and Dutch Parking Association (Vexpan), EU laws on public bids are so strict that even brief contacts between municipalities and vendors at events such as trade shows could result in disqualification during the bid process.

Dinner meetings are, therefore, rare, and breakfast meetings are virtually nonexistent in Europe.

Parking Conferences

Trade shows are the main events for European parking industry associations, and they focus on the physical exhibition of product offerings to practitioners. At trade shows, such as Amsterdam’s biennial event Intertraffic (where the authors of this article first met), exhibitors have enormous booths—in some cases larger than 4,000 square feet. Exhibition show hours are from early morning to late afternoon, non-stop, every day. Off-show hours are primarily spent with direct colleagues rather than with peers.

U.S. events are more conference than trade shows and are more social in nature. Networking and sharing

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information and knowledge builds trust and elevates the parking profession; interacting with peers is the main focus. Despite this, some secrets remain guarded to maintain a competitive advantage. In the U.S., there is time for exhibitors to show their offerings to the parking industry, but this is not necessarily the event’s main focus. Offshow hours are often spent with peers as the events take place in large hotels with convention centers; in Europe, convention centers are typically stand-alone venues.

Technology and Progress

Europe had a head start advancing automated parking technology and multiple payment platforms because of land-use decisions designed to work with density, supply and demand, and economic factors. Europe provides substantial TOD, and through use of market forces (namely the cost of parking), discourages use of cars in dense urban environments. American landuse priorities, changes to zoning, and TOD are now progressing at an enormous pace, and it is now unclear whether any continent is ahead of the other. There is at least one very significant difference: the human factor and how we satisfy customer needs.

In Europe, our industry now focuses on high tech and low touch, with technology and automation solutions to centralize processes and eliminate the human factor as much as possible. This reduces costs, errors, shrinkage, and service variability. The U.S. approach to date has been based on the exact opposite—low tech and high touch, although rapid change is underway. Even though technology is important and may provide high levels of service, in many cases the human factor is even more important in the new world. A properly trained valet parking attendant offers hospitality-level service with a professional appearance and demeanor, added sense of security, and a

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

41

The interior of an Amsterdam parking garage.

personal touch to parking. What American would drive five blocks farther and walk through the rain rather than pay a few dollars extra for valet parking? In many American cities, people are willing to pay a bit extra for service and store their car at a place close to their final destination and that appears to be safe (not that we are creating a bailment!).

Nigel Williams, chair of the British Parking Association, has identified a technology oriented philosophy: “Our Parking 20:20 initiative follows research commissioned to explore the future of parking and intelligent mobility. The research identified seven key areas for further study, research, and development. These are data and apps; payment; integration; real-time data; shared mobility and car clubs; electric vehicle charging; and autonomous vehicles.”

The Similarities

Despite the differences between the European and American parking industries, not everything is dissimilar. We all want to evolve in what we do and have better lives for our children. We also feel a common bond being in an industry where the ability to work with people, things, and ideas provides challenges, opportunities, and rewards. When this manifests itself in gaining knowledge, increasing business, expanding operations, or a consolidation in day-to-day activities, we are advancing professionally. This is where our respective parking associations have their raison d’être.

Both in the EU and the U.S., organizations have similar roles and approaches. Parking associations are the mortar connecting all that is parking and transportation. They offer a platform for networking and sharing knowledge to elevate the parking profession. This can be done on various levels: regional, national, continental, and even intercontinental. Most of the activities take place on a regional and national level, but during a recent interview, Peter Dingemans, EPA chairman,

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talked about how the individual national parking associations found themselves confronted with cross-border issues, economic development opportunities, and similar change management challenges. Therefore, the need to establish a pan-European organization became apparent. The authors believe this European situation also applies to the U.S., as there is substantial cooperation between associations at the international, national, regional, and state levels. On an intercontinental level, there are joint initiatives with IPI actively presenting U.S. parking industry-related subjects at European events.

In summary, there are many similarities and differences in our daily lives and within today’s parking industries. Nobody knows what the future will bring, but we expect the world of parking to become more unified over time. America, Europe, and other continents will benefit from knowledge of each other’s developments.

The Future

Looking to the years ahead, the U.S. development of the autonomous vehicle is progressing at an immense speed, with substantial implications for last-mile challenges. In Brussels, Belgium, steps are being taken to create interoperable systems to enhance communications between different products and manufacturers, according to Martens. Another important joint European effort is the development of a payment standard in parking where the common terminal acquirer protocol for payment terminals in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and international parking industry payments standard advance us toward a unified payment platform, Dingemans says.

The European Parking Association and IPI are involved in this discussion, making possible a global payment solution in parking. Although the specifics remain a thing of the future, one thing is certain: There are exciting times ahead!

MICHAEL KLEIN, CAPP, is CEO of Klein &

Associates. He can be reached at mike@kleinparking.com.

PIETER SPRINKHUIZEN is president of IP

PARKING NA, Inc. He can be reached at pieter@ipparking.com.

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

IPI’s committees work to advance the parking profession.

E

VERY YEAR, hundreds of IPI members step up and join the association’s committees to work on focused projects and areas and help advance the parking profession.

This year is no different, and committees are already hard at work with new slates of members, new goals, and new plans for reaching goals and moving beyond.

With many thanks to committee members for their dedication, we present here a quick update on each IPI committee. As you’ll read, they got right down to business with projects and initiatives that are exciting and sure to move the association and its members forward—right in line with a changing industry.

Want more information? Visit parking.org/ committees.

ISTOCK / PEOPLEIMAGES

nes

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Awards of Excellence Committee

he Awards of Excellence (AOE) program is in its 36th year of recognizing distinction and quality in parking facilities and projects. The committee is made up of representatives from across a wide geographic spectrum of the industry who have worked together on the evaluation and assessment of the submissions for each category.

The awards scoring and selection process is based on a set criteria for each category. The quality of the submissions was very impressive, and we are proud to unveil our selections at the awards general session at the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla. For information about submitting for future awards programs and inquiring about recognition in 2019, contact aoe@parking.org. The call for entries will begin in September 2018.

CHAIR: Tope Longe

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Conference Program Task Force

T

he Conference Program Task Force addresses the large and significant task of reading, sorting, and scoring presentations under consideration for inclusion in the IPI Conference.

The committee’s goal is to bring forward an educational program that is current and informative and is presented by quality speakers from each interest and service sector within the IPI’s broad membership. This year, the committee received more than 170 submissions; each was assigned to be reviewed by numerous committee members.

Thanks to all who submitted to the call for presentations. The committee was impressed by every proposal, and we dearly wish we had the opportunity to accept them all.

You will see many of the members of this committee facilitating various education sessions during the conference; please feel free to let them know how much you enjoyed the program and what topics you would like to see addressed for our 2019 Conference!

Observer Plus; and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Several existing online courses are in the process of being updated and revised to remain competitive and relevant. We are also creating a new Off-Street Parking course, coming your way in 2018!

IPI’s partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) on the Parksmart Certification has given the EDC regular quarterly work. The EDC has been tasked with developing online content and courses to meet the education partner requirements. The committee is also developing multiple intermediate courses that will more narrowly focus on providing in-depth content about the many different Parksmart evaluation criteria.

Look for our face-to-face course offering at the IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando on June 3. Building Resilience for Business Continuity during Emergencies fits many organizational and operational needs. Join us to learn how to create a business continuity plan for operations and stakeholders.

CO-CHAIRS: Josh Cantor and Thomas Wunk, CAPP

IPI-DataEx Working Group

CO-CHAIRS: Stephen Hernandez, CAPP, and David

Hill, CAPP

Education Development Committee

T

he Education Development Committee (EDC) has continued to progress with affordable, selfpaced courses designed to accommodate the schedules and budgets of new and seasoned parking professionals. The courses provide essential information in an easy-to-understand format that addresses a wide variety of timely and relevant topics.

Available online courses include: ■■ Introduction to Parking.

■■ Parking Enforcement.

■■ Technology Trends in Parking.

■■ Customer Service.

■■ Conflict Resolution.

■■ On-Street Parking Management.

■■ Sustainability in Parking.

■■ Foundations of Finance.

■■ Parking and Sustainability.

■■ Greening Communities through Parking.

Several new courses were added in 2017, including Parksmart, An Introduction to Certifying Parking Structures; Transportation Demand Management; The Transportation Security Administration First

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T

he IPI-DataEx Working Group convened in early 2018 to promote and offer feedback on the IPI-DataEx standard. IPI and its members want to reduce the effort required to connect to each other and enable these resources to focus on innovating new services and operations. This is why IPI launched this initiative.

IPI released the first two sections of the standard, Parking Location and Rates & Occupancy, for public comment. The task force participated in the public review process, offering diverse and expert feedback on the sections of the standard. To find out more and to get involved, visit parking.org/ipi-dataex.

Membership & Community-Building Committee

D

id you notice the new, expanded name of this committee? IPI has always been about community, and long-time members know all about the warm and generous group of colleagues who are quick to offer assistance to one another—whether it’s career advice or solving an on-the-job problem. In fact, in our 2017 IPI Member Survey, 75 percent of respondents said they had connected with a fellow member for advice, consultation, or

problem-solving in person, by phone, or online.

Each month, we reach out to members who have just joined the fold to make them feel welcome and to help them find ways to connect, tap into member benefits, and get involved. Our most significant project in 2018 will be the spring launch of a state-of-the art online community and searchable discussion forum that will help members share ideas, advice, sample materials, and experiences with one another on a user-friendly, real-time platform that’s bound to become a go-to resource. Look for more information in the March issue of The Parking Professional.

We are working on a member benefits brochure and welcome kit. In addition, the membership section of our website will get a facelift in the new year. We’ve also got special plans for the First-Timer Orientation at the next IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando, which will be a breakfast boot camp. Fun! CO-CHAIRS: Mark Lyons, CAPP, and Lynne Lancaster,

CAPP

Parking Matters Committee

A

major, multi-year IPI initiative under the Parking Matters® umbrella addresses accessible parking and disabled placard abuse. The committee’s diligent work started with developing a national survey of people with disabilities, in conjunction with disability advocacy groups, to get the disabled community’s first-person perspective on the challenges they face with accessible parking. The survey was a tremendous success.

IPI, in conjunction with the U.S. Access Board, which is the federal agency that oversees standards issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), held a Stakeholders’ Forum in late 2017. Led by IPI, the participating groups have formed the Accessible Parking Coalition. This is the first time accessible parking and disabled placard abuse is being looked at on a national level by a unified group of transportation officials, government agencies, parking management and technology experts, disabled veterans groups, civil rights advocates, and those in the independent living movement. In addition to publication of the national survey results, one of the Coalition’s first projects will be to create an online resource center that features research, news, legislative initiatives, and policies—and showcases innovative solutions. A media and public awareness campaign is also planned.

Communicating the value of parking expertise is

the focus of another major project—the Parking Matters Road Show—which will be a modular presentation designed to share success stories about parking, transportation, and mobility to enlighten related groups, such as planners at national and regional conferences and forums. In the first half of 2018, the committee will field, analyze, and share the results of the 2018 Emerging Trends in Parking Survey and will judge the winners of the Parking Matters Marketing & Communications Awards to be presented at the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando.

CO-CHAIRS: Vanessa Solesbee, CAPP, and Mike Estey

Parking Research Committee

T

he Parking Research Committee has continued its quest to define the scale of the parking industry through ongoing membership and industry surveys.

In 2017, the group expanded its survey audience by including parking operators and consultants, with the intent of defining a larger scope and presenting information that helps our members benchmark their programs and quantify the true effects of the parking industry. In the same effort, the committee also nearly doubled its core surveying group and provided updated surveying information at the 2017 IPI Conference in New Orleans, La. The committee has also used the state and regional organizations as a platform to raise awareness and interest, with committee members presenting surveying information at multiple conferences throughout the year.

As 2018 kicks off, the committee is excited to begin work on multiple projects that will help inform the IPI membership of transformative changes in the parking and transportation industries. One such effort is a multi-industry review of mobility trends and their effect on the parking industry. Another is the development of uniform planning metrics and strategic planning elements to help our members better chart the course of their programs.

CO-CHAIRS: Bridgette Brady, CAPP, and Brett Wood,

CAPP, PE

Parking Technology Committee

T

he Parking Technology Committee is preparing its ninth educational series for 2018, focusing on parking guidance technology and occupancy availability. The presentation will be unveiled during the March THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

47

14 IPI webinar and will also be offered at several state and regional parking conferences, as well as the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando. If you have not had a chance to see one of the recent presentations, you can listen to the webinars on the IPI website or attend a presentation scheduled for a regional parking conference near you.

We are also supporting IPI’s effort to develop a parking data standard: IPI-DataEx. To date, we have participated in the development of a location standard, and the rate and occupancy data standards were recently released for public comment.

Have you had a chance to download the revised Technology Glossary? Get yours in the resource center at parking.org.

Finally, the committee will expand the way we share technology-related information; be on the lookout for information on these developments in the coming months.

CO-CHAIRS: Blake Laufer, CAPP, and Michael Drow,

I

n its 12th year, IPI’s Professional Recognition Program will continue to recognize the industry’s best people and programs. In December 2017, committee members began the process of reviewing and scoring remarkable entries submitted in every category so we could recommend our final selections. Submissions for the individual awards were very impressive, which is a statement of the outstanding parking professionals and organizations in each category of the parking and transportation industry.

This year’s winners will be honored and awarded onstage at IPI’s 2018 Conference & Expo awards general session in Orlando in June. For more information on the process for making a future nomination in the Professional Recognition Program, please email prp@ parking.org.

CO-CHAIRS: Maria Irshad, CAPP, and Allen Corry,

CAPP

Safety and Security Committee

CAPP

Planning, Design, and Construction Committee

T

he Planning, Design, and Construction Committee (formerly the Consultants Committee) has been busy with more than just a name change.

We have opened up membership in this committee to volunteers from all market segments involved in the planning, design, and construction of parking facilities and infrastructure. This expanded committee membership will enable the group to broaden our perspective and our value to IPI and the membership by offering a diversity of perspectives on these issues.

The committee plans to offer frequent blog posts and articles, diving into IPI-DataEx, the journey toward autonomous vehicles, Accredited Parking Organization (APO) criteria, and more. In addition, the committee has been selected to present at the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo with a new expert panel titled “Hindsight Is (Always) 20/20—Learning from the Past and Planning for (a Better) Future.” We will also be expanding the key performance indicators survey project to collect better data and benchmarks on the role of the consultant and construction of new facilities and the cost to do so (see parking.org/kpis to check out the survey).

CO-CHAIRS: John Bushman, PE, and Mark N. Santos, PE

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Professional Recognition Committee

T

he Safety and Security Committee is made up of security, university, technology, and other industry professionals tasked with providing safety, security, and crisis management information to IPI membership and the parking, transportation, and mobility industry at large. The committee meets monthly and has formed three working groups: ■■ Operational Challenges. This group seeks to develop recommendations for more streamlined approaches to operational challenges faced by security and events parking staff. The goal is to improve flow and safety for event operations, as well as daily parking operations, for a variety of parking professionals.

■■ Frontline Participation. This group is focused on deeper-dive safety measures and approaches for after-hours operations and guidance for campus faculty and college students. With an emphasis on security escort services, directives on alternative routes, etc., the working group seeks to expand and enhance the conversation beyond traditional themes such as handbag and cell phone safety.

■■ Safety for Parking Enforcement Officers. This group is primarily focused on helping parking enforcement personnel determine the appropriate course of action in unsafe situations. “When do I walk away?” and “When do I defend myself ?” are two of the hard questions the group is considering.

Each working group meets and works independently under the Safety and Security Committee umbrella to report on its findings, goals, plans, and progress at regularly scheduled monthly committee meetings.

This work will take on multiple formats, resulting in various articles, case studies, blog posts, educational seminars, presentations, and more.

The committee is delivering an in-depth analysis on parking anxiety in various parking environments.

This project may result in various formats, drawing on psychological, academic, security, and industry expertise.

CO-CHAIRS: Victor Hill, CAPP, MPA, and Robert

Milner, CAPP, MS

State and Regional Associations Committee

T

he State and Regional Associations (SRA) Committee kicked into high gear in the new committee season, creating a soon-to-be-launched survey of all SRAs to benchmark critical success factors and programs available to participants across the country. The IPI/SRA liaison program continues with more than 15 active liaisons communicating on a monthly basis, sharing ideas, challenges, and best practices.

With the success of the Thirty Minutes of Education (TME) series in 2017, the committee is planning two new educational sessions this year, the first focused on crafting exceptional education programs. In 2017, the TMEs offered included “Best Practices in Sponsorship” by Bonnie Watts, CEM, of IPI, and “Content Isn’t King, It’s the Kingdom” by Melissa Rysak, CPSM, a seasoned marketer and social media expert who also presented during the 2017 IPI Leadership Summit. Find out more at parking.org/sra.

to pinpoint the most critically important criteria in the Parksmart program. Steve Rebora of DESMAN; Bridgette Brady, CAPP, of Cornell University; Brett Wood, CAPP, PE, of Kimley-Horn; Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C, of IPI; Brian Shaw, CAPP, of Stanford University; and Wessel participated in well-attended education sessions on parking, transportation demand management (TDM), and mobility that explored the connections between parking and sustainability. The committee is planning for the next Greenbuild in Chicago, Ill., in 2018 and advancing the parking profession and industry in the green-building community.

In 2018 the committee will engage in expanding the Green Star Program, our recognition of exhibitors at the IPI Conference & Expo who offer sustainability-related products and services in the industry. In addition, we will explore the work of TDM through an educational “at a glance” publication to be released at the Conference.

CO-CHAIRS: Brian D. Shaw, CAPP, and Joshua

Naramore

REASON

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CO-CHAIRS: Dan Kupferman, CAPP, and Rob

LIMITLESS NETWORKING WITH KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

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Sustainability Committee

M

embers of the IPI Board of Directors, the Sustainability Committee, and IPI staff attended the USGBC Greenbuild conference in Boston, Mass., in November. The conference brings together more than 25,000 green-building professionals in a single event.

IPI staff promoted Parksmart as well as Parksmart Advisor education at the booth.

Paul Wessel of USGBC led a group of more than 100 attendees through an expo workshop designed

Save $300 on your registration!

REGISTER by Feb. 11

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Engage with a diverse and rich community of professionals that provides insight and real-world experiences. Choose from more than half-a-dozen networking activities to connect with key players and counterparts!

J U N E 3 - 6 , 2 0 1 8 | ORLANDO, FLORIDA G AY L O R D PA L M S R E S O RT & C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R The industry’s elite professional development, dynamic networking, and largest showcase of innovative technology and service providers.

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

49

IPI IN ACTION | CAPP

Critical Industry Survey Coming

H

By Kathleen Federici, MEd

EAR YE, HEAR YE! Calling all parking professionals! CAPP is respected worldwide as the leading credential in parking. CAPPs represent the best of the industry, providing service, demonstrating competence as they advance the parking profession, and leading with innovation, professionalism, and expertise. The CAPP designation is meant to assure stakeholders (employers, regulators, consumers, and the public) that the credentialed parking professional has demonstrated an established level of knowledge in the field.

2018 is a very exciting year for CAPP. We will launch a new parking professional job analysis survey. We hope you will set aside 15 to 20 minutes to accept the invitation and complete the survey when it arrives in your inbox.

This survey is the foundation to support the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a parking and transportation professional. These knowledge, skills, and abilities define the CAPP credential content areas. In their final form they can be used for various other purposes, such as hiring and retaining talent and creating job descriptions.

Why is the survey so critical? maintenance and upkeep with industry changes to remain valid and reliable.

■■ IPI is committed to the goal of maintaining a certification credential that meets international standards, the foundation of which is the full-scale Job Analysis.

■■ IPI will be reexamining the knowledge, skills, and abilities a CAPP needs to be competent in his or her role as a parking and transportation professional.

Watch for the Parking Professional Job Analysis Survey in your inbox and please participate!

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

■■ Parking is a diverse and technologically fast-paced

profession. Despite this diversity, there is a core set of skills that are common among parking professionals, across the spectrum of experience, training, education, facility type, and location. All of that is what this survey measures!

■■ You are the key to examining the criticality and frequency of on-the-job tasks that define CAPP and the industry.

KATHLEEN FEDERICI, MEd, is IPI’s director of

professional development. She can be reached at federici@parking.org.

SHUTTERSTOCK / ANDREY_POPOV

■■ CAPP, the leading credential in parking, requires

careers.parking.org

STATE AND REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT | NEW ENGLAND PARKING COUNCIL

Education Takes Center Stage in New England

By Kathryn Hebert, PhD

T

he New England Parking Council (NEPC), which represents parking professionals in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, is dedicated to creating a better quality of life and livable communities. We do this in a variety of ways:

■■ Educational programs.

■■ Networking.

■■ Communicating the importance of and connec-

tion between parking and transportation as critical components of economic development and mobility.

■■ Advancing the skills necessary for working in the industry.

Last fall, NEPC held two educational forums: University Forum at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in September and the Municipal Forum in New Haven, Conn., in November. The University Forum highlighted campus design and engineering and integrating right-sized parking access and traffic flow.

The Municipal Forum focused on topics related to the connections between transportation, parking, economic development, mobility in a shared economy, and the critical importance of cultivating public-private partnerships (P3) related to large economic development infrastructure projects to

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

foster viable downtowns. A lively roundtable discussion about urban parking along Connecticut’s Gold Coast engaged audience interaction. The discussion emphasized successes and challenges from each of the communities. Central to the conversation was the difference in the way each of the parking operations and management is organizationally structured and the successes and challenges facing each.

Carey Redd, CAPP, CEO and director of parking for the city of New London, Conn., gave a spirited presentation about a major infrastructure project focusing on the importance of P3s, related to implementing large, costly municipal projects. The project includes the integration of parking, transportation, and the business community, which incorporates multiple funding sources.

New Haven started a bike-share pilot program last year. The city implemented this initiative—which is a hot topic across the country—in its downtown districts.

KATHRYN HEBERT,

PhD, is director of the Norwalk, Conn., Parking Authority.

She can be reached at khebert@ norwalkct.org.

CALENDAR Feb. 1: Hospital Forum, University of Massachusetts Hospital.

April 11–12: Annual Conference, Providence, R.I. Don’t miss keynote speaker Jeff Speck, author of “Walkable City.”

August: Golf Tournament, benefitting the National Diabetes Foundation. newenglandparkingcouncil.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Carey Redd, CAPP City of New London, Conn.

Robynn CruzWalker Massachusetts Institute of Technology

VICE PRESIDENT Michael Casaliuovo Conduent

Brad Gerratt Boston Transportation

TREASURER Joe Balskus VHB SECRETARY Kathryn Hebert, PhD Norwalk, Conn., Parking Authority

Jamie Groff Toledo Ticket Andy Hill DESMAN Matthew Lazowski Locomobi, Inc. Stathis Manousos LAZ Parking

Jim Barr University of Vermont

Paul Pirhofer, CAPP SP+

Michael Brennan City of Worcester, Mass.

Alicia Pouliot-Cote SP+ Suzanne Rinfret City of Somerville, Mass.

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Around the Industry C

Chauntry Acquired by Holiday Extras

HAUNTRY HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY Holiday Extras.

Specialists in delivering fully responsive web applications working across all desktop, tablet, and mobile devices, Chauntry processes tens of thousands of parking reservations and manages millions in revenue every day.

“This is a friendly acquisition of a business that Holiday Extras has enjoyed a long and successful partnership with,” says Matthew Pack, group CEO of Holiday Extras. “We are excited by the prospect of Chauntry now being part of the Holiday Extras Group. By adding its services, people, and expertise to our teams, we will be widening the value we offer our partners whilst capitalizing on the mutual benefits in enhanced performance that tighter integration brings.”

Holiday Extras is a U.K. business, marketing travel extras, including parking, hotels, lounges, fast tracks, holiday insurance, car hire, airport transfers, attraction tickets, and short breaks. The firm has a long history of partnering with Chauntry, which designed and built the first airport parking and hotel booking system for Holiday Extras in 1992, and the two companies have continued to work closely together during the past 25 years.

Holiday Extras is a $527.8 million (£400,000,000) organization, employing more than 800 staff and handling bookings for over 6 million people.

“We look forward to becoming part of the Holiday Extras Group as we share a common goal—to drive technological advancement in travel,” says Theresa Hughes, Chauntry’s CEO. “I’m impressed by Holiday Extras’ commitment to continuing the strong partnerships we have

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

built with our customers over the last 25 years, as well as their passionate interest in building new partnerships.”

Holiday Extras’ acquisition of Chauntry bolsters the long-standing relationship between the two companies.

Chauntry’s executive and management team will remain on board, taking advantage of Holiday Extras’ market leadership and significant resources to continue to develop business across the globe, while continuing to provide the finest service to Chauntry’s customers.

“Our new relationship with Holiday Extras will be particularly beneficial as Chauntry continues to expand and grow in the United States,” says Hughes. “Advance pre-booking of parking is well-established throughout Europe and Canada, but it’s just now gaining traction in the U.S. The resources and expertise offered by Holiday Extras will be invaluable as we work to introduce the concept of parking pre-booking to American drivers.”

NextGen Parking Announces Availability of EMV Retrofits NextGen Parking has announced the availability of EMV retrofits for 3M/Federal APD parking revenue control equipment, ensuring the continued viability of those systems well into the future. Having completed engineering development and testing of this offering in the past year, NextGen has commenced installations at selected sites and delivery of kits for installation by other former 3M/ FAPD resellers.

3M’s departure from the parking business in 2014 left owners and operators of 3M/FAPD ScanNet and EFMSbased PARCS systems with questions about ongoing payment card industry (PCI) compliance, particularly as it relates to PA/DSS software certification.

While EFMS and ScanNet systems installed before November 2016 retain

their status as PA/DSS-certified payment applications, concerns have been raised as to their continued compliance given the lack of ongoing application support by the software developer and discontinued operating environments.

Additionally, MasterCard’s recent requirements for merchant support of 2-Series bank identification number transactions present a new challenge for 3M/FAPD system owners and operators.

NextGen’s retrofit for 3M/FAPD

systems removes PARCS software (EFMS or ScanNet) from PCI scope as a payment application and eliminates the requirement for PA/DSS compliance.

Additionally, the retrofit provides EMV (chip card) readers in a full PCI-validated point-to-point encrypted (P2PE) solution from Payment Express, a world leader in secure payment card transaction processing.

Retrofits can be installed on 3M/ FAPD pay-on-foot, pay-in-lane, credit card exit verifier, and PowerPad payment devices of either SST or Universal One generations of equipment. EMV retrofits are available from NextGen and other former 3M value-added resellers and FAPD distributors that are knowledgeable and experienced in servicing 3M/FAPD equipment.

EV Connect Wins Two Largest U.S. Markets from Electrify America EV Connect, a provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions that includes an innovative and robust platform for managing the entire EV Connect charging ecosystem, announced that it has won contracts from Electrify America for multi-unit dwelling and workplace EV infrastructure in the two largest markets in the U.S.: New York City and Los Angeles, Calif., along with the cities of San Jose, Calif., and Raleigh, N.C. Electrify America, which is investing $2 billion in U.S. EV charging infrastructure, selected EV Connect to acquire, install, and manage at least 630 charging ports at multi-unit dwelling and workplace sites within the four markets. The agreement between Electrify America and EV Connect includes 10 years of software, hardware maintenance, and ongoing management services for these locations.

“The New York and Los Angeles markets are not only the two

largest cities in the U.S., but represent more than 50 percent of the current EV driver populations,” says Jordan Ramer, founder and CEO of EV Connect. “We are honored that Electrify America recognized our significant presence and success in these very large markets and entrusted us with these very important opportunities.”

Work on these projects has already begun, and all locations will be operational within 15 months. There are still opportunities for site hosts to take advantage of this program by contacting EV Connect. Additionally, EV Connect will make the data generated by the charging stations and some of its management capabilities available to a nationwide management platform being built for Electrify America. This platform will enable them to have visibility into the EV Connect network supporting these markets.

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Around the Industry

continued

Videantis and ADASENS Partner on Cameras Videantis and ADASENS (part of the FICOSA group) are partnering to bring advanced sensing technologies to self-driving vehicles and automotive advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) applications. The partnership combines the ADASENS portfolio of computer vision functions with Videantis’ low-power, high-performance embedded vision processor.

The automotive industry has been rapidly expanding its use of cameras for a wide variety of safety-increasing and self-driving features. Rear cameras are adding computer vision to automatically brake and prevent backover incidents, surround view systems greatly increase visibility and include automated parking functionality, front cameras are used to maintain distance or brake when needed, and side cameras are replacing mirrors. Autonomous vehicles

use many cameras with computer vision techniques to sense and understand their full surroundings.

Marco Jacobs, vice president of marketing at Videantis, says, “We’ve been working together with ADASENS already for some time. Intelligent automotive cameras that include our vision processors have already hit the market, and mass production will start in 2019. Key OEMs and Tier 1s have chosen FICOSA and ADASENS as the suppliers of the

cameras and computer vision functions, respectively, for their next-generation vehicles, and we’re proud to be working with them.”

Florian Baumann, technical director at ADASENS, says, “We’re excited to bring our extensive portfolio of vision functions to the Videantis processor architecture and jointly work together to fulfill our customers’ needs.”

Today’s automotive vision computation tasks often require multiple powerful CPUs and GPUs, which burn hundreds of watts, to process images into meaningful information that is used to control the car. The Videantis processor architecture performs these complex machine-vision and image-processing tasks much faster and at much lower power levels, enabling this technology to be embedded into smaller ECUs and even directly into tiny cameras.

ParkHub Partnership with T2 Systems Leads to Deals with BCS Division 1 Schools Working closely with T2 Systems, ParkHub completed agreements with three Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Division 1 schools to deploy its parking management solutions.

ParkHub’s hardware and software tools, Prime and Portal, will be used by the parking and transportation departments at the University of Colorado, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California.

Although ParkHub’s technology has a record of successful deployments at two Super Bowls and numerous professional sports venues, these agreements signal ParkHub’s first foray into collegiate sports. Work is underway to integrate ParkHub’s solutions into T2’s suite of products, with a projected release date in preparation for the fall NCAA football season.

“Our goal is to take the pain out of parking with our multiple products and API-driven platform approach for connecting with various parking management systems, including T2s,” says George Baker Sr., founder and CEO of ParkHub. “Integrating our products with Flex, T2’s parking management system, and Digital Iris, the multi-space pay station solution, will give clients

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

the flexibility to manage their parking operations in real time, remotely or in the lots.”

ParkHub’s Prime is a handheld mobile point-of-sale terminal tailored for the parking industry. It enables parking operators to accept credit cards, including mobile payments via near-field communications; authenticate pre-paid parking passes and reservations; track cash transactions; and report transaction and inventory data in real time.

“We were very excited about the impacts ParkHub would have on our operation, and adding the convenience of a credit card payment option to speed customers through the payment process for our larger events made great sense and prompted us to act quickly,” says Tony Mazza, director of transportation at the University of Southern California. “As a longtime customer of T2, we decided to launch pre-integration to take advantage of the improved customer service the service offered.”

Cale Takes 17 Mothers on a Christmas Shopping Spree A gift may not change the world, but it can make a positive difference. The Ready for Life, Inc. (RFL) Mommy and Me Support Group received some holiday cheer from Cale America to help several young mothers provide opportunities to create a sense of belonging and family tradition in their own homes, providing the kind of Christmas they wish they would have had in their own turbulent childhoods.

Seventeen young parents had the chance to shop with 40 Cale America staff members for Christmas gifts for their children.

Kathy Mize, Ready for Life CEO, says, “The holidays can be a very difficult time for the young adults who have transitioned out of foster care. The turbulence many face growing up in the system often leaves them without a sense of belonging, and their many disappointments often convince them that this special time of year will be no different than all the tough days they’ve been through. That’s where our RFL community comes in, especially CALE, who helps in so many ways. Anything

you’d do for your own kids is what we are up to on any given day of the week, and we couldn’t do this work without their amazing support.”

“We are humbled and thrilled to have partners like CALE who take the time to understand what our youth face and realize how important it is to help the RFL young adults to provide to their little ones the kinds of Christmas they wish they had growing up. Creating a sense of belonging is so important in breaking the generational cycles of abuse and neglect,” says Michelle Walag, Ready for Life director of operations.

Not only did Cale America staff settle with the cashiers upon checkout, but they made sure the mothers walked away with something for themselves. With both arms full of bags of new toys, each mother was surprised with a $50 spa gift certificate.

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Around the Industry

continued

Budapest Airport Renews Contract with ParkCloud ParkCloud announced its contract renewal with long-standing airport client Budapest Airport following a lucrative two-year partnership. The renewal announcement builds upon the success of the previous contract, offering passengers driving into Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport the option of reserving parking at all the airport’s onsite parking facilities.

Effective collaboration between the two companies has seen extensive growth in booking numbers across all six onsite car park locations, underlining the increasing customer appetite for reserved parking options.

Holiday Parking Lite—a long-term, economical parking option—has seen

particular stand-out growth, with reservation booking numbers more than tripling in the past 12 months as passengers seek out the best deals online.

The renewed two-year contract will continue to provide enhanced online coverage for Budapest Airport’s parking facilities, which also receive added exposure to passengers flying with airlines partnered with ParkCloud, notably Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air, headquartered at the airport and currently offering flights to 40 countries.

Manel Moreno, head of landside services at Budapest Airport, says, “After reaching record passenger numbers at the close of 2017, it is more pertinent than ever that the services we offer our customers

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are reliable and add value to the overall customer journey. The partnership with ParkCloud clearly represents a synergy between our shared brand values, and as such, we are keen to develop and expand on the success of the last three years in the upcoming contract term.”

The collaboration between the airport and ParkCloud is facilitated by the integration with onsite hardware from Designa, a car park management systems and access control equipment firm.

The integration means that automatic number plate recognition, in addition to individual barcodes, is available to customers, permitting automated access when scanned at the relevant car park entrance at any time night and day.

CampusParc at The Ohio State University Goes Live with NuPark

When your campus parking system occupies a massive 1,904 acres and manages 36,600 parking spaces across 16 garages for 94,000 students, faculty, and staff, your technology needs to be equally impressive to keep up. To address the parking challenges at The Ohio State University, parking concessionaire CampusParc decided to partner with enterprise parking management solutions provider NuPark to provide the solution. NuPark’s permitting, revenue, and enforcement software solution is now live.

NuPark’s management software handles data from gated and non-gated parking, meters, online payments, and permitting for integrated parking management of the 80,000 cars that visit the university on an average day.

Kevin Uhlenhaker, CEO and co-founder of NuPark, says, “Our partnership with CampusParc at The Ohio State University exemplifies the value of choosing an open parking technology platform to integrate multiple technology platforms into one operational parking solution. CampusParc is leading the next generation of smart parking management.”

The parking system at the university is the first full-featured project integration between NuPark and parking access and revenue control systems provider TIBA. The collaboration will allow integration of permit data, transient data, occupancy data, and usage data to seamlessly communicate between NuPark’s management platform and TIBA’s gated equipment.

This enables CampusParc to do integrated reporting between gated and non-gated parking facilities and is the first gated and non-gated multi-system pass-back or shared permit violation enforcement operating in real time.

Ohio State’s parking system is also the first validation integration using one portal to manage both plate-based and ticket-based validations. The system pulls back occupancy data

and plate data from TIBA’s gated system and integrates with license plate recognition (LPR) data, so the one platform simultaneously handles fixed, mobile, and gated LPR data.

The NuPark system also provides financial data that enable CampusParc to meet its stringent financial requirements and is scalable and flexible to handle future business needs.

CampusParc Chief Technology Officer Bob Murray says, “The parking management solution we chose from NuPark integrates seamlessly and cost-effectively with current technologies, provides a user-friendly interface for staff who are managing permit sales and citation processing, and features a customer-friendly online portal where customers can perform common parking-related activities efficiently and with minimal staff support.”

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG/TPP

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PARKING BREAK

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operations manager at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, Little Rock, Ark. He can be reached at jbass@ clintonairport.com.

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CALENDAR

2018 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

FEBRUARY 23

APRIL 10–19

JULY 25–27

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

APRIL 10–12

Deadline to Enter IPI’s Parking Solutions Competition parking.org/parkingsolutions

MARCH 1

Deadline to Submit APO for Recognition at the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo parking.org/apo

MARCH 1

Parksmart Advisor Online, Instructor-led Training parking.org

New England Parking Conference Annual Spring Conference and Trade Show Providence, R.I. newenglandparkingcouncil.org

APRIL 24–28

Deadline to Take CAPP Exam for June Graduation parking.org/capp

Parking Association of Georgia 2018 Conference Augusta, Ga. parkingassociationofgeorgia.com

MARCH 4–6

APRIL 26–27

Mid-South Transportation and Parking Association Annual Spring Conference Huntsville, Ala. mstpa.org

MARCH 26–28

Texas Parking and Transportation Association Annual Tradeshow and Conference Houston, Texas texasparking.org

Southwest Parking and Transportation Associaton Mid-Year Training Park City, Utah southwestparking.org

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII MAY 2–4

Pennsylvania Parking Association Spring Conference and Tradeshow Pittsburgh, Pa. paparking.org

2018 Pacific Intermountain Parking and Transportation Association Conference Portland, Ore. pipta.org

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII SEPTEMBER 17–19

Southwest Parking and Transportation Association Annual Fall Conference Las Vegas, Nev. southwestparking.org

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII OCTOBER 4–5

Pennsylvania Parking Association Fall Training and Golf Outing Bethlehem, Pa. paparking.org

OCTOBER 10–12

Parking Association of the Virginias Fall Workshop and Tradeshow Richmond, Va. pavonline.org

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII JUNE 3–6

2018 IPI Conference & Expo Orlando, Fla. IPIConference.parking.org

JUNE 24–27

World Parking Symposium Berlin, Germany worldparkingsymposium.ca

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In Case You Missed It… ON THE BLOG Intelligence. Christina Onesirosan Martinez on what’s

➚ Artificial happening in AI research and what it might mean to our industry.

Service for Violations. How one university is letting

➚ Community students pay parking tickets through giving back to the community.

Call 911. What happened when residents of one Washington,

➚ Don’t D.C. neighborhood started calling police about dockless bike share bikes on their properties.

New Disabled Placard Laws. The low-down on what

➚ California’s California residents have to do to get and keep disabled parking placards and how lawmakers are cracking down on abuse.

more and claim your free subscription at parking.org/blog. ➚ Read

IN THE RESOURCE CENTER Observer Plus. A free course for parking professionals to ➚ First recognize suspicious activity and help fight terrorism. First Observer

Plus is a Department of Homeland Security program administered by the Transportation Security Administration.

in Parking Facilities. Prevention, Response, and Recovery.

➚ Suicide A free guide for IPI members to download and share with their colleagues to help stop suicide in or from parking facilities.

out these and more at parking.org/resource-center.

➚ Check AND MORE...

The 2018 Parking Solutions Competition closes soon—if you know a university student ready to design the parking garage of the future, it’s now or never for this year’s contest. parking.org/parking-solutionscompetition.

IPI’s 2017 Year in Review. Download and enjoy this look back at the year and all IPI members accomplished—and what’s ahead in 2018!

Stay up on everything in parking, transportation, and mobility—parking.org!

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THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2018 | PARKING.ORG /TPP

integration is innovation

IPS Group offers seamless parking integration like no other.

Whether upgrading existing parking hardware, or installing new meters, sensors and permitting/enforcement tools, IPS is the unparalleled leader in Smart Parking.

Call now for a free trial or demo of our new products. Š 2018 IPS Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

877.630.6638 \ ipsgroup.com

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VERY G REEN. V E RY F L E X I B L E .

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FEBRUARY 2018 The Parking Professional ● 2018’S SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS ● PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS ● STRATEGIC PLANNING AND STRATEGIC DOING ● INTERNATIONAL PARKING CULTURES ● IPI COMMITTEE UPDATES