My consulting focus these days is on operational best practices for university parking and transportation departments. This differs from strategic planning in that the emphasis is placed on evaluating daily operations and making recommendations that improve operational efficiencies and program effectiveness. When I’m working with clients we focus on use of technology, enforcement climate, revenues and expenses, parking allocation systems, permit distribution and organizational structure. And on the topic of organizational structure I’ve discovered a common trend that often distinguishes the aspiring programs from those that are consistently performing at a high level.  This differs from strategic planning in that the emphasis is placed on evaluating daily operations and making recommendations that improve operational efficiencies and program effectiveness. When I’m working with clients we focus on use of technology, enforcement climate, revenues and expenses, parking allocation systems, permit distribution and organizational structure.  And on the topic of organizational structure I’ve discovered a common trend that often distinguishes the aspiring programs from those that are consistently performing at a high level.

Greetings! This is my first update to you as Legislative Committee Chair. The committee is continuing to meet regularly to discuss action on pending legislation, identifying priorities for proactive advocacy, and identifying other areas where CPPA can positively engage with legislators. A few key items:

What do you suppose are the three hardest words to say?  You might guess “I love you,” if you’re in a relationship but unsure if it’s the one, or it may be “I just can’t” if you’re perpetually volunteering.  Some might even offer “I am sorry” which is one I’m often not the first to say.  These are good choices but what about “I don’t know”? I recently listened again to a Freakonomics podcast by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of the popular book by the same name.  Levitt and Dubner suggest that admitting that you don’t know something is about the hardest thing we, as adults, can admit.  We are trained from childhood to offer a fabrication, lie or untruth when we don’t know the answer to a particular question.  Why is this so?

This is number 3 in a series of views on what is happening in the parking world and how does it affect us?  This time we look at what is behind the title of this blog and employee parking permits - a benefit or a tax?  When I came up for the title of this blog I was not thinking of it as viewing the world from the perspective of a higher authority, such as the Pope, prime minister or dictator. It came from a training course I took, called "Managing Change." We all know that feeling when everything seems to be going well, and then out of nowhere we are confronted with a dramatic change. Like your manager comes back from a conference all full of energy and says "I saw this presentation and it convinced me that we need to rethink everything we are doing." Usually, any mention of words like "rethink", "retool", "update" or "restructure" can spur all kinds of emotions and anxious, defensive thinking. 

I had the opportunity recently to sit in on a parking advisory committee meeting at a major university.  This committee, like most parking advisory groups at other universities, is made up students, faculty and staff and is charged with making recommendations about parking and transportation to the vice president overseeing the parking department.  I’ve observed three of their meetings this year and they seem reasonable enough, well-intended and pretty eager to make things better for their campus and themselves.  The main topic was this past meeting was next year’s permit fee increase.  I was helping with another agenda item, so I got to sit back and observe the group’s discussion.  My client, who oversees parking, warned me before this past meeting that things would get heated, as he had prepared two proposals – one that raised the parking permit rates by six percent and the second by zero.  The first, he argued, was needed in order to create new cash flow for debt service on the next garage they need to build (and the committee wholeheartedly supports) and the second if the garage is not built.  I’m sure by now you can guess where the conversation was headed.