Tag Archives: municipalities

Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Safety & Security

A New Home Base

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by Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP 

IPI builds a new website for members and the parking community.

IPI has a new online look, but our new website is far more than just a costume change. When IPI staff and the Board of Directors made the decision to launch a new website, we focused on a number of key elements that required change from the ground up. The design of the new site was what marketers might call a “white paper” or “blue sky” enterprise. What that means is we chose not to update or review our existing site and make incremental changes. It means that we started with a blank page to build a new mobile-friendly resource for members and the industry alike.

The Heart of the Site
The Resource Center is a living, changing, ever-growing database of articles, blogs, publications, events, and more. We sought to build the most content-rich resource possible.

Looking for that The Parking Professional article on green walls from awhile back? Or that blog post on self-driving cars? Go to the keyword search box and type away. If you prefer, you can add specifics and search by content type (articles, blogs, and more). Searches will reveal not only the full text of the article but also a downloadable pdf version and the ability to immediately email, share, and print.

We did some of the searching in advance for you, as well. Categorized by major topics in our industry, you can select a topic and browse the most recent additions in the following areas:

  • Certification Programs.
  • Consumer Resources.
  • Education & Training.
  • Finance.
  • Frontline.
  • Management & Human Resources.
  • Operations.
  • Parking Matters®.
  • Planning, Design, & Construction.
  • Recognition & Awards.
  • Regulatory Environment.
  • Research.
  • Safety & Security.
  • State & Regional Associations.
  • Sustainability.
  • Technology.
  • Transportation & Mobility.

Blog All About It
The Parking Matters® Blog launched in 2012 featuring the voices of our industry and publicizing the great work done by parking and transportation professionals worldwide. Utilized by media and parking pros alike, the blog platform provided members with the latest on the industry and the trends that will shape our shared future. This resource continues to do so on our new platform.

The blog is now embedded right in the IPI website and gets home page real estate in our front page feed. If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time—look for daily posts throughout the week to keep you talking about the issues that matter. Same terrific and up-to-date information, with even greater visibility and frequency.

But wait, there’s more! Our members are the most active in the business—and we know you have a whole lot to say. IPI wants to hear directly from you so we made it as easy as we could. Membership has its privileges, as they say, and all members are encouraged to submit blog posts and join in the conversation. Blog posts should be 150 to 200 words on a relevant topic, event, or news story and can be easily submitted online. When you decide to blog with us, think short, sweet, and informative. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

To sign up and submit your blog post, check out any footer page of the website or go to parking.org/blog.

Your Personal Planner
If you are a planner, you know that everyone loves a good calendar. (And if you don’t have the planner gene and prefer to go with the flow, we’ve got you covered, too.) The calendar provides links and registration information for all IPI conferences, events, and trainings, as well as state and regional association events. These events include all scheduled educational opportunities, including webinars and face-to-face trainings. Plan ahead to make sure you make the most of your 2016 (and beyond)!

The Hallmark of IPI
Education and professional development is the hallmark of IPI. Our mission is to advance the parking profession, and the most critical component of that mission is to advance parking professionals themselves through numerous and varied educational opportunities to foster individual growth and development. It’s a lofty goal, and we are up to the challenge.

IPI provides a depth and breadth of training that is unmatched in the industry—and we know it’s a lot of information. One of our primary goals was to make sure members and colleagues have the many tools and resources at their fingertips (or their laptop, tablet, or smartphone). So we wanted to provide you with a brief outline of the very dense and resource-rich pages that talk about professional development.

Professional Development includes:

  • Accredited Parking Organization (APO).
  • Awards & Recognition.
  • CAPP.
  • Education & Training.

As you can imagine, each of these topics is chock-full of information, enough to fill many magazine editions and too much to print here. To give you a taste of the information available, here’s a sampling of what you will find when you go exploring Education & Training:

  • Annual Conference. With more than 50 education sessions and informal learning opportunities, as well as face-to-face CAPP point classes, this is the most intense (and productive) week all year to amp up your expertise and knowledge.
  • Online learning. Did you know IPI has invested in one of the best online learning programs on the market? From here, you can access multiple self-paced CAPP point and CEU offering courses for you and your team, especially those new to the industry. Selections include the following, with more on the horizon:
  1. Conflict Resolution.
  2. Customer Service.
  3. Foundations of Finance (NEW)
  4. Introduction to Parking.
  5. On-Street Parking Management.
  6. Parking Enforcement.
  7. Sustainability in Parking.
  8. Technology Trends in Parking.
  • Onsite Courses. Choose to bring IPI training right to your office and elevate your entire team, or participate in regularly scheduled trainings, offered in a variety of locations. Courses include:
  1. Conflict Resolution.
  2. Customer Service.
  3. Media Training.
  4. Parking Design, Maintenance & Rehabilitation.
  5. Parking Enforcement.
  6. Tactical Communications.
  7. Green Garage (now Parksmart) Assessor Training.

There’s a lot to offer a parking pro (or newbie) here so we encourage you to discover the kind of education that is the best fit for you and your team.

Engage and Reap Big Rewards
IPI is a big community with big member benefits. Many of these are built right into parking.org. Members can pitch articles and submit blog posts, as well as share news releases about their companies and the industry.

Members and subscribers to The Parking Professional have immediate access to all issues and articles in a new format for online access. To see the latest, log in to your account and navigate to the magazine. Industry and member news feeds are right on the home page. If you would like to see your organization’s news front and center, visit parking.org/submitnews.

Do you have a request for proposal (RFP) or request for qualifications to publicize? Visit parking.org/rfp to post and get greater visibility for your upcoming project. Are you looking for the best talent in the industry? Navigate to parking.org/careerhq to post a position and find your next rising star.

Tips and Tricks

  • Did you know that our Board of Directors has superpowers? Do you know who has the ability to do a cartwheel better than any other non-YPIP? Get to know your board (and our staff ) just a little bit better in the About section (at the very top of the site).
  • Make parking.org a favorite on your browser of choice. Most sites perform best on Firefox and Chrome, and we recommend these browsers to get the most out of your browsing time.
  • Subscribe to the IPInsider, our biweekly newsletter, and the blog. Delivered right to your inbox, this quick step will save you time and keep you up to date.
  • Be your own content marketer and build your personal brand—when you see a post that made you smile or read an article that opened your eyes to a new trend, share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
  • Keep us posted, and share your feedback—this is your home page and your organization. We’ve received great comments and ideas so far, so please keep them coming!

RACHEL YOKA, CAPP, LEED AP, is IPI’s vice president for program development. She can be reached at yoka@parking.org.

TPP-2016-06-A New Home Base

Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Safety & Security

Community Assets

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By Natasha Labi, CAPP tpp-2016-06-community-assets_page_1

The intrinsic value of parking enforcement officers to their neighborhoods.

ON AN OLD EPISODE OF “PARKING WARS,” a Philadelphia parking enforcement officer (PEO) walked solemnly back to his vehicle as an irate parking violator hurled such vulgar profanity in his direction that mandatory Federal Communications Commission bleeping was required. In another episode, a citizen constantly yelled at an officer to get out of her neighborhood and go get a real job. Citizens are frequently shown verbally abusing the PEOs.

As a parking enforcement manager, I watch the show sporadically but know this is the type of behavior my team is subjected to every day, sometimes several times a day. I want to step into these television scenes and educate these citizens. PEOs are just like everyone else: hard-working citizens attempting to do their jobs to the best of their ability. More importantly, PEOs offer intrinsic values to the communities they serve in very tangible ways.

Agents of Commerce
PEOs are agents of commerce. Parking enforcement is defined as the management of on-street real estate in municipalities—parking spaces. Usually, this real estate lies in the busiest part of the municipalities or cities, sometimes called a central business district. The businesses in this area are supported by the parking spaces. Customers must have access to these parking spaces to patronize these businesses.

Customers consider accessibility and parking in a city not as a perk but as a commodity that has to meet certain standards. Most municipalities and cities have put into place parking laws and ordinances to meet these standards. There are parking time limits to maximize the value for business owners by ensuring the efficient turnover of the spaces. More turnover of parking spaces equates to more potential customers for the business owners. PEOs manage the turnover of parking spaces.

If a vehicle remains in the same parking space without proper payment, it prohibits other potential customers from visiting nearby businesses and spending money there. The PEO monitors these spaces and cites violators. The revenue from these violations and other parking revenue help finance other municipality and city-budget items. During the recent economic downturn, parking revenue was a dependable stream of finance for municipalities and cities, which led to the reduction of parking surcharges in several major cities. Thus, PEOs are agents of commerce in the communities they serve.

Crime Deterrents
PEOs serve as trained additional eyes and ears for local police in the fight against crime. Crime is a threat to citizens, businesses, municipalities, and commerce as a whole—people generally shy away from doing business in neighborhoods they feel are unsafe.

In most municipalities and cities, reduction of crime is a high priority, and enforcement departments have ongoing efforts to reduce high crime rates in the communities they serve. Some of the efforts have centered on increasing the number of enforcement officers on the streets.

Consider Atlanta, where privatized parking enforcement initiatives have increased the actual number of city police officers on the street. Off-duty and retired Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers are employed by the privatized enforcement agency, increasing the number of law enforcement personnel on the streets at no additional cost to the city. While their main focus during those hours might be enforcing Atlanta’s parking enforcement laws and ordinances, the APD officers enforce all laws while they’re out. These officers have assisted in everything from the capture of bank robbers to routinely providing additional traffic support to major Atlanta events such as the Chik-fil-A Bowl and March Madness competitions.

Because these APD parking enforcement officers are very visible, they may serve as deterrents to crime also. In enforcing parking laws and ordinances, these officers are enforcing beats on the streets. This provides a very community-oriented type of enforcement.

Atlanta also hands some community enforcement to non-sworn officers—lay people trained to provide parking enforcement services. When a crime is committed, these non-sworn officers are able to use their constant radio communication to get a quick response of all enforcement officers in the area and be a source of information. These officers have become very knowledgeable about the city’s citizens and businesses.

PEOs are also involved in the war on terrorism. State and local governments are tasked with the responsibility of providing homeland security strategies for their citizens. This strategy also emphasizes the importance of planning, equipping, training, and establishing programs to minimize damage from potential attacks. As frontline enforcement employees, PEOs assist in first-responder efforts.

They are constantly on city streets with radio communication. Formal training is given to PEOs in many cities and municipalities. PEOs are trained to identify anomalies in communities and especially on the streets of their neighborhood noticing things such as an unmarked van parked inconspicuously in an alley of a government building. The PEO is able to notify police via radio communication immediately. Being part of the enforcement environment allows PEOs to truly serve the community.

Parking enforcement is defined as the management of on-street real estate in municipalities— parking spaces. More turnover of parking spaces equates to more potential customers for the business owners. PEOs manage
the turnover of parking spaces.

Ambassadors
PEOs serve as ambassadors to their communities. Every municipality and city wants to attract visitors and their dollars. These visitors may range from the surrounding suburbanites on a rare trip to the big city, to the tourist in town for the big game or concert, or the businessperson in town for a convention. These visitors are valuable sources of commerce for the local economy and can translate into big business. Thus, it is critical for visitors to have a positive experience.

PEOs are commonly the first contact for these visitors. The PEO is out there enforcing, walking the city streets in an official-looking uniform. The visitors are naturally drawn to the PEO in times of confusion in a strange new city. PEOs become the frontline employees with the ability to help the visitor have that positive memorable experience. If the visitor has a memorable experience, it is more likely he or she will return to the city and share the good time with family and friends. Thus, PEOs are true frontline ambassadors for municipalities and cities.

It is imperative that the frontline parking enforcement officer be equipped with excellent customer service training. Most municipalities and cities have training programs that include the basics: how to greet customers, listening to customer needs or problems, confirming understanding, using positive language, dealing with angry customers, and the importance of having welcoming body language and tone.

Parking enforcement customer service training should also incorporate specific knowledge of the area. PEOs should know directions to the city’s major streets, tourist attractions, banks, and restaurants. Some municipalities and cities have even taken customer service training to another level by offering customer service certifications. These certification programs offer common standards of customer service knowledge and practices in which local municipality employees and businesses participate. PEOs, using customer service training, share their knowledge of the city and or region, answer frequently asked questions, and deliver a positive experience for the visitor. PEOs serve as ambassadors of every municipality’s and city’s goal, promoting the city as a great place to live, work, play, and visit.

Every day, television shows like “Parking Wars” portray angry parking customers yelling obscenities at a PEO as the officer issues a citation. They don’t realize that as an agent of commerce, the PEO manages municipalities’ and cities’ most valuable assets—real estate. As parking enforcement managers, we should remind our officers of these values to empower the PEOs’ sense of job performance, job satisfaction, and pride in serving the community.

NATASHA LABI, CAPP, is manager with ParkAtlanta. She can be reached at natashalabi@gmail.com.

TPP-2016-06-Community Assets

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

UP TO SPEED

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UP TO SPEED

Garage designers are embracing new door designs, for good reason.

As parking professionals know, during the past several decades parking structures have become a major design consideration for architects. Though many facilities are freestanding, a large number of parking garages are attached to buildings in urban areas, the suburbs, or exurbia, prompting designers to give these structures more style.

One iconic example is the 65-story Bertrand Goldberg–designed Marina City Towers in Chicago, Ill., shown in the opening to the 1970s “The Bob Newhart Show.” The building’s 19 floors of exposed spiral parking are clearly visible and integrated into the building’s twin cylindrical design.

For some time, parking structures were seen as minimal stand-alone buildings without human, aesthetic, or integrative considerations, giving parking a poor public perception and frequently disrupting the existing urban fabric. Today, however, many architects, engineers,and planners envision and construct far more attractive facilities that integrate structures better with their surroundings and serve the needs of their users.

The idea behind attaching a parking structure to a building is to provide convenience and security to tenants, employees, and visitors. Though not all buildings offer valet parking—an amenity of the Marina City Towers—an increasing number of parking structures are installing high-speed doors to improve security and convenience and to take advantage of other benefits these doors offer.

Today’s imaginative designs include attention to the doors that provide vehicle access to the building. While barrier gates are common for controlling access to a parking structure, building management for security and sustainability purposes are increasingly considering solid-panel doors, whose speed can fulfill both missions.

In today’s fast-paced world, everyone expects to move faster, and this includes when people want to get in and out of parking structures through the doorway. To hurry people along, high-speed metal slat doors and fabric panel doors are replacing slow solid-panel and rolling-grill doors. Though slower versions are still in use because of their lower cost, designers are discovering the advantages of high-performance, high-speed doors.

High-speed doors can open up to five times faster than conventional doors—some models as fast as 100 inches per second. This speed can have significant effect on a number of parking structure access issues.

Security
Parking structures can be more vulnerable to crime than other sorts of buildings. Their low foot-traffic areas, cars, pillars, and recessed areas provide hiding places and offer temptation for those with crime on their mind.

Garage entrance piggybacking can be a problem, enabling intruders to slip into the building behind an authorized vehicle. A slowly operating door adds to the temptation. The longer the door takes to close, the bigger the window of opportunity for unauthorized entrance. Slow doors can be open for many seconds after an authorized vehicle has passed.

Depending on the speed of an entering vehicle and the size of the opening, a high-speed door can be open for just seconds. When the vehicle is clear of the doorway, the building is completely secure. Many high-speed solid panel doors have latching mechanisms at the bottom for an extra measure of security.

Jim Zemski, principal with ZCA Residential, says, “Our firm recommends high-speed overhead doors on all of our urban/residential multifamily garages. This dictates that a high level of security is provided, which is solved by the rapid speed that prevents piggybacking and unauthorized pedestrians from entering the secure garage.”

Sustainability
In Northern-tier states and Canada, a number of attached parking structures provide heating during cold months. At an area of 8 by 10 feet or larger, the doorway provides an ample hole in the wall for air infiltration and costly energy loss. Both parking door speed and design can significantly reduce energy costs. A recent study conducted by the Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association found that high-speed doors that are accessed frequently would save more energy than heavily insulated doors operating at slower speeds. By cycling in brief seconds, high-speed doors can significantly reduce the loss of heated air.

Once closed, high-speed doors tightly seal the doorway. Doors with anodized aluminum slats have a rubber membrane that covers the connecting hinges; together with a rubber weather seal, this keeps out the elements. This protection combines the seals around the full perimeter of the door, including the door guides that fully enclose the panel’s vertical edges, brush gaskets along the header, and floor-hugging gaskets on the bottom.

Convenience
Americans are always racing to beat the clock, especially in recent years as more demands are placed on their time. People hate to wait to pick up a morning coffee or to get into a parking facility. For people in a hurry, waiting for a slow door to open so they can get into or out of a garage can seem like an eternity. The slow-moving doors at workplace parking facilities can translate into decreased employee productivity. High-speed doors convey a respect for drivers’ time, which adds to the satisfaction with the facility and the business, building owner, or institution associated with it.

Maintenance
Door speed has a significant effect on the door’s useful life and repair costs. The slow speed of conventional doors invites collisions because impatient drivers can rush through the half-opened doorway and clip the bottom of a door that’s not yet fully open. These accidents can
take a door out of action, and worse, damage the car, leading to a very unhappy tenant.

At 60 inches per second or faster, a high-speed dooris too fast for a vehicle to catch up with. At facilities where a driver uses a keypad code and a security card for doorway access, the door is generally fully opened beforethe driver’s foot moves from brake pedal to gas pedal.

Though most high-speed parking garage doors have rigid slats, some facilities are using fabric-panel doors. The fabric-panel doors used at the GID Sovereign at Regent Square project, according to Robert Tullis, vice president and director of design for GID Development, “offer easy repair if they should ever get hit and knocked out of their tracks.”

He notes that his facility maintenance staff can put the fabric doors back in service by simply opening and closing the door, which rethreads the door into its guides. There is no need to call the door repair company, and there are no bent parts to replace. Advanced door controller technology and variable frequency drives on newer doors generate an energyefficient speed curve for smooth motion, soft starting, and soft stopping. These controllers continuously monitor all door activity and cycles and have self-diagnostic capabilities to simplify troubleshooting.

Very few people give much thought to the doors as they enter a parking facility until something goes wrong, either from a security incident or poor door performance. According to Josh Landry with Gables Residential, a developer of high-end multi-unit complexes, “Doors on the parking facility are one of the many items that tenants and owners don’t necessarily think about, but they can be part of the overall positive experience for both tenants and customers.”

MICHAEL WATKINS is vice president of marketing with Rytec Corporation. He can be reached at mwatkins@rytecdoors.com  

TPP-2016-10-Up to Speed

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

A SOARING SUCCESS

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A SOARING SUCCESS

Passengers and staff enjoy a state-of-the-art new parking structure at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal E Enhanced Parking Structure (EPS) project is a complete update and replacement of existing parking facilities. The new structure was designed to bring aesthetic improvements to an aging infrastructure and increase parking availability, while improving both the overall experience of passengers and operational efficiency of the airlines. Substantial renovations and improvements inside the terminal have been scheduled to accompany the two-year phased EPS project. With a record 64 million passengers in 2015 and a track record for exemplary customer service, the airport challenged project planners to maintain terminal operations and passenger flow during construction.

The project goals were:

  • Provide passengers with a modern and rewarding travel experience. Replace two aging, low-clearance, dimly lit garages with one large, well-lit, and efficient modern parking structure.
  • Utilize the latest parking technology to improve terminal operational efficiency.
  • Optimize passengers’ time spent searching for available parking.
  • Create a safe public space through the use of lighting, technology, and a fire protection system that’s easily accessible to DFW emergency personnel.
  • Minimize impact to terminal operations and passenger flow during construction.

Challenges and Solutions
The first challenge faced was limited site access with public traffic operating on all four sides of the construction site, 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Solutions implemented were:

  • Round-the-clock demolition and haul-off, with work adjacent to roadways occurring during a three-hour nightshift window.
  • Use of soil nail wall excavations to prevent public roadway closures.
  • Off-site staging and just-in-time delivery of materials.
  • Tower cranes with the capacity to reach over adjoining roadways and pick materials from off-site yard and off-load trucks directly from the active roadway shoulder.
  • Extensive traffic control planning, including coordination with multiple contractors and airport departments involved in separate terminal renovation projects to properly prepare for thousands of deliveries, crane lifts, and concrete pours while minimizing disturbance to public traffic.

The project required extensive site soil conditioning to bring subgrade to acceptable building standards, including:

  • Removal and remediation of old asbestos-containing drainage piping.
  • Electrochemical soil injection of native clays over 130,000 square feet to a depth of 10 feet.
  • Import, spread, and compaction of more than 20,000 cubic yards of special-fill material.

The project incorporated phased construction and owner occupancy orchestrated with interior terminal improvements, including matching aesthetics/architectural features of adjoining scopes of work. Completion of the first half (Phase 1) of the EPS was concurrent with terminal renovations of corresponding airline gates served by Phase 1 parking area. This ensured that passengers could still park adjacent to their active terminal gates.Phase 1 turnover resulted in increased parking revenue generated mid-project for DFW International Airport during construction of Phase 2. This netted a 12-month head start on parking revenue for the owner.

Innovative Practices
The new garage is state-of-the-art and features multiple innovative features and practices, including a double-helix access ramp between levels. A challenging structural element to construct, the helix access ramp system has proven to be one of the most efficient design features of the EPS. Comprised of two five-story, cast-in-place, post-tensioned concrete ramps that intertwine (one for ascending traffic and one for descending traffic), the helix structure is essentially a series of three-dimensional traffic circles, with vehicles yielding to ramp traffic at each level before entering the helix to access another level of the EPS. This design limits the vertical pathway for vehicles to a much smaller footprint than conventional parking garage ramps that often run the entire length of the garage and have a tendency to get backed up as vehicles attempt to make hairpin turns at switchback locations. The use of the helix system ensures a steady flow of passenger traffic and eliminates traffic jams within the EPS.

The EPS features a parking guidance system that assists passengers in quickly identifying and navigating to available parking spaces after entering the garage. A collaborative network of overhead indicator lights and digital signage directs vehicles to the closest available space (including standard, one-hour, and accessible parking).

As soon as vehicles enter the parking garage, drivers are met with a large digital sign providing accurate and to-the-second counts of available parking spaces on every level of the garage. Within seconds of entering, drivers know whether they should travel to a different level of the garage to find a spot. As vehicles move through the garage, additional digital signs, posted at drive aisle intersections, provide counts of available spaces down each row of parking. Once a vehicle has been directed to a row, its driver can use the overhead LEDs to determine the precise location of an available space.

Each parking space has on overhead sensor that determines if a space is occupied or available. In addition, an LED light is located over each space (at the tail end, adjacent to the drive aisle, so as to be visible to anyone peeking down a row) that switches from green (available) to red (occupied) when activated by the overhead sensor. This provides an extremely efficient tool for passengers to find an open spot and get on with their travels.

One of the most exciting applications of the parking guidance system is the ability to use data collected from the overhead sensors and EPS capacity counts to enhance operational efficiency inside the terminal. A feedback loop between the PGS sensors and passenger ticketing kiosks inside the terminal can assist airlines and the Transportation Security Administration by predicting staffing requirements.

A Unique Partnership
DFW International Airport partnered with the North Texas Tollway Authority to equip the airport with overhead and turnstile tolling to charge passengers for daily parking at various terminals. Implemented in late 2013, this system utilizes two plazas—one each at the north and south end of the airport—that act as access gates to the entire airport facility. Passengers take a ticket on the way in or have their TollTag scanned overhead as they pass through the parking plaza.

Once inside the airport, passengers can park in any terminal parking facility they choose. This appears to be a convenient way to pay for parking, but the ingenuity behind the system is much more subtle. When it comes time for passengers to leave the airport, they are able to pull directly out of any of the terminal parking garages, merge with traffic, and exit through either the north or south parking plaza using the overhead or turnstile payment. This means passengers aren’t getting clogged up attempting to exit a parking garage by inserting tickets and credit cards, which is a frequent issue with parking facilities on large campuses with high parking turnover rates. Instead, the point of transaction is moved to the plazas, which have upwards of 18 exit lanes each. The result is a flawless and efficient movement of passengers in and out of the airport’s parking structures.

MIKE ULDRICH, is a project director with McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. He can be reached at muldrich@mccarthy.com  

TPP-2016-10-A Soaring Success