By Dave Feehan
Too often, people working behind the scenes never get the credit and recognition they deserve. In 1989, when I arrived in Kalamazoo, Mich., as the new president of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated, the challenges were many. The downtown hotel and conference center was failing. Occupancy at the hotel was below 25 percent. Arcadia Creek, at one time a small creek running from the Western Michigan University campus to the Kalamazoo River, had been boxed in and made part of the sewer system, eventually creating a 100-year flood plain in the north half of downtown. Older buildings had been abandoned, and some were collapsing from neglect. There was no downtown housing to speak of, and retail sales were departing for the suburban malls.
An ambitious plan to rebuild the creek and make it an attractive water feature was designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill but was never built. Then, a group of community leaders, both public and private, decided that something must be done. The city applied for an Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG), and secured the last one HUD awarded. That set in motion a revised plan, involving a purchase and renovation of the hotel by the Upjohn Company, transfer of the parking system to the downtown organization, and agreements by the Community College and other entities to build along Arcadia Creek. The project became known as Arcadia Commons.
Leading the effort were people like Dr. Marilyn Schlack, president of the Community College; Martha Parfet, an influential member of the Upjohn family; and Dr. Jack Hopkins, president of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. But working quietly behind the scenes were people like Ken Nacci, vice president of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated, who managed the finances for the Downtown Development Authority; Blaine Lam, who produced all of the promotional materials; Mike O’Connor, the attorney for the Downtown Development Authority; and Clayton Johnston, a men’s wear proprietor who chaired the boards of all of the downtown organizations.
The result was the entire transformation of downtown Kalamazoo, and the creation of an award winning parking system. But none of this would have happened without the essential but unheralded work of some extraordinary individuals.
Dave Feehan is president of Civitas Consultants, LLC.
By Sarah Blouch, Carl DePinto, Zachary Pearce, and Keith Palma
By Brian Wolff
By David Horn, CAPP
By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE
We have some amazing technology applications in the parking industry. Some people would be quite surprised if they knew just how “cool” technology has become for the seemingly mundane task of parking a car or a truck or a bicycle or any other means of transport using our streets (and yes, our sidewalks too). As a parking professional, Richard Easley, CAPP, knows that most of our parking related technologies can change lives for the better by improving safety, decreasing costs, and saving busloads of time. But what we do not recognize often enough, he says, is that this amazing technology does not serve all our stakeholders equally. In fact, in some cases we do a great disservice to a segment of our stakeholders by deploying some of these “cool” technologies in the manner that has become acceptable.
In parking news this past weekend is the world record for most expensive parking space being shattered in Hong Kong. 
By Kevin White, CAPP, AICP
