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Education & Training, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

More Than Acronyms

November 21, 2016 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

by Mark D. Napier, CAPP

Why parking professionals need to understand NIMS and ICS and what each can do in a disaster.

It is important for all parking professionals to understand the basic tenants of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS). The fundamentals of each are relevant to the parking industry, and the implementation of NIMS or the activation of an ICS structure are not limited to large-scale crisis events such as terrorism or natural disasters.

The terms NIMS and ICS are often incorrectly used interchangeably. ICS is in fact a component of NIMS. So what does each do, and how are they relevant to parking professionals? Read on.

NIMS

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 increased our awareness that we needed to focus on improving our emergency management, incident coordination, and our capabilities across a full spectrum of potential incidents. We needed to put in place a national framework to prevent and handle significant events that potentially involve cross-jurisdictional government resources and participation by many other stakeholders. NIMS arose out of that need and establishes a national-approach framework.

NIMS provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment. While it is true that perhaps only the federal government could design such a run-on sentence as a statement of purpose, we should find instructive what it indicates. NIMS’ intent is not to be limited only to government agencies and is not designed to be only reactive. NIMS also speaks to the need for multiple stakeholders to work together to reduce critical incidents and be able to effectively respond to them.

NIMS is comprised of four components that work together in a flexible and systematic manner:

1. Preparedness. This involves a host of activities conducted on an ongoing basis in advance of any potential incident—training, planning, establishing procedures, examining personnel qualifications, maintaining an inventory of equipment resources, and completing a scan of the environment to determine potential vulnerabilities. A parking professional should address at a minimum the following with respect to preparedness:

What are your total personnel resources?
Are your personnel ready to respond to a significant event?
Do you have an accurate inventory of your equipment resources?
Do you have up-to-date policies and procedures for handling significant events?
Have you conducted an assessment of potential vulnerabilities or other factors in the environment of your operation that could pose a threat (weather, nearby targets, etc.)?
Have you conducted exercises/drills to test your preparedness?

2. Communications and information management. Emergency management and incident response rely on the ability to communicate and access information systems. We need to assess in advance of an incident our capabilities with respect to this component. The significant error is to not consider the failure of systems during a significant event—it is probable that many of the systems relied upon during normal business would be dysfunctional. Consider what alternatives or potentials for redundancy might be available given a wide array of system compromises. The end result should be the development of reliable and scalable alternatives.

3. Resource management. This component involves two distinct facets: First, what are your current resources, and where are the gaps in what might be required to address a significant event? This includes both personnel and physical resources. Second, in a
significant event, how would resources be mobilized, tracked, and recovered? In a recent significant event, a parking operator felt comfortable that available cones and barricades were sufficient until he realized that there was no reliable system to transport them from a remote site to where they were needed. During Hurricane Katrina, dozens of New Orleans school buses sat in flooded parking lots after failing to be deployed to assist with evacuations.

4. Command and management. This component involves the ability to effectively and efficiently manage incidents through a standardized incident management structure—the Incident Command System (ICS). The preceding three steps should occur before an incident. This one ensures that we can appropriately respond when there is an incident.

5. Ongoing management and maintenance. We can think of this component as how we stay ready and prepared. Too often, we get excited about a new concept or program and then steadily lose interest over time. Unfortunately, this can lead to tragic results when we finally need to respond to significant event. We cannot look at NIMS as a one-and-done project. NIMS has to become a part of how we do business and something that is revisited and refreshed on a regular basis. This can be done through exercises, drills, refresher training, and effective debriefing of incidents when they occur. Another effective technique is reviewing critical events that happened in other locations, assessing how your operation would have responded under similar circumstances, and embracing a lessons-learned mindset.

Remember that the first three components are important. These are components that you must engage before an incident occurs. No matter how skilled you are at ICS or capable you might be with respect to command and management, you simply will fail if you have not paid attention to preparedness, communication and information management, and resource management ahead of an event.

There are tremendous resources and information under the “independent study” tab at training.fema.gov/is/. They are free of charge and content-rich.

ICS
There is a huge misconception in our industry that ICS only applies to first responders and extremely large crisis events. This is simply not the case. The parking professional needs to understand the fundamentals of ICS for two reasons: Our operations might be affected by the implementation of ICS during a significant event. Parking operations are not located in the middle of empty cornfields. Parking exists in congested areas, central business districts, college campuses, airports, and around critical infrastructure. All of these areas are prime locations for producing significant events.

There is also a great likelihood that parking operations will become part of the implementation of ICS activation. A knowledgeable parking professional can be an asset to handling the event instead of an uninformed bystander, or worse, an impediment to operations.

ICS as a structure is scalable and adaptable to address events from the relatively small to the catastrophic and highly relevant to the unique structure of parking. Using ICS for every incident, planned or unplanned, helps hone and maintain the skills needed for addressing large-scale and serious incidents.

Incident Command Structure
Structure and the integrity of structure are important elements to the successful implementation of ICS. For ICS implementation to lead to the successful handling of an incident, each member in the structure must understand his/her roles and responsibilities and have the discipline to stay within his or her confines. This often takes a much higher level of discipline than is present in our day-to-day operations and may be something many team members are entirely unaccustomed to.

The Incident Commander
When an incident spans only a single jurisdictional or operational area, there should be only one incident commander (IC). When an incident is so large as to span multiple jurisdictions or several operational areas, you might establish an incident management team (IMT) that is comprised of ICs from each jurisdiction or operational area. Most often, there will be a single IC who will assume responsibility over an incident, develop incident objectives, and serve as the central decision-maker for action plan implementation.

The IC should be the person with the greatest understanding of the incident, the incident environment, and the available resources. This person might also be selected based on training and supervisory/command abilities:

A command staff supporting the IC is comprised of a public information officer, a safety officer, and a liaison officer. The IC alone gives direction to his or her command staff.
The public information officer is responsible for interfacing with the media, public, and outside agencies with incident-related information.
The safety officer monitors the incident operations and notifies the IC of any health/safety issues that might affect incident personnel.
The liaison officer is the IC’s point of contact for representatives of other agencies and organizations that might support incident operations or be affected by them.

ICS General Staff
The operations section is responsible for carrying out the activities directed by the incident objectives at the direction of the IC. It does not freelance its activities. Any activity engaged in is at the expressed direction of the IC unless there exists an immediate unanticipated threat to life or property. The operations section may be subdivided to branches based on function or geographic disbursement.

The planning section is responsible for the collection and dissemination of incident situation information and intelligence to the IC. This section may compile status reports, display situation information, and prepare other documentation with input from the operations section chief for the IC. The planning section is further divided into support sections that report directly to the planning section chief:

Resources unit. Responsible for recording the status of resources committed to the incident. This unit also evaluates resources committed currently to the incident, the effects additional responding resources will have on the incident, and anticipated resource needs.
Situation unit. Responsible for the collection, organization, and analysis of incident status information and for analysis of the situation as it progresses.
Demobilization unit. Responsible for ensuring orderly, safe, and efficient demobilization of incident resources.
Documentation unit. Responsible for collecting, recording, and safeguarding all documents relevant to the incident.
Technical specialists. Personnel with special skills that can be used anywhere within the ICS organization.

The logistics section is responsible for all service support requirements needed to facilitate effective incident management. This section also provides facilities, transportation, supplies, equipment, and all other resources required to address the incident. In the activation of ICS, parking resources would most likely fall in the logistics section.

The logistics section is further divided into support sections:

Supply unit. Orders, receives, stores, and processes all incident-related resources, personnel, and supplies.
Ground support unit. Provides all ground transportation during an incident; also responsible for maintaining and supplying vehicles, keeping usage records, and developing incident traffic plans.
Facilities unit. Sets up, maintains, and demobilizes all facilities used in support of incident operations. The unit also provides facility maintenance and security services required to support incident operations.
Food unit. Determines food and water requirements, plans menus, orders food, provides cooking facilities, cooks, serves, maintains food service areas, and manages food security and safety concerns.
Communications unit. Major responsibilities include effective communications planning as well as acquiring, setting up, maintaining, and accounting for communications equipment.
Medical unit. Responsible for the effective and efficient provision of medical services to incident personnel.

The finance/administration section is only activated when the incident management is of such a scale as to require incident specific finance or administrative support.

ICS Implementation
It is easy to see that the ICS structure provides a comprehensive approach to handling significant incidents. However, to limit it to only those events is a lost opportunity to improve performance. How often have you approached a problem or challenge occurring in your parking operation to wonder if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing? ICS implementation clarifies roles and responsibilities while providing a structure that ensures coordination, communication, and a comprehensive approach. You need not implement every element of the ICS structure to derive significant benefit from it as a tool. Moreover, using it for smaller challenges or minor events is excellent practice for a major event.

Many forward-thinking parking professionals understand the power of ICS and do not wait for an incident or challenge to occur. They have regular tabletop exercises to simulate ICS implementation at a significant event. Some have gone as far as to have a topic presented for brief discussion at every weekly staff meeting. The more we practice with ICS, the more it becomes a part of how we operate and the more skilled we become at its implementation. Ideally, it should be second nature. You simply cannot wait until a significant event occurs and then hope for the best.

Additional ICS Considerations
Your parking operation may become part of the incident environment of an outside entity’s ICS activation. Being educated in ICS, you will better understand where your operation might fit in the incident environment and how decisions are made in the structure.

Recently, a large campus’ university police department got a call of a possible active shooter near the center of campus. Police activated ICS, and the IC decided that while the area search was conducted by operations, all personnel in the area should shelter in place. The supervisor of a parking garage in the area made the decision to open all the garage gates so people could escape the area. This interjected congestion into the area and caused people following the shelter-in-place order to believe there was a change and leave shelter. This could have led to tragic results. The parking professional needs to be aware of ICS and where decision-making resides during significant incidents.

A fundamental aspect of ICS implementation is the requirement for a debriefing. A debriefing allows us to reflect on performance and identify areas for improvement. Rank and organizational status must be left at the door for these to be effective. A debriefing should allow for very frank and direct conversations. The best of these can be incredibly uncomfortable. Remember, that practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.

Finally, parking leadership should meet regularly with law enforcement and first responders in their area. We can be viewed as a valued partner because of the assets, both in terms of facilities and personnel, we can bring to an ICS activation. We should request to be included in exercises and drills. This connects us to the logistics section and identifies our resources under NIMS. We also will develop lines of communications and professional relationships that have meaningful value should we need assistance in addressing a significant event localized to our operations.

Back to NIMS
ICS is how we respond to incidents. NIMS is the global way we prepare for incidents, with ICS being one component thereof. Do not neglect the other components of NIMS.

We need to put the tools of NIMS and ICS in our toolbox but ensure they do not rust there. Conduct exercises and implement ICS on small events and for challenges that are more typical. When a major incident occurs, we should hope our people fall into the ICS structure with calm professional demeanor, without being prompting, and bring credit to our industry through competent incident resolution and valued collaboration with local first responders.

MARK D. NAPIER, CAPP, is associate director, parking and transportation services, at the
University of Arizona. He can be reached at mnapier@email.

TPP-2016-05-More than Acronyms

Education & Training, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

Parking Safety by Design

November 21, 2016 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

by Khurshid Hoda

Crime prevention through environmental design boosts safety with relatively easy steps for both new builds and existing-structure retrofits.

SAFETY AND SECURITY are important aspects of operating a successful parking structure. Part of developing an effective parking structure includes helping ensure that design elements support a safe and secure environment for patrons and their vehicles. Promoting a safe and secure environment is important for the businesses within the facility and the future success of the parking facility.

If the facility should experience criminal activities, the negative effect on the business and its patrons can greatly damage the parking organization’s reputation. Once a negative impression is publicly released in the media, it is difficult to reverse its effect on the businesses and gain back the trust of parking patrons.

Parking facilities, especially multi-level structures, encompass large land areas but have a low activity level compared to the businesses they support. Typically, the building and the businesses within the building are where patrons congregate, and there is a small percentage of individuals in the parking facility compared to those inside the building. Although there are various factors to consider, such as location, parking facilities can often be at risk for “opportunity” crime, given the relatively low occupancy. A non-scientific review of crime data shows that among all types of real estate (excluding residential), parking facilities can be prone to larceny and violent crimes. The data also show that a majority of individuals assaulted in parking structures are women walking alone to their vehicles.

Inherent Challenges
There are some characteristics inherent in parking facilities that make ensuring safety and security for parking patrons and their vehicles a challenge. A criminal’s vehicle looks like nearly every other vehicle so it would likely not be noticed in a parking facility. Additionally, blind corners, sightline obstructions, and parked vehicles can provide a hiding place for a criminal and potentially block the lighting in the area where a criminal could hide.

Often, a parking patron’s ability to see and be seen is reduced because parking structures are partially or fully enclosed, elevated, have multiple levels, or include ramps that provide vehicular access to multiple floors of the facility. Although there is no one perfect solution when determining how to address the security of a parking structure, providing reasonable safety and security in the parking facility is in the best interest of the owner and the traveling public. Reasonable security measures will help to deter and prevent criminal activity.

For a security measure to be a deterrent, it has to have a psychological effect on a criminal. It should discourage potential criminals from committing a criminal act. Examples of deterrence are adequate lighting, closed-circuit TV (CCTV) monitoring, and signs posted indicating security patrols within and around the facility.

The opportunities for criminal activity in a parking facility can be significantly reduced by properly planning and implementing security measures in the design and construction of the parking facility. The security measures should seek to affect both the psyche of the criminal mind and the parking patron, as well as improve the physical conditions within the facility with proven security enhancements.

By Design
Incorporating security features in the design of a parking structure is one of the best examples of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). This approach deters criminals by making them feel trapped, out of place, exposed, and concerned that others inside and are many design elements that enhance the CPTED approach—we’ll discuss them shortly.

Any measure or technique not requiring human interaction or response, including lighting, glass-backed elevators, open or glass-enclosed stairs, etc., is defined as passive security. Passive security features also can be referred to as security-by-design. This approach refers to specific parking facility design elements, features, materials, and systems that can enhance the overall security of the facility without active human interaction. Passive security measures are cost-effective and last the life of the parking facility. If these measures are implemented and maintained well, they significantly contribute to patrons’ feeling of safety and comfort within the parking facility.

Based on input received from various owners, parking consultants, and this author’s experience, the following five passive security features have a significant positive effect on parking structure security:

1. Lighting Design. Parking and security consultants strongly agree that adequate and uniform lighting is the first line of defense and most effective deterrent against criminal activities in parking facilities. Several studies have been conducted by security experts that prove sufficient lighting has reduced crime in an area.

Eliminating dark areas deters crime, promotes enhanced user comfort, and improves the overall perception of safety. Ample lighting helps encourage safe movement of pedestrians and vehicles within the parking facility and improves internal wayfinding.

Lighting levels are generally not mandated by building codes, other than certain minimum levels required for emergency egress. The industry guidelines for parking facility lighting are established by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). These guidelines are not legal building codes, but failure to comply with IESNA recommendations does carry significant liability risks.

For improved safety and increased customer security in parking facilities, it is suggested that these lighting levels be increased by 50 percent and motion-sensor controlled lighting be installed. The security experts agree that motion-sensor systems will further enhance patrons’ safety and reduce energy costs. In high-crime areas, some security experts suggest increasing the IESNA light levels by 100 percent. Of course, these suggestions are based on the understanding that the project budget could support the cost of higher light levels (first and operating and maintenance [O&M] costs). However, with advancements in energy-saving light fixtures and building management systems, it is expected the O&M costs would be significantly lower than those of older fixtures and systems.

Lighting fixtures should be paired in each parking bay. The paired-fixture approach improves lighting uniformity and provides a certain level of redundancy should a single lamp failure occur. Additionally, this will minimize shadows created by parked vehicles, as well as reduce the lighting glare in the drive aisles. The paired fixture approach is also beneficial if a CCTV system is used.

Staining ceiling and beams of parking facilities is a way of increasing reflectance of concrete surfaces, thus increasing overall brightness and improving overall parking environment. This approach also improves overall lighting uniformity because stained concrete uniformly reflects light on the driving surface. Staining or painting walls may encourage graffiti and will become a regular maintenance issue. Therefore, wall staining is not recommended.

2. Clear-Span Construction. Clear-span construction technique reduces the number of columns within the parking facility, creating an open environment, better visibility, and minimizing potential hiding places.

One of the factors that should be evaluated is the structural system. Structural beams in cast-in-place (CIP) systems are generally located at more than 25 feet apart. The wider span provides for a higher ceiling perception, which provides more open space, better lighting from fewer fixtures, and better visibility of signage. All these factors improve visibility, thus enhancing the safety of patrons and their vehicles.

3. Glass-backed elevators and open stairs. The more open and visible parking areas can be made, the better they are for passive security purposes. The theory behind this is that criminals are less likely to assault a parking patron in front of a clear glass window or open stairs than in an enclosed area. Therefore, it is recommended that parking structures have glass-backed elevators and open stairs.

4. Landscape design. Almost all parking structure projects include some level of landscape design. Inappropriate placement of shrubbery, hedges, and trees can restrict line of sight for pedestrian and vehicular traffic and may negatively affect parking safety and security. Therefore, landscaping should be kept low to the ground to minimize potential hiding places around the parking facility. It is important to properly maintain landscaping elements because if they are allowed to grow too tall, they may cause safety and security concerns.

5. Human activity. Legitimate human activity in any parking facility improves the safety and security of patrons and their vehicles. However, it is difficult to establish appropriate and legitimate human activity in a parking structure. To some extent, locating a parking office in a parking facility achieves this purpose. Additionally, providing pedestrian access to mixed-use elements (if available) through the parking structure, without sacrificing pedestrian safety, may also achieve human activity in parking structures. These features will assist in improving patron and vehicle safety.

Other Security Enhancements
Depending on the use and type of parking structures, the following measures may be implemented to further enhance parking security:

The addition of escalators (generally used in parking structures at airports and large malls) provides vertical movement for pedestrians with a high visibility, which is an excellent passive security feature inside a parking structure.
Security screens protect potential hiding places, such as areas below the first flight of stairs.
The addition of convex mirrors in elevator cabs allows patrons to see if anyone is hiding inside the cab before they enter.
Glass panels in stairwell doors improve visibility.
Curbs and wheel-stops should be minimized as they are potential trip hazards. For enhanced visibility, faces and tops of curbs/ wheel stops should be painted yellow.
Signs should not impede drivers’ vision or create hiding places for intruders.

The above discussion and suggestions are by no means a complete list of measures for all parking structures. For each parking structure, a site-specific safety and security evaluation should be conducted, and appropriate measures should be implemented including “active” security measures (if needed) during design and construction phases.

KHURSHID HODA is a parking practice builder with Kimley-Horn and Associates. He can be reached at khurshid.hoda@kimley-horn.com.

TPP-2016-05-Parking Safety by Design

Education & Training, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

Big Events Big Challenges

November 21, 2016 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

How sport safety and security are greatly enhanced by parking and now, by IPI.

SOME OF THE BIGGEST SPECIAL EVENTS IN THE WORLD HAPPEN IN SPORTS, and perhaps nowhere are there more people parking in a compact area at a single time. Sporting events bring unique security challenges, and many start right in the parking area.

The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi supports the advancement of sports safety and security through training, professional development, academic programs, and research. The organization works with professional leagues, collegiate athletics, and professional associations, private firms, and government agencies to promote special-event security.

NCS4’s director, Lou Marciani, is the principal investigator in more than $9.4 million in externally funded grants through the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security and U.S Department of Education. He has an extensive background in sports management, was executive director of two sports governing bodies for the U.S. Olympic Committee, and is an expert in sports event safety and security. He recently talked with The Parking Professional about security at sporting events and the critical role played by parking and IPI.

The Parking Professional: How did NCS4 get its start?
Lou Marciani: In 2005, faculty members initiated research in sport security. We began with grants from the Office of Mississippi Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to study risk assessment, simulation modeling for evacuations, and training. As a result of our research, The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security was established in 2006. The purpose of the national center is to support the advancement of sport safety and security through training, professional development, academic programs, and research. NCS4 collaborates with professional leagues, open-access events, intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics, along with professional associations, private-sector firms, and government agencies.

TPP: What are some of the safety concerns NCS4 has dealt with?
LM: Since 2006, we have worked with the sport industry assisting with their safety and security issues for stadiums, arenas, and outdoor events. The emphasis has been on terrorist activity. Research has indicated many common vulnerabilities in terrorist activities as well as all-hazard incidents. To protect facilities against threats and to mitigate the effect of an attack, we have been assisting sport organizations with the following countermeasures:

Planning and preparedness.
Personnel development and training.
Access control strategies.
Barrier protection.
Communication and notification.
Monitoring, surveillance, and inspection.
Infrastructure interdependencies.
Cybersecurity.
Incident response.

TPP: What obstacles do sports venue have to implementing certain safety solutions?
LM: The No. 1 obstacle is funding for physical security measures that include equipment, personnel, and procedures. In addition, educating administrations on the importance of enhancing security measures can be a challenge.

TPP: How has event safety evolved over the years?
LM: Event safety and security has evolved since 9/11. Providing a safe and secure environment is a priority for all stakeholders involved in delivering a sporting event. The increasing profile of sport and event properties has resulted in increased exposure to risks that affect spectators, participants, and other entities. High-profile sport events provide a perfect target for terrorists. It is important for sport managers responsible for safety and security planning to be able to detect, deter, respond to, and recover from a catastrophic incident, be it natural or man-made.

TPP: What effect does parking have in providing a safe environment at sporting events?
LM: Parking plays a much greater role today than in the past. We have seen a dramatic change in parking at sport centers. Both on the collegiate and professional levels, parking is a place for congregation before and after contests or events. We have witnessed an increase in tailgating that’s put additional importance on securing these parking lots. These congregations create additional safety and security issues such as alcohol, pedestrian/vehicular traffic, and ingress/egress issues.

TPP: What role can a parking professional have in providing a safe environment at sporting events?
LM: At most events, the parking attendant is the first person to greet the customer. In order to enhance the safety and security for customers, it’s very important to have good perimeter protection. Thanks to a new collaboration, the sports industry has an opportunity to reach out to the International Parking Institute. The entire sports industry will benefit from IPI’s members, manufacturers, and suppliers of products and equipment, as well as professional planners and consultants, architects, and engineers to provide insight into creating more enhanced safe environments.

TPP: What do you hope will come from a relationship with IPI?
LM: With major sporting events bringing together tens of thousands of spectators in a confined space, security challenges can be daunting. NCS4 has developed industryleading programs to ensure high levels of security at such events, while IPI’s members, manufacturers and suppliers of products and equipment, as well as professional planners and consultants, architects, and engineers, continuously strive to provide safe environments for their customers. We hope to address the unique security challenges through information sharing, support of each other’s programs, and interaction between the organizations’ respective members.

NCS4 and IPI members share the common goal of protecting spectators and employees at sport centers from crime and terrorist attack. Both organizations are committed to developing clear channels of communication between their members that will educate to mitigate risk and to enhance response. We hope to promote collaboration between the organizations to address the unique security challenges facing sport centers.

TPP: Is training a core component of NCS4?
LM: Yes, NCS4 offers comprehensive sports safety and security training focused on building capabilities for multi-agency collaboration pertaining to risk management, incident management, evacuation training and exercise, and crisis management. The intact security teams from professional programs, intercollegiate, and interscholastic athletics, as well as open-access events, learn the concepts relative to planning, training and exercise, and recovery/business continuity through scenario-based training modules. Training is delivered by specialists from law enforcement, facility management, event management, emergency management, fire/hazmat, emergency medical/health services, and public relations.

TPP: Can a person earn a degree in sport safety and security?
LM: Yes. There is a master of business administration degree with an emphasis in sport security management program. As the only program of its kind in the U.S., the University of Southern Mississippi College of Business and the NCS4 are proud to offer this new program, designed for those who currently work (or aspire to work) in management or leadership positions in the sport safety and security industry in a face-to-face or online format.

Today, it is essential for individuals seeking top management positions in the sport security industry to possess the business knowledge needed to manage operations, including the ability to present a business case for return on investment for security and management solutions. By supplementing the MBA with an emphasis in sport security management, graduates will be able to differentiate themselves by gaining the standard principles of business in conjunction with real-world experience necessary for security practitioners.

TPP: Does NCS4 offer certifications?
LM: Yes, NCS4 offers certifications to ensure individuals responsible for the secure and safe
operations of sport venues have the adequate knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform duties. NCS4 offers two certifications: Certified Sport Venue Staff (CSVS) and Certified Sport Security Professional (CSSP).

CSVS is designed for an organization’s front-line staff. The targeted roles are ushers, ticket takers, gate security, concession staff, retail associates, parking attendants, guest services, and cleaning attendants. The candidates receive fundamental basic and role-specific
competencies as well as background screening.

The CSSP certification program is designed to establish standardized competencies among individuals holding leadership positions in the sports security industry and to ensure that the most current techniques, strategies, and solutions are used to mitigate safety and security risks inherent to spectator sport venues. The CSSP certification focuses on advancing the sports safety and security industry by addressing the competency
requirements of current security professionals and those related professionals.

TPP: Does NCS4 offer risk management assessments?
LM: Yes, NCS4 offers a security management assessment process designed to promote a standardized methodology for security planning at sporting venues and events. The goal of Sport Event Security Aware (SESA) is to provide a tool to facilitate a comprehensive approach to security planning, management, and operations. A SESA designation recognizes organizations that have embarked on a process to provide a safe and secure facility/event environment based on research, current best practices, and lessons learned.

TPP: Tell us about NCS4’s National Sport Security Laboratory?
LM: The goals of the laboratory are to offer opportunism for security observation and practice; technology tests and experimentation; and investigations of feasible robust security solutions applicable to sports venue operations. The primary mission is to advance global sports security by serving as the epicenter for the enhancement of technology, training, and research.

TPP: What does NCS4 offer in other professional development areas?
LM: NCS4 works very closely with professional leagues, open-access events, intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics, and professional associations, private sector firms, and government agencies in providing a platform to gather knowledge, technology, and strategies to deal with today’s sports safety and security challenges and solutions.

On an annual basis, NCS4 sponsors the National Sports Safety and Security Conference. The conference is the gathering of top professionals in the field to provide a wholesome environment dedicated to security/safety technologies, products, services, and education for safeguarding the assets and spectators we are charged to protect.

The target audience consists of sports venue and event operators, managers, security and safety staff, first responders, and law enforcement. These are representatives from the following levels: professional leagues, intercollegiate athletics, interscholastic athletics, and marathon/endurance events.

NCS4 also conducts four Annual Summits: Intercollegiate Athletics, Interscholastic Athletics, Professional Sport Facilities, and Marathons. The main objective of these summits is to address the critical safety and security challenges facing these sport organizations that results in enhancing or modifying their current national safety
and security best practices.

TPP-2016-05-Big Events Big Challenges

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

UP TO SPEED

October 1, 2016 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

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

October 1, 2016 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

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

Consumer Resources, Management & Human Resources, Parking & Mobility Article, Research, Resources

2015 Emerging Trends in Parking

February 11, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

According to the results of a new survey by The International Parking Institute (IPI), technology and the desire for more livable, walkable, sustainable communities continue to transform the ever-evolving parking industry. In addition to tracking trends, IPI’s 2015 Emerging Trends in Parking survey explores perceptions of parking, zoning issues, accessible (ADA) placard abuse, and parking as a career.

Parking Has Moved Far Beyond Simply Parking Cars
For the first time since the survey was initiated in 2012, the desire for more livable, walkable communities emerged as the single-most significant societal change affecting the parking industry (cited by 47 percent of respondents), ahead of the “changing commute/driving preferences of millennials” (41 percent), “increase in traffic congestion” (38 percent), and “focus on the environment and sustainability” (36 percent). Among the societal changes showing a noticeable drop from previous surveys was “fluctuations in gas prices,” perhaps reflecting recent lowering and stabilization of gas prices.

The changing demands triggered by these societal changes have broadened the responsibilities of the parking professional. Thirty-one percent of those surveyed consider themselves to be experts or very knowledgeable about transportation demand management (TDM), which involves policies and strategies to reduce congestion by encouraging alternatives to single-occupancy-vehicle use.

Most respondents’ programs also include a variety of elements beyond parking, such as improving conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians (47 percent) and bike/transit integration (43 percent), special event management (43 percent), shuttle services (40 percent), carsharing (40 percent), park and ride (33 percent), and ridesharing (33 percent). About one quarter of all those surveyed are also involved with shared parking, commuter trip reduction programs, traffic calming, bikeshare programs, and a wide range of programs that promote alternative transportation modes.

Technology Continues to Drive Parking
Among the top 10 emerging trends in parking, half relate directly to a range of different technologies that have revolutionized the parking sector in the past few years. Topping the list are “innovative technologies that improve access control and payment automation” (53 percent), the “demand for electronic cashless payment” (44 percent), “prevalence of mobile applications” (47 percent) and “real-time communication of pricing and availability to mobile/smartphones” (41 percent), and “wireless sensing devices for traffic management” (22 percent). Good news for parking professionals: A top trend remains greater “collaboration between parking, transportation, and decision-makers,” which industry experts believe is a pathway to solving many problems.

A Focus on Environmental Sustainability
Parking professionals were also asked to identify top trends specifically related to sustainability. There was a tie for the first slot with 46 percent citing “guidance systems that enable drivers to find parking faster” (devices indicating parking spots available by level, or green and red indicator lights over parking spaces that guide drivers to open spaces), and “energy efficient lighting in parking garages,” but following closer behind in third place than in past years was “encouraging alternative modes of travel through availability of bike storage, car share/bike share, access to transit, and other transportation demand management practices.”

Utilization of Private Commercial/Operators
Nearly four in 10 responding parking professionals are with organizations that currently contract with commercial operators for varying services. Contracted services include frontline attendants (38 percent), collections (36 percent), maintenance (36 percent), customer service (33 percent), transit/shuttle (31 percent), special events (30 percent), enforcement (29 percent), and security (29 percent). Of those surveyed, 18 percent outsource their entire operations to a commercial operators for turnkey services.

Solutions for Accessible (ADA) Parking Placard Abuse
A few survey questions were designed to elicit opinions on ongoing issues facing the parking industry and its consumers, including the rampant abuse of accessible (ADA) parking placards by those without impaired mobility. Asked to rate potential measures to alleviate the problem, 62 percent of respondents recommend doing away with free placards, and nearly half (49 percent) feel the industry should work with departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) and state agencies to make placards more difficult to obtain and use fraudulently. Enforcement measures, both consistent (51 percent) and targeted (29 percent), ranked second. Only 20 percent or fewer of those surveyed believe that various education efforts would be effective in eliminating placard abuse.

Education May Help Reform Minimum Parking Requirements
The survey also asked professionals to weigh in on the minimum parking requirements imposed by many zoning codes that can result in excess parking construction. These parking requirements create many problems for cities: they promote driving rather than mass transit; they help raise rents and displace ground-level retailers in multi-unit housing; and they hinder sustainability and beautification efforts. Half of the respondents (50 percent) agree that the city-mandated excess parking is an issue, and half feel that efforts to eliminate them or change the parking ratios have increased during the past five years. When asked to rank a list of seven barriers to reform, the top answer (32 percent) was “lack of understanding about the value of parking minimums” and, related to that, an additional 14 percent ranked “no perception that reform is needed,” as a barrier. Political opposition was the number-two response (17 percent) with neighborhood opposition ranked fourth (14 percent).

Optimism for a Career in Parking
One of the positive findings illuminated by the survey was the optimistic view of the parking profession shared by most respondents. Two-thirds of those surveyed would encourage the next generation to pursue a career in parking, and only six percent would discourage it.

What advice would parking professionals give future parking professionals about an appropriate college major to begin their career path? Nearly 60 percent suggested business or transportation planning, which tied for the top spot, followed by urban/city/regional planning (51 percent), public policy (31 percent), and technology (22 percent).

A More Positive View of Parking Is Emerging
Nearly half (48 percent) of those surveyed said that during the past five years, there has been improvement in others’ perception of the industry, perhaps a nod to IPI’s five-year-old, industry-wide Parking Matters® program, which is focused on expanding awareness of the vital role of parking and parking professionals.

Survey Purpose and Methodology
The International Parking Institute (IPI), the world’s largest association representing the parking industry, conducted a survey among parking professionals to determine emerging trends and solicit input on a range of topics.

The survey was conducted in early 2015 among members of the IPI and its parking communities. A link to the survey was distributed via email to IPI members, subscribers to the IPInsider e-newsletter and Parking Matters® Blog, and to members of IPI’s LinkedIn Group. The vast majority of respondents were parking leaders, managers, consultants, department heads, and owners and operators in the United States who are involved in the parking, design, management, and operations for municipalities, colleges and universities, airports, hospitals, retail, sports and entertainment venues, and corporations. Results were tabulated and analyzed by the Washington, D.C.-based Market Research Bureau.

This report may be downloaded at parking.org.

TPP-2015-09-2015 Emerging Trends in Parking

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

Parking a la Pavarotti

February 11, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Chip Chism

Freshman orientation is an exciting time for any college community. The campus is full of both eager students and anxious parents trying to learn as much as possible about the school that will become a home away from home for the student. During the two days of a typical orientation, new students are inundated with information about academic programs, tuition and fee payment, financial aid, housing signup, meal plans, books, and campus life in general.

Orientation at the University of West Florida in Pensacola is no different. The university has a lot of information to disseminate, and we know from experience that it is unrealistic to expect students and parents to remember everything they read and hear their first few overwhelming days. As students register for classes and get acquainted with each other, parking on campus is often the last thing on their minds. The situation creates a classic marketing challenge: how to stand out from the clutter when communicating a message.

It’s no secret that prime parking on college campuses is not abundant and, as on most campuses, the University of West Florida requires all students and employees to purchase parking permits and park in the lots designated for their specific permit classification. Parking enforcement begins the first day of class. Students need to be informed about parking, and they need to retain the information to avoid parking citations. Parking officials would rather not be the source of a negative first impression of college life—it’s not fun for them, and it’s not good for the school brand.

This year, the Office of Student Transitions challenged the UWF community to create orientation presentations that would both inform and entertain our newest community members. As shocking as it might be to parking professionals, most folks find parking to be neither interesting nor entertaining. Another challenge is always the limitation of time. Orientation schedules are tight, and not every department on campus can be given a spot on the orientation schedule.

For many years, the university parking and transportation services department only addressed the parents and not the students. The hope was that the parents would tell the students what they learned in the parking presentation, but that did not always happen. When the fall semester started, students would come to campus not knowing where to park and shortly receive citations. Something had to change.

Opportunity and Challenge
For the 2015 orientation season, the parking and transportation services department was offered a chance to address new students. We were given a few minutes at the beginning of the first day of orientation, as the parents and students arrived and before the formal presentations began. Something new and innovative was needed to capitalize on this opportunity.

Our department operates under the umbrella of the UWF Business and Auxiliary Services Department. Joy Ward, one of the marketing professionals in the department, was given the assignment to create a video for the presentation. She took a novel approach in an effort to inform and entertain and produced a music video, which captured students’ attention and communicated parking policy in a humorous, entertaining way.

Believe it or not (again), describing parking in a humorous and entertaining way is not as easy as it sounds. While parking on campus is often the subject of many jokes and punch lines, college parking itself is not an entity that lends itself to hilarity. But creative people often find creative solutions. We knew we needed something that would be effective but also memorable. Many years ago there was a series of cartoons on Saturday morning called “Schoolhouse Rock.” The producers realized music and song were powerful tools that can communicate history and facts much more effectively than a person behind a podium in a lecture hall. Several short cartoons were created with subjects ranging from math and astronomy to American history. One of the most popular of these was the “I’m Just a Bill” episode, which explained how a bill becomes a law in the United States (can you still sing it?).

Another episode was called the “Conjunction Junction,” showing how words can link together like train cars. Many years later, people can still remember the words to these songs—I bet many of you are humming them right now!
Ward decided to use the same technique and endeavored to communicate parking policy through music and song. To her, the drama that seems to occur in the parking lots of college campuses during the first week of fall semester called for nothing short of an opera.

Creative Solution
Our new video uses the tune of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” Act II, La Donna È Mobile, with lyrics specifically written to communicate parking rules and regulations. Most incoming students are probably not opera aficionados; at first glance, using an opera from 1851 might not seem the best choice for reaching freshmen in 2015. But campus parking lots are often the scene of drama and action on a Wagnerian scale so it seemed something as forceful as an opera would work better than something in the current top 40. It would have been possible to co-opt M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” into something like “Can’t Park There,” but then we would have had to pay royalties. She decided to go with an opera in the public domain.

Producing the video on a state university budget required the talent and expertise of several campus departments. The UWF Center for Fine and Performing Arts worked with Ward and recommended a local pianist, Darlene Reed, and a vocalist who was a recent graduate, Robert St. James. Pat Crawford, from the campus public radio station, WUWF, agreed to have his staff record the video. I provided parking props. Maera Bradberry, from business and auxiliary services, helped design the set and managed the stage while recording.

Success
The video accomplished its mission and has been complimented at numerous levels. The music in “Rigoletto” is undeniably captivating. Linking the parking rules and regulations to such a catchy tune has exceeded our expectations. Several folks have reported hearing people humming the tune around campus. An employee claims her elementary school-age niece was singing the words to the song at home.

In the video, the pianist plays as the bass vocalist dressed in a tuxedo performs a dramatic rendition of the song about parking. The tuxedo lends an air of sophistication and panache to the scene. The song begins with the basics, “Parking on school property/can be a tragedy/but all you need to do/is follow some simple rules.”

The most important of these rules is the rule requiring parking permits. Purchasing a parking permit is the first step. Parking permits must be purchased online. The purchaser has the option of having the parking permit mailed or picking it up in person. To express the parking permit requirement and explain the process the singer continues, “First buy a parking pass/online it’s very fast/have it mailed or pick it up/then hang it in your truck.”

The singer uses a number of props provided by Parking Services, such as parking tickets, parking permits, parking boots, and parking signs. Cut between shots of the singer are scenes of campus parking lots and examples of parking signage. The video graphics also direct the viewer to the online e-business site, which sells the parking permits.

In previous years, our parking director would begin and end the parking presentation by directing the audience to the parking regulations. In the video, the singer explains that all parking rules and regulations are contained in a guidebook. He ends the song by singing “and just read the guide” again and again. The lyrics stick with the listener long after the presentation.

The Office of Student Transitions gave our unconventional video a thumbs up and considers it a success. By focusing on a limited number of learning outcomes and being creative, we were able to impart important information and get a chuckle in less than two minutes’ time. To view the video, search YouTube for “UWF Parking Opera.”

Chip Chism is director of University of West Florida Parking and Transportation Services. He can be reached at jchism@uwf.edu.

TPP-2015-09-Parking a la Pavarotti

Consumer Resources, Education & Training, Frontline, Parking & Mobility Article, Planning, Design & Construction, Research, Resources

It’s Chip Time – Are You Ready

February 11, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Randy Vanderhoof

Merchants of all kinds are now fully immersed in the process of migrating to Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) chip-based payments, and the U.S. parking industry plays a large role in that transition. In many places, customers are already used to paying for parking with credit and debit cards, whether their space is on-street or off. The sooner parking operators begin accepting chip cards, the sooner they can begin realizing the benefits of this more secure technology.

Parking operators have a choice about whether or not they will implement chip technology. Implementation does include specific costs, including hardware upgrades and staff training. The customer experience will also change, which may initially affect queuing. However, delaying chip implementation prevents parking operators from keeping pace with payment advances. Implementing chip now also helps reduce fraud liability.

U.S. Migration to Chip Technology
For decades, accepting credit and debit cards has meant swiping the card to read the static information encoded on the magnetic stripe. The U.S.’s continued reliance on magnetic stripe cards is one of the reasons we have increasingly become a target for fraud. Data stolen from magnetic stripe cards are relatively easy to use to make counterfeit cards, which are then used for fraudulent purchases.

Thanks to their processing power, the chips embedded in EMV chip cards both store information and help manage risk by protecting card-present transactions from counterfeit fraud and skimming. During a transaction, the chip generates a unique cryptogram, which is sent to and authenticated by the issuer. Data stolen from chip cards are also much less useful to fraudsters because without the actual chip, the thieves are not able to generate the dynamic data required to authenticate and complete the transaction.

Much of the rest of the world has already implemented chip for payments, and in 2011 and 2012, all of the global payment networks announced plans for U.S. migration to chip technology, in part to help reduce fraud losses. These plans include a series of incentives and policy changes for card issuers and merchants. Beginning in October 2015, the global payment networks and certain U.S. debit networks plan to implement fraud liability shifts that will affect card-present counterfeit chip card transactions and lost or stolen chip card transactions.

After October 2015, if a merchant accepts a magnetic stripe card that was counterfeited with track data copied from a chip card and the merchant has a POS terminal that is not chip-enabled, the acquirer/merchant may be liable for the fraudulent transaction. Before the shift, issuers bore the risk for counterfeit card use at physical merchant locations. If the acquirer/merchant implements the appropriate chip card acceptance devices on or before October 2015, the payment networks (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa) and the card-issuing banks will continue to assume the liability for fraudulent transactions resulting from use of their customers’ cards.

Shifting to chip cards can also increase customer confidence in the security of payments at a parking location. As consumers learn more about the advantages of chip-based payments and grow accustomed to making these payments, they may come to expect the technology wherever they use their payment cards.

Verification
Naturally, parking operators have questions about how chip card acceptance will work in the different payment scenarios prevalent in parking environments. Before we can discuss those specifics, though, it’s important to understand cardholder verification methods (CVMs). Just as with magnetic stripe cards, the possible CVMs with chip cards are signature, PIN, and no CVM (requiring neither PIN nor signature). As parking operators navigate the transition to chip, CVMs will affect both equipment choices and employee and customer behavior.

The issuer prioritizes CVMs based on the risk associated with the transaction. In high-volume, low-dollar transactions at merchants in low-risk categories—such as parking—no CVM is often preferred for transactions and, in fact, may be required by some payment networks and merchant categories. Depending on payment network rules and issuer preference, chip cards are usually configured to accommodate multiple types of CVMs to ensure acceptance at a wide variety of terminal types with different CVM requirements. U.S. chip cards will be a mix of signature-preferring cards and PIN-preferring cards. For cards without a PIN, the available CVMs are typically signature and no CVM.

Parking Payment Scenarios and EMV
Parking payment scenarios fall into two broad categories: attended and unattended. For attended in-lane payments, parking patrons pay at a cashier booth from their cars. The cashier processes the ticket and indicates the fee, and the patron pays with cash or a payment card. In this scenario, parking operators have two considerations. The first is to ensure the POS hardware accepts chip-enabled cards. These terminals are substantially similar to those used today in general retail locations, but cards are inserted into the reader and left there for the duration of the transaction rather than swiped at the beginning of the transaction.

The second consideration is whether or not to support PIN acceptance. If the transaction requires only a supporting signature or no CVM, the payment process is similar to the current process. The patron hands the cashier the card, the cashier inserts the card into the chip-enabled terminal and the transaction is processed. If, however, PIN support is desired, the PIN pad must be accessible by the parking patron, who is in a vehicle outside the cashier booth. In many cases, the logistics of this type of terminal access may require significant adjustments to or replacement of the cashier booth.

For locations where patrons pay at an attended central location, such as by walking up to a cashier booth, the transaction and terminals are consistent with those from a general retail location. With the patron on foot, countertop-type operations are viable and would be unlikely to require significant changes to the payment area beyond upgrading the terminal to accept chip cards.

Many parking operations accept payments in unattended situations, using automatic pay stations, meters, or in-lane devices. It’s important to note that in unattended environments such as parking, the payment networks require support for no CVM. Parking operators concerned about lost or stolen card fraud may want to consider asking for PINs in unattended situations.

Pay-on-foot devices can include both the automatic pay stations normally associated with gated parking facilities and metered payment devices. Metered payment devices include both single-space meters and multi-space meters, often referred to as pay-by-space or pay-and-display. Most pay station devices used in these scenarios currently accept credit and debit cards; those that do house magnetic stripe card readers.

Making Space
The physical attributes of a chip-enabled terminal are significantly different from those of a traditional magnetic stripe card reader. If a PIN pad is also desired, accommodating the reader and pad can be difficult, especially in situations in which the payment device itself is small and self-contained (such as an individual parking meter and many multi-space meters).

For in-lane unattended payment, drivers pay using devices in the exit lane that allow them to remain in their vehicles. A few of these devices accept both cash and payment cards, but the majority of them accept only card payments that do not require a PIN. This method of payment processing has become increasingly popular as more parking facilities, such as airports, deploy this option, offering sound customer service, reasonable labor savings, and increased patron throughput.

Chip deployment in this scenario can represent a challenge in terms of space limitations, especially if the parking operator implements a PIN pad. Hardware space is at a premium within the pay-in-lane devices. The orientation of the hardware in relation to the driver and the time required for the driver to enter a PIN are also relevant considerations.

In all of these scenarios, it’s important to remember that the chip card remains in the payment terminal throughout the transaction rather than being swiped at the beginning of it. This change is necessary because the chip interacts with the reader during the transaction instead of simply providing static information to it once, as a magnetic stripe does. As a result, transaction speeds may be affected. Just how much they will differ depends on the parking scenario and how familiar the customer is with chip transactions. The impact on speed is different for pay-on-foot transactions and pay-in-lane transactions, for example, and customers familiar with chip transactions will likely move through the process faster than those who are unfamiliar with them. As chip technology proliferates, customer familiarity is likely to become less of a factor. GoChipCard.com, the go-to resource on chip technology, is an effective way to teach your customers and employees about chip payments.

Additional considerations for parking operators for chip implementation are covered in-depth in the new white paper, “EMV and Parking,” a joint publication of the International Parking Institute (IPI) and the Smart Card Alliance. Visit parking.org/emv for more.

Now is the time for parking industry stakeholders to invest the time, and where appropriate, the funds, to prepare for the migration to chip technology. EMV chip migration requires decisions and infrastructure changes and takes time. There are also reasons unrelated to fraud that make now an opportune time for chip implementation.

Many merchants are using the chip migration as an opportunity to evaluate their payment and payment security strategies for other potential changes. With the payment card acceptance infrastructure being updated for chip, perhaps contactless and NFC functionality should also be enabled, or other security technologies such as encryption or tokenization should be implemented. Consumers are now more attuned to payment security and more prepared for payment change than ever before, so learning more now and acting sooner rather than later can benefit everyone.
Sections of this article were excerpted from the Smart Card Alliance and IPI white paper “EMV and Parking.”

Randy Vanderhoof is executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. He can be reached at rvanderhoof@smartcardalliance.org.

TPP-2015-09-It’s Chip Time – Are You Ready

Education & Training, Management & Human Resources, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Recognition & Awards, Resources

The 2015 IPI Conference & Expo Sets Records, Makes History

February 11, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

Were you in Las Vegas this summer? More than 3,200 parking professionals landed at the Mandalay Bay in late June for the biggest and best conference and expo in the industry, and the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo delivered. More than 250 exhibitors in a hall the size of three football fields, more than 3,200 industry professionals from 42 countries, 60+ education sessions and events, three keynotes, a record CAPP class, the first Park TankTM, and hundreds of networking opportunities left attendees a bit breathless but very well prepared to return home and take on the future.

Enjoy these highlights, peruse the new products and services introduced at this year’s show, and mark your calendar to join IPI and your parking colleagues in Nashville for the 2016 IPI Conference & Expo, May 17-20. See y’all there!

Sharing Wisdom
Three keynote addresses offered industry-specific and general-business information attendees could put to work right away in their businesses. As always, they were very entertaining to boot!

First up was John Martin, CEO and co-founder of GenerationMatters and CEO and co-founder of the Southeastern Institute of Research, with “Ten Transcendent Trends Reshaping the Future of Parking.” He talked about changes and virtual winds pushing the industry forward and said the industry has “surely earned the right to say Parking Matters®. You guys have been at the point of change,” he said, and focused on the trends that will shape the industry from here, including less vehicle ownership, increasing favoritism toward online shopping instead of in-person, and autonomous vehicles and growing shared mobility models.

The second keynoter was Gordon Price, director of the city program at Simon Fraser, who talked about forces of change shaping urban areas and how those will change the focus, purpose, and design of parking. Originally designed for streetcars, cities had to morph to accommodate individually owned cars, he said, and they’re going to have to do that again to keep up with preferences for shared vehicles, commuting by bike and on foot, and shifts in where people will choose to live

Last up was Barry Mahar, author of ‘Filling the Glass,’ who spoke on powerful communication for leadership and professional success. Pulling some audience members out of their seats for demonstrations, he focused on “moving people along without pushing against them.” “The more people respect you,” he said, “the more impressed they’ll be when you make them feel important. And if the people who work with you don’t respect you, they simply won’t give a damn.”

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Expo Best in Show awards! HUB Parking Technology, Watry Design, Inc., and Amano won Best in Show in their size categories. Passport Parking won second place, and Genetec won third in their category. The People’s Choice award was won by Nagels North America. Competition was tough among so many creative and eye-catching booths. We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with next year!

Entrepreneurs Swim with the Sharks
IPI’s Smart Parking Alliance hosted the first-ever Park TankTM, offering six highly ranked entrepreneurs the chance to swim with our very own parking “sharks.” Each of the competitors revealed new approaches to parking challenges, but Smarking stole the hearts of the judges and the audience, garnering both the grand prize award and the people’s choice. Keep your eyes peeled on the shoreline—Park TankTM will be coming up for another round of intrepid business leaders in 2016!

Celebrating Green
The Green Parking Council, an affiliate of IPI, presented plaques to the first seven parking facilities to achieve Green Garage Certification:

Bank of America Plaza, Los Angeles, Calif.
BI Group Place, Houston, Texas.
Canopy Airport Parking, Denver, Colo.
Charles Square Garage, Cambridge, Mass.
Cornell Forest Home, Ithaca, N.Y.
Silver Spring Metro Plaza, Silver Spring, Md.
Westpark Corporate Center, Tysons, Va.

Green Garage Certification has been called the “LEED of parking.” For more information, visit greenparkingcouncil.org.

Record CAPP Class Graduates
On behalf of the International Parking Institute and the University of Virginia, congratulations to our outstanding CAPP class of 2015. The 54 CAPP graduates—the largest class in the program’s history—come from private and public, U.S. and international parking organizations at universities, cities, airports, corporations, technology providers, consultants, and transportation authorities.

Networking and Fun
About 800 IPI Conference & Expo attendees met and mingled with their industry colleagues at the Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Afterward, attendees enjoyed the Fremont Street Experience, a five-block entertainment district in historic downtown Las Vegas.

The IPI Board participated in a “thriller” of an event. They saw Michael Jackson ONE, the Cirque du Soleil show featuring songs by Michael Jackson. The acrobatics, dance, and visuals took them on a journey through the music and spirit of Michael Jackson.

This year’s international welcome reception was a special treat for 455 attendees from more than 40 countries.

Young Professionals in Parking Launches at Ice Bar
IPI’s new Young Professionals in Parking (YPIP) group kicked off in a very cool way at the Minus 5 Ice Bar. (We think parking peeps in parkas rock.) The sold-out event was a big hit and the perfect way to launch this new group, designed for parking professionals younger than 40. Look for a schedule of YPIP-hosted events starting this fall and a YPIP Facebook Group launch in September!

Expo-Opoly Winners Celebrate
Congratulations to this year’s Expo-Opoly winners! Tracy Read, Middle Tennessee State University, and Gael Aime, Lancaster Parking Authority, each accepted their giant checks after playing the game and entering the drawing. Enjoy your winnings!

First APOs Recognized
IPI’s new Accredited Parking Organization (APO) program launched at the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo—honoring five parking organizations in the inaugural class. The APO gives parking organizations a standard to measure their progress in achieving industry best practices. The accreditation process will inspire organizations to improve their programs, facilities, services, and results,and promote an organization-wide focus on efficiency and excellence. Read more about this year’s APOs in the August issue of The Parking Professional and learn more at parking.org/apo.

5K Fun Run
This year 30 runners and walkers took to the Las Vegas strip at 6 a.m. Jenny Chavez was the first-place female. Former IPI Board Chair Casey Jones, CAPP, came in first place for the men with a photo finish against Joel Martin. Last year the two were in the reverse order. Great motivational rivalry!

Education Captions
IPI in Vegas proved to be a stellar year for professional development with the introduction of the Building and Construction Management track. This track offered LUs and PDHs for attendees in need of those credits. We once again had the ever-popular Ignite sessions and introduced our online session evaluations using the IPIConf app!

Proving that everything in Vegas has maximum returns, IPI added a new ShopTalk this year called Trending Now! Five ShopTalks and five more track wrap-up sessions at the end of the conference presented in a ShopTalk format that gave attendees everything they wanted. These are the perfect sessions for learning new perspectives and meeting others in your sector.

TPP-2015-09-The 2015 IPI Conference & Expo Sets Records, Makes History

Consumer Resources, Education & Training, Management & Human Resources, Parking & Mobility Article, Recognition & Awards, Resources

Extra Points

February 11, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Kim Fernandez

If you’ve ever had your car valet parked in Spartanburg, S.C., and thought the guy behind the wheel—the one with the big smile and friendly greeting who hustled a little bit more than usual to get you where you were going—looked vaguely familiar, you probably saw him on T.V. last winter wearing a different kind of uniform. That’s because your valet was Landon Cohen, who made headlines playing defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks in the 2015 Super Bowl.

“I’m almost an expert,” laughs Cohen, who started valet parking cars with some high school buddies at parties and private events in 2001 and founded The Valet, LLC, in 2012. “At 20 years, you become an expert.”

Cohen says he loves everything about the parking industry, from the chance to meet customers to the opportunity to get a little exercise on the job to driving some pretty sweet rides, even for short distances, but that the best part is mentoring teens and young men who come to work for him. And even though he’s realized his childhood dream of playing in the NFL, his real passion, believe it or not, is parking cars.

“I’m in the people business,” he says. “The car is very important to me, but I want my employees and my customers to understand that this is really about genuine human contact.”

The Story
Cohen spent his whole life in Spartanburg—his mom is a school guidance counselor there—and always wanted to play football. He played the sport and ran track and field at Spartanburg High before heading to Ohio University, where he earned second team All-Mid-Conference Honors his sophomore year and started every game his junior and senior years.

He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2008, where he played six games his rookie year and 14 games his second year. Since then, he’s been a proud member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, and the Seahawks, for whom he played in his first Super Bowl last February. Through all that, his off-season was spent parking cars.

“Nobody taught us how to do it,” he says of the group of friends who first came up with the idea of valet parking in high school. “We were a bunch of kids. We got together and decided to wear khaki pants, white shirts, and neckties and go valet park some cars.” They put themselves out for private parties and events and found business came to them almost immediately. Along the way, Cohen figured out his charismatic personality and big grin went a long way toward making customers happy.

“It was all about service, and I was loving it,” he says. “I’ve always been compelled for whatever reason to come out of my shell with people, and I really enjoyed the work.”

Business grew, and in 2012, Cohen formally launched The Valet, LLC., working with the city to set up shop on what he calls an “eat what you kill basis” and offering valet parking services to downtown businesses along with private events. It was like nothing Spartanburg had ever seen.

“Getting started, especially in a town like ours, is a huge learning curve,” he says. “Things had been done the same way for a long time, and it was tough to get started. People didn’t understand something new and that this could help them. We had to explain that we could alleviate any parking concerns they had and that would alleviate other levels of stress for everyone. Once they understood that, it took off.”

“We set up shop in downtown Spartanburg and started passing out cards. We went to every business there was,” he says. “I have two great mentors at home, and every meeting I wanted to get, I was able to arrange thanks to them. I learned a lot about people, transportation, customer service, and how to do business from them.”

Today, The Valet works five or six events a week and employs 14 workers, many of whom started with Cohen as teens and have worked their way up to management positions. Cohen works hard to mentor his employees and says the payback has been tremendous on several levels.

Mentoring
“Mentoring these guys is one of the biggest things we do,” he says. “I’m a lead-by-example kind of guy, so at events, I’ll start parking cars myself and show them how it’s done. A lot of these guys are 18 or 19 years old. I ask them to speak with everyone who comes down the street and get them to come out of their shells. I search for that personality with everyone who works for me.”

While Cohen says many of his employees apply because they love cars, they have to be totally committed to customer service as well, and that goes beyond keeping vehicles safe. “This is all about individual care,” he says. “I don’t care if you have a 1978 Camaro or a 2014 Bentley, you’re going to be treated exactly the same. My guys are looking to serve their community and serve other people, and we all get enjoyment out of that.”

One of the conditions of employment is that if an employee leaves The Valet, he or she has to bring in a suitable replacement. Cohen says while it sounds unorthodox, it’s one of the things that cements his bond with his employees, and they’re very careful about who they recommend for hire.

“It’s worked very well,” he says. “People are very invested in being part of our team.”

Run Fast, Drive Slow
Run fast, drive slow is The Valet’s motto, and it’s one Cohen developed with purpose—the same way he approaches everything else in his business and his life.

“I get in shape with this job,” he says. “The first two years, I’d run this hill where we parked the cars. It was a great hill, and I’d sprint it, maybe about 20 times a day. It was like old-school Herschel Walker training. People would see me doing squats in my down-time and doing push-ups to stay in shape, and it was really cool to be both parking cars and working out—finding time to do both that way.”

His customers also got a kick out of watching him bolt up the hill for their cars and then carefully and slowly park them, and a slogan—and a way of doing business—was born.

“You’re taking off to help them and then driving slow,” he says. “There’s definitely a strategy to it. You take the person’s keys and take off running, and that’s part of the show. They get you, they get a show. That’s also the service, and it means they’re getting their car back in a timely manner and you’re going to make up time running fast. Then you catch your breath, get in the car, adjust the temperature based on their instructions and to make them comfortable, and you return the car and handle yourself with poise. So you pull up slow, because there’s nothing worse than a valet squealing tires like Ferris Bueller all over again.”

He also teaches his valets to chat up customers in an appropriate way. “I tell my guys they build up their karmic points every time they’re out here,” he says. “Every time you serve and do it with love and go the extra mile, you’re building it up. It’s a double whammy for life.”

The lessons come honestly. “I love the human contact I get every time I open up a car door,” he says. “I see a couple arguing like crazy before I open up that door, and it’s my chance to see if I can make things better for a second. I get extreme enjoyment from interacting from people on a genuine level.”

The Player and the Game
Currently a free agent, Cohen says he brings his football mentality to parking cars and vice versa and that being a valet actually has a lot in common with being in the NFL.

“This is about relationships, and it’s about being a teammate,” he says. “I’ve been a journeyman—six teams in eight years. I have to learn how to be part of a different team very quickly, and that’s something I try to teach these guys here. You’re parking with three guys you’ve never worked with. This is not about hazing. You bring on the new guy and you help him and ultimately, at the end of the day, you’re making a living with him. Our guys split the tips, so the better the new guy does, the better you do, and it’s all about helping and making the operation run smoothly.”

He also tries to teach them lessons he’s learned and pass on his commitment to service and to finding the purpose in any job.

“When you give somebody a genuine smile, they can’t help but give you one back,” he says. “If you give a tight-lipped, Kermit the Frog smile, that’s what you’re going to get back there, too. If you happy to see someone, they’re happy to see you or they’ll fake it because they appreciate your energy.”

It’s an energy he passes on to his workers. “This has been a really, really cool thing,” he says of his parking experience. “I enjoy it. You know, you can enjoy anything if you look for the higher purpose. It has nothing to do with the money I make and everything to do with serving people. How many people can I employ? If I have 100 employees, I’m helping 100 people pay their bills and teaching them the philosophies of loving and serving that we’ve based this business on. That 100 people can multiply that energy to the next 10,000 people we serve. It keeps going.

“We have that team chemistry,” he says of his employees. “They have to be physically in shape to do that job, and being with them is kind of like being a football coach. We need the best chemistry for it to work. I want to be out there with them, and they like the guys they work with and will go to bat for them.”

And that’s why there’s a sentence he’s repeated to everyone from his employers to his customers to ESPN:
“I think,” he says, “valet parking is the best job in the world. I love being in the parking industry.”

Kim Fernandez is editor of The Parking Professional. She can be reached at fernandez@parking.org.

TPP-2015-09-Extra Points