You might have heard of Parking Today’s new website, ParkNews.biz. It’s completely devoted to gathering and sharing the news of parking, with a few advertisements on the side. If ever there were a place members of
the industry could go to commiserate, contemplate or connect, this is the place. It’s like an instant trade show/webinar/therapy session just for parking professionals.
You can Google “parking” any day of the week to see what’s happening in the industry around the world. Lots of headlines about nasty city leaders raising parking prices; crabby cops torturing civilians with their mean tickets; dozens of people trying to stop thousands of people from parking illegally in handicapped spots; and so on, not to mention the many, many reports of criminal activity going on in parking facilities.
But at ParkNews.biz, you get to skip the 3,000 daily articles about parking lot murders, robberies and accidents, and go right to the good stuff: progress in parking.
I’m a journalist, so I’m very interested in how the news is reported, disseminated and evaluated. I’m not exactly dying to know how many cities across the country are dealing with the ramifications of a new plan to install meters in their downtown areas.
But I am interested in how Parking Today readers use ParkNews.biz to find out which other cities are dealing with the same challenges they are so they can connect with them to share knowledge.
Even if readers don’t get on the phone and chat with one another about common issues, it’s got to help a parking professional to read a list of parking headlines and see how many pertain to the very matters they face within the bounds of their job descriptions.
That’s the beauty of our modern Internet. It might be saturated with overtly-biased news outlets and conniving social media sites capitalizing on the human need to relate, but there are positives, too.
You can use the Internet to get ideas.
Visit ParkNews.biz and read about what other people in your position are doing. Learn from their mistakes; find inspiration in their successes; call the consultant they hired. Recommendations, referrals and helpful hints are easy to find and act on. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You can be sure someone has done what you’re about to do – find out how they did it.
You can use the Internet to find support.
If you read about someone who has faced challenges similar to yours, give them a call. Chances are, they’d be glad to share more details about their experience. Whether they serve as a mentor or cheerleader, you’ll have a valuable member to add to your “virtual team.” There’s nothing like talking to someone who knows exactly what you’re going through.
You can use the Internet to avoid mistakes.
The cautionary tales never end. They could call it: “The World Wide Web – Don’t Try This at Home.” Read about what other people have done that hasn’t worked. Read about their misleading press releases, misspelled signage, confusing policies and bad behavior, and avoid those pitfalls.
ParkNews.biz isn’t the only place on the Internet that can help you navigate the maze of responsibilities and trials that come with your job, but it’s a good one. It has all of the biggest news in parking, written without partiality, for the industry audience by dozens of sources besides industry publications and compiled in one place.
It’s a tool that you can wield in many different ways – and that’s
what motivated me to write about it. The Internet offers a wealth of information on just about every subject possible. Use it – and ParkNews.biz – to your advantage.
the industry could go to commiserate, contemplate or connect, this is the place. It’s like an instant trade show/webinar/therapy session just for parking professionals.
You can Google “parking” any day of the week to see what’s happening in the industry around the world. Lots of headlines about nasty city leaders raising parking prices; crabby cops torturing civilians with their mean tickets; dozens of people trying to stop thousands of people from parking illegally in handicapped spots; and so on, not to mention the many, many reports of criminal activity going on in parking facilities.
But at ParkNews.biz, you get to skip the 3,000 daily articles about parking lot murders, robberies and accidents, and go right to the good stuff: progress in parking.
I’m a journalist, so I’m very interested in how the news is reported, disseminated and evaluated. I’m not exactly dying to know how many cities across the country are dealing with the ramifications of a new plan to install meters in their downtown areas.
But I am interested in how Parking Today readers use ParkNews.biz to find out which other cities are dealing with the same challenges they are so they can connect with them to share knowledge.
Even if readers don’t get on the phone and chat with one another about common issues, it’s got to help a parking professional to read a list of parking headlines and see how many pertain to the very matters they face within the bounds of their job descriptions.
That’s the beauty of our modern Internet. It might be saturated with overtly-biased news outlets and conniving social media sites capitalizing on the human need to relate, but there are positives, too.
You can use the Internet to get ideas.
Visit ParkNews.biz and read about what other people in your position are doing. Learn from their mistakes; find inspiration in their successes; call the consultant they hired. Recommendations, referrals and helpful hints are easy to find and act on. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You can be sure someone has done what you’re about to do – find out how they did it.
You can use the Internet to find support.
If you read about someone who has faced challenges similar to yours, give them a call. Chances are, they’d be glad to share more details about their experience. Whether they serve as a mentor or cheerleader, you’ll have a valuable member to add to your “virtual team.” There’s nothing like talking to someone who knows exactly what you’re going through.
You can use the Internet to avoid mistakes.
The cautionary tales never end. They could call it: “The World Wide Web – Don’t Try This at Home.” Read about what other people have done that hasn’t worked. Read about their misleading press releases, misspelled signage, confusing policies and bad behavior, and avoid those pitfalls.
ParkNews.biz isn’t the only place on the Internet that can help you navigate the maze of responsibilities and trials that come with your job, but it’s a good one. It has all of the biggest news in parking, written without partiality, for the industry audience by dozens of sources besides industry publications and compiled in one place.
It’s a tool that you can wield in many different ways – and that’s
what motivated me to write about it. The Internet offers a wealth of information on just about every subject possible. Use it – and ParkNews.biz – to your advantage.
Melissa Bean Sterzick is Parking Today’s proofreader, occasional writer and amateur parker. She can be reached at Melissa@parkingtoday.com.
