The February issue of PT is “up” on our web site – you can check it out here. On the cover is Brandy Stanley, frequent commenter here on the blog, and head of parking in Manchester, New Hampshire. She keeps me honest, posting sage responses to my more outrageous blogs. She seems a tad stiff, probably due to the temperature and the four feet of snow surrounding her and a P and D machine. Snow is wreaking havoc with parking throughout the country. As I am writing this, blizzards are attacking the upper Midwest and will head east, with Chicago, Detroit, and New England in their sights. (Can I use a martial reference here without causing someone rampage against a parking lot?)
Snow is costly in our business. We lose revenue from onstreet meters and from citations, and our surface lots become smaller as we move the snow around. After all, that pile of snow in the corner can take up a large number of spaces. Charlie Brown of Charlie Brown’s Parking, an off airport operation in Pittsburgh, told me that after storms he spends a lot of time digging cars out so people can get home. The runways are cleared, the planes land, and folks what their cars.
I doubt seriously if Brandy was collecting a lot in January after the storm covered Manchester with snow, or will this week after the blizzard of ’11 covers here machines again. But while you are out freezing your rears digging out cars and equipment, just remember that the high in LA last week as 85. My roses sprouted, and shorts are the uniform of the day. I know its hell, but someone has to live here.
JVH
