Sorry about the hiatus. I have been in Florida attending the Temecula Parking Group’s annual meeting. For those who don’t know, its a group of about 25 senior parking pros from all sectors of the market who meet periodically and talk about parking issues. These people have become personal friends as well a colleagues. They work and play hard.
The problem this year, as most, was one of focus. We talked, both formally and informally, about technology, the industry organizations, the sale of Central Parking and its impact, the dearth of potential new "quality" people in the pipeline for hiring into all aspects of the industry, and the challenge owners have in dealing with parking operators (should they be more active in the process).
The TPG is a ‘think tank’ and extremely unstructured. The three days are divided up into formal and informal sessions, and much of the discussion and work is done in the informal sessions, whether on the golf course, at receptions on dinners in the evenings, or in this case, while swimming with the Manatees in Crystal River. Even in the most raucous of party atmospheres, parking was the topic of discussion. Often new ideas would be put forth at the formal meeting that found there germination over a glass of adult beverage or during a stroll around the grounds of the hotel.
The group will not publish a report of the meeting, but will publish in upcoming PTs white papers on what it believes are critical issues. This year, those will include some direction to owners in considering purchasing new technology and the issues involved in dealing with consultants and spec writers, as well as a report on the very scary problem of dealing with accepting credit cards and the liability that ownership has in that process.
The group has also agreed to begin a PR program for the industry, speaking to both the industry itself and to the main stream media. Articles are being prepared and distributed on a number of topics including the complexity of the job done by line garage managers (after all they are involved in sales, marketing, HR, technology, finance, management, training, motivation, and are often responsible for a multi million dollar asset). A second topic was the extremely high level of training and education of some of the members of our profession.
The conversations about Central were mostly self serving, but the members did give a number of predictions as to what the company will look like in a year. There were some serious issues that perhaps should be considered. Central Parking is a major player in the parking business in the US and the UK. If there are changes in the company, and rumor control says that they have already begun, what affect will those have on other operators, owners, and the industry as a whole. See my comments on that in the post above.
As I looked around the table, I saw members from an airport, a number of consulting firms (design, audit, and operations), a parking operator, three or four equipment vendors (some who were direct competitors), a couple of universities, cities, a major medical center, and a dealer/installer. There were members of the IPI and the NPA present. This is a diverse group.
JVH
