Parking Today Media’s founder reflects on the early days of his publishing venture and the state of the parking industry 30 years ago.
By Jay Landers
Editor’s note: For our 30th anniversary issue, Parking Today turned to John Van Horn, the magazine’s founder and long-time editor, for insights on how the publication got its start, his goals in publishing the magazine, and the main ways in which the parking industry has changed since 1996.
PT: What gap in the parking industry did you see that convinced you to launch Parking Today in 1996?
JVH: I was looking for a way to advertise the products of the company for which I worked. I really didn’t find anything. I was able to find more than 15,000 addresses of those interested in parking. However, the largest-circulation publication in existence was one that went to around 1,000. Seemed like a no brainer.
PT: How did you fund and produce those first few issues, and what were the biggest challenges in getting the magazine off the ground?
JVH: I cashed in my retirement to fund Parking Today. There were no real challenges. I never for one moment believed it would not be a success.
PT: What was the parking industry like in the mid-1990s, and how has it changed most dramatically during these three decades?
JVH: When we launched Parking Today, many facilities were still operating out of a cigar box. The most dramatic changes have been the use of technology to collect fees and the advent of the smart phone. The goal, it seems, has been to remove the person in the parking facility and replace him or her with some kind of tech. I’m not sure that this is the best solution.
PT: Do you remember your first major story or interview that signaled Parking Today was going to succeed as a trade publication?
JVH: Perhaps the interview with Monroe Carrel, the CEO and founder of Central Parking, at the time the largest parking operator on the planet. The fact that such a mover and shaker would sit for an interview and pose for a cover shot [for the January 1999 issue] let me know that we had arrived.
PT: Who were some of your earliest supporters or contributors, and what role did they play in establishing the magazine’s credibility?
JVH: I hesitate to list anyone, as I would most likely leave out a few that were important to me. It was pretty lonely in the beginning. Most of the industry leaders assumed I would fail, and many hoped I would. I had some pretty strong beliefs about how parking should be run and about how poorly the industry actually did its job.
I had an auditor/consultant who fed me stories about some of the disasters he had witnessed when performing audits. Between us, we came up with the theory that, at minimum, 30% of the monies that should have been collected in a parking operation either never were collected or for whatever reason never made it to the owner’s bank account.
This was an indictment of the parking operators. One wrote me [to say] that basically I was the devil incarnate, and he said that his operations were pure as the driven snow. So, I took up the challenge. I said that I would have one of his locations audited and if we didn’t find at least 30% missing, I would pay for the audit. If we did, he would pay for it. In either case, we would publish the audit in Parking Today. Strangely, I never heard from him again.
In another case, my auditor buddy called the area manager for the operator of a garage he audited and reported that he had found 17% of the tickets missing. The response: “Wow, great to hear we finally got that place under control.”
By the way, I’m not certain that proper audits don’t find substantial monies missing to this day — some to fraud, but mostly to incompetence.
PT: What was your vision for what Parking Today could become, and did the reality match or diverge from that vision?
JVH: I have always hoped Parking Today would be a place where parking folks could come and discuss parking issues and find solutions to parking problems. I felt that the parking organizations at the time were self-serving and didn’t really offer true solutions.
PT: Looking back at the magazine’s early coverage, what story or trend do you wish you’d paid more attention to at the time?
JVH: I don’t think there was one. We were always in the heat of battle, walking a fine line to publish the issues of the day and at the same time ensuring that the stories were credible. It’s difficult to call people thieves and maintain your credibility and also ensure that advertising dollars keep coming in.
PT: What moment in those first few years made you feel confident that Parking Today would still be around decades later?
JVH: The post office required that we have written requests for more than half the magazines we sent out. We put postcards in the first few issues. I went into the post office to pick up the mail one day and there was a notice in our box to call at the window. I did so and received two mail bags stuffed with thousands of postcards. I knew at that moment that we were filling a void.
I think what’s most important about publishing is that the owner/publisher be personally involved in the process. This isn’t the New York Times or Washington Post, where the owner can hire editors and writers and sit back and let it happen. Publishing is different from manufacturing. You turn out a new product every month. You have to keep on top of it. I always thought it was a huge mistake that my competitors made. They would hire some journalism school graduate who knew nothing about parking, then let them run with it. What you got was a lot of stories written by consultants and suppliers with axes to grind. Magazines filled with philosophical garbage that was of little value to anyone. I spent most of my time editing those articles and taking the self-serving portions out of them. I had spent 20 years in the parking business before starting the magazine. I knew a lot about the industry and had the benefit of working in garages and supplying equipment to them to help collect revenue. I had adventures around the world experiencing how other countries dealt with parking problems. (An aside : Virtually all PARCS systems at the time had their history outside the U.S.)
In the end, there is only one thing that makes a success — perseverance. You just have to believe in yourself and keep with it no matter what.
JAY LANDERS is the editor-in-chief of Parking Today. He can be reached at [email protected].
