DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

Important Conversations

By Gary Means, CAPP

THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS lately about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the Fireside Chat On Industry Inclusion back on August 20, 2020, I would encourage you to do so (click here).

I was joined by a fantastic panel:

Richard Easley, CAPP, president of E-Squared Engineering.

Keith Hutchings, director, municipal parking, City of Detroit.

Kim Jackson, CAPP, director, transportation and parking services, Princeton University.

Tiffany Smith, director, Parking Authority of River City, Ky.

I opened up the conversation with this statement: “As a result of the protests and news coverage in response to the very recent and preventable deaths of several Black Americans, I did a little soul searching, listened to podcasts, read posts and articles, watched videos on YouTube and Facebook, and most importantly, had one-on-one conversations with several of my Black friends and associates. My eyes have been opened to a problem. I’ve learned a lot and while I’d love to change the world, I thought maybe focusing on my circles would be best.”

In this column, I want to expand a little more on my reasoning for asking IPMI if we could have an open conversation about inclusion. You see, until recently I understood very little about the challenges of the Black community in America and of our friends and colleagues in the parking and mobility industry. It took a horrible news story to really get my attention and for me to start digging deeper as I mentioned above. I now, more than ever, realize that things aren’t the way we think they are when we only look within our own circles, or when we look through our own lenses.

That is why I wanted to start this conversation. I’m sure I’m not the only white guy who hadn’t heard the term “driving while Black.” Or if I had heard it, I must have ignored it. This phrase is just one of many things I’ve learned in my recent journey. The most important thing I’ve done is reach out to friends like the people on the panel listed above

and asked difficult questions. I’ve specifically looked up Black acquaintances such as previous employees and leaders in my community. All have stories and all reinforce the fact that there is a deep-rooted issue in our society that needs to change.

A New Focus

So with the support of the leadership at IPMI, we will continue focusing on the topic of inclusion in the following ways:

Implementing this new column on Diversity, Equity, and

Inclusion.

Encouraging and establishing training sessions and courses.

Encouraging more open conversations that help us learn more about the needs of all of our members.

After our fireside chat, we were asked why did we not use the word “diversity” in the title or during our chat. Our answer centered around the idea that ”diversity” has been used a lot and folks might already have a preconceived idea about what it means—and that focusing on diversity alone might even water down the current issues of our day. We felt focusing on “inclusion” would be more powerful. Simply put, diversity refers to the traits and characteristics that make people unique while inclusion refers to the behaviors and social norms that ensure people feel welcome. The most powerful part of our fireside chat was hearing the experiences and stories of our esteemed panel. I hope it has encouraged or this column will encourage more courageous conversations within your organization.

Breaking it Down

To start off the first of many columns on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), I thought I might make an attempt to help break down some of the ideas and definitions of DEI.

Diversity vs. Inclusion: In simple terms, diversity is the mix and inclusion is getting the mix to work well together. 1 Verna Myers says “Diversity is being asked to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.” In a recent blog post, Meg Bolger writes: If we aren’t clear on the words and ideas, (of DEI) how will we be clear on the solutions? Meg also included these definitions:

Diversity is the presence of difference within a given setting.

Diversity is about a collective or a group and can only exist in relationship to others. A candidate is not diverse—they’re a unique, individual unit. They may bring diversity to your team or your hiring pool, but they themselves are not diverse.

Inclusion is about folks with different identities feeling and/ or being valued, leveraged, and welcomed within a given setting (e.g., your team, workplace, or industry). You can have a diverse team of talent, but that doesn’t mean everyone feels welcome or are valued, is given opportunities to grow, or gets career support from a mentor. Equity is an approach that ensures everyone access to the same opportunities. Equity recognizes that advantages and barriers exist, and that, as a result, we all don’t all start from the same place. Equity is a process that begins by acknowledging that unequal starting place and makes a commitment to correct and address the imbalance. 2

I hope this first edition of our new diversity, equity, and inclusion column gives you some insight on what future columns may hold. If you have any ideas or questions please feel free to reach out to me at gmeans@lexpark.org. Thank you for taking the time to read this. ◆

GARY MEANS, CAPP, is executive director of the Lexington& Fayette County, Ky., Parking Authority and chair-elect of IPMI’s Board of Directors. He can be reached at gmeans@lexpark.org.

References

1 https://globaldiversitypractice.com/what-is-diversity-inclusion/ 1 What’s The Difference Between Diversity, Inclusion, And Equity? May 24, 2020 on General Assembly’s website by Meg Bolger, Founder of Same Team.

Wherever you

We’ve got the ticket.

800.241.8662 info@southlandprinting.com

Every Ticket Imaginable

Modern Mobility and Commercial Office Towers

By Michael Cramer

AYEAR AGO, this article would have contained a plethora of pie-in-the-sky ideas and innovations. Cars and trucks were changing, mass transit was improving, Uber, Lyft, bicycles, work from home—it all seems so Jetsons now. Millions of people now work from home and many don’t like it. They want to come back to the office but are they a majority? Are they even a significant minority? Who will return and what ground rules will regulate their return?

In Houston’s modern downtown, the buildings are still beautiful modernist works of art. The biggest names in 20 th and 21 st century architecture are represented. And yet, most of the buildings sit nearly empty, awaiting the passing of COVID and the restrictions it wrought.

COVID Precautions

My own company, like many others, has implemented COVID procedures to assure employees that the workplace is as safe as possible. These processes are in trial phases and haven’t been tested with a full load of employees.

Commercial office buildings are also developing their own precautions. Many buildings will restrict the number of people that ride in an elevator; an elevator that might have held 12 or more passengers may now be limited to 4. Buildings may create check-in points where people’s temperatures are taken and health screening questions are asked. In effect, building entries may become choke points and to use a phrase common during COVID, we must flatten the building rush-hour curves.

Percentage of Vehicles Enter/Exit

Time Enter Exit Occupied 6:00 5% 0% 5%

7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 15% 50% 20% 5% 0% 0% 1% 1% 20% 70% 89% 93%

Number of Vehicles Enter/Exit

Enter Exit In Garage 88 88

265 883 353 88 18 18

353 1,236 1,571 1,642

Here is where our industry expertise can be helpful: We in parking are familiar with the morning rush. That’s the period when as many as 70 percent of the building’s population enters the garage. The chart below is an example of what happened during a typical rush hour period at a large urban garage.

Between 7 and 9 a.m., 85 percent of the garage’s parkers arrived. At about 8 a.m., using the garage’s four entry lanes, vehicles were entering at the average rate of 15 per minute.

These building employees then carry on into the garage elevators, the building entry, and the building elevators. Now, imagine what happens when we limit entry to the elevators and the building. The jam and resulting backup will be a difficult challenge to manage. “Flattening the curve” now becomes vital to the garage and as parking professionals, we should be participating in discussions about how to accomplish this task.

Flattening the Curve

So, again flash back to a year ago and we are talking about EVs, autonomous cars, and other futuristic trends that will reduce reliance on single passenger vehicles. Things changed in the blink of an eye. Many experts believe that, at least in the short-term, we will see an increase in single passenger vehicle use. If that’s the case, flattening the curve becomes even more vital.

Ideas to flatten the curve include staggered shifts, emphasis on alternate transportation such as bicycles, and continued reliance on stay-at-home, cybercommuting. Cyber-commuting offers a lot of promise. One lesson learned during the pandemic is that some

people do better at home than others. Some companies can distribute the workload so stay-at-home is a viable option for those who can do it.

The cyber-commuting infrastructure was rapidly strengthened during COVID and there is no reason to dismantle or reduce its effectiveness. Zoom calls are great. At my company, we use Microsoft Teams and I adapted to it quickly. I can work with my colleagues in India; Washington D.C.; and Houston without a second thought. For me, going into the office won’t change my work dynamic so staying home is a viable option and I believe it will be so for millions of workers.

Planning

Garages can activate parkers’ credentials so that their access is restricted to certain times during the rush hour. Beginning with the garage, parking managers should be working with building managers to create plans that flatten the curve.

Cities should develop plans to coincide with staggered shifts. For example, if fewer people take busses, reduce bus traffic. Rush hours that were once 7 to 9 a.m. can now become 6 to 10 a.m., so incentivize commuters by offering perks such as single-occupant vehicles on HOV lanes between 6 and 7 a.m. Enhance reporting systems that show traffic flow and using big data, suggest times when people should get on the road.

We are living in a transitional time. COVID has changed things. It’s meaningless to me whether these changes are for the better or worse; they are here and as parking professionals, we have a role to play in creating an effective infrastructure. Office towers are the largest attractor for commuters. Even if we are in another parking vertical, office towers create a mobility challenge for our entire industry.

The lesson that has sunk in the most with me is that the future isn’t an orderly process, and everything can change in an instant. Goals change at the whims of fate. ◆

MICHAEL CRAMER is vice president and general manager of Kastle Systems. He can be reached at MCramer@kastle.com. We seek to streamline and optimize control of your parking structure, its management, productivity and security. Our differentiation and competitive advantages enable you to improve the level of service, while exploring new business opportunities.

MEYPAR USA Corp. 21755 I45, Building 11, Suite D 77388 Spring, Texas Tel.: +1 346-220-4619 (Sales) www. meypar-usa.com · info@meypar-usa.com