A friend tells me that one of the biggest problems of our time is that we see everything in black and white, and have no respect for shades of gray. An example might be the ‘greens’ who in an attempt to ensure that New York City doesn’t sink beneath the Atlantic are working to instantly destroy life as we know it on our planet. The hysteria we see daily at meetings like the COP23 being held this week in the UAE, push a black and white agenda. You must do this ‘or else.’ Strangely, virtually none of the predictions made by COP conferences over the past 20 years have come to pass. In fact, in ma ..read more

Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness and a classicist and historian at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a Greek scholar and all round smart guy. In a column the other day he called on the reality of history to describe just how idiots rioting in the streets around the world supporting Hamas simply don’t know what they are talking about. You can read the column here. For the first time in their lives, many of the ignorant protesters suddenly professed concern about refugees, colonialism, disproportionality, innocent civilians and the rules of war. Bu ..read more

I never cease to be amazed at the quality of seminars that have been planned for Parking Industry Expo 2024. We are told that our presentations are outstanding, and who am I to argue. I won’t list them all here, but suffice it to say that Commercial parking, universities, cities, and airports will be pleased with the variety and depth of the more than 30 seminars that we will present at the Schaumburg convention center in less than 100 days. I have been asked just how we come up with such varied presentations. It’s rather simple. We don’t do a ‘call for papers.’ We determine just what our atte ..read more

Often when we think of Thanksgiving we often think of a Norman Rockwell painting, of the family, three generations, sitting around the dining table with the grandmother bringing in the turkey. The table filled with all the trimmings. It is entitled “Freedom from Want.” The painting was created over 80 years ago, before our entry into WW ll. Its title comes from a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt. We have come a long way in those eight decades. Although many in America experienced ‘Freedom from Want” in those pre war years, most of those living on earth did experience want. They were poor ..read more

I spent an hour with Doug Cram at the California Parking and Transportation meet this week in San Jose. I sort of knew what Doug was doing, but it turns out I was a bit off course. What Doug has is a labor of love. He won’t get rich, he won’t have something to sell and retire. He has a program to help veterans leaving the service find jobs in the parking industry. As I consider this Veteran’s Day, I think about the vets who serve, those who don’t return, and those who, like Doug, actually do something rather than put up a flag one day a year. After listening to his story, I was embarrassed tha ..read more

The People of Israel Live This is a blog that should have been written last week, but I’m having great difficulty expressing the feelings the events have brought forth. First we must put things in perspective. Based on the relative size of our countries, Israels loss is the equivalent of America losing over 40,000 in one attack. It is unimaginable. I cannot express the horror one feels when they hear about the attacks that took place last week. This wasn’t a few rockets lobbed across the border, but it was a calculated disaster that brought death to many, a large number who were simply attendi ..read more

Who would have thought that a business transaction in the parking industry would involve the number $1.5 billion? What venture capitalist would consider dropping that kind of change to purchase a parking operator? It boggles the mind. Yet, apparently it has happened. Four years ago Reef parking appeared on the scene and using nearly a billion purchased more than half a dozen operators. I’m not certain just how all the hype at the time turned out, but the concepts of ‘changing’ parking and converting garages to kitchens to assist Grub Hub and the like in their ilk in food delivery have not appe ..read more

I am periodically overwhelmed with information. My computer desktop is exploding with everything from special deals from Costco to what is happening in the parking world in Singapore. I wonder if it is all worth it. How does one separate the wheat from the chaff? Let’s face it, it is impossible to sort your way through all this information. However, if you rely on someone else to do so and this give you a list of what to read, you are filtering your information through their prejudices. Not a good thing. Dennis Prager, radio talk show host and philosopher, believes that you can become overwhel ..read more

The law of unintended consequences is typically used to describe activity found in our government. It seems to work at all levels, however the higher ones goes, the more you see it. Our President is walking a picket line with UAW auto workers. It seems the UAW is concerned, amongst other things, with the fact that it conceivably takes fewer workers to put together an EV than it does an ICE auto. They see a potential of considerably job losses on the horizon. My favorite law kicked in as the President and co are doing everything possible to support EVs, yet are at the same time walking the pick ..read more

A friend of mine has predicted that the government will shortly outlaw the use of $100 bills. The reason? That will force use to use credit cards. A number of stores are becoming ‘credit card only’. That is, if you want to shop here, you must use a credit card. Just how does this affect you. Some would say that it’s a good thing, after all it will reduce theft, and enable you to budget your expenditures more easily. At this point I would usually add the comment ‘fair enough.’  But is it? A good definition of privacy from “privacy.com” Privacy is a fundamental human right that underpins ..read more