Background
San Francisco General Hospital is a mixed use indoor/outdoor parking facility that has 1,701 spaces. The facility operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. This facility serves several user-groups; including hospital employees, patrons visiting the hospital and local residents. The surrounding area is predominantly residential, and is located a few blocks from Highway 101. The area has experienced continuing problems with vandalism, burglary, graffiti and other quality of life crimes. The local neighborhood association is proactive in addressing a wide variety of issues concerning the community.
The Challenge
In 1998 when Pacific Park assumed management of this facility, the company was presented with a challenging situation. The facility had been poorly managed and was plagued with large numbers of service complaints and other issues. Hospital administrators and parking patrons complained about service quality, waiting times, and ineffective handling of administrative issues such as the huge waiting list for monthly parking passes. In addition, the surrounding neighborhood was plagued with vandalism, graffiti and auto burglary concerns. Leadership of the local neighborhood association contacted the appropriate City departments to complain about the facility, citing broken lighting, ineffective security and other concerns. Neighborhood leaders wanted the facility to contribute to a positive image of the community, not detract from it. The number of complaints averaged 15 per week.
The Pacific Park Solution
The management of Pacific Park recognized the urgency of the situation in 1998. Immediately the management team created an openly communicative and responsive relationship with hospital administrators, parking patrons, local residents and City government. This approach allowed us to gain insights, understand the nature of problems and build a collaborative approach to solutions. Pacific Park designed and implemented an upgrade to the facility that included improved security procedures, repaired lighting, improved landscaping of the property, as well as repainting the garage entrance and exit and renovating the lobby area to create a more pleasant atmosphere. These changes resulted in fewer complaints, renewed confidence of patrons, and a positive contribution to the surrounding community. The customer centric approach of our organization improved service levels, subsequently reducing the antagonism of parking patrons. According to Angela Carmen, Hospital Administrator in charge of the facility “I have received many positive calls from staff regarding Pacific Park’s management of the facility”. Today, San Francisco General Hospital is a greatly improved parking operation. We take pride in our partnership with constituents of this facility and our joint accomplishments in turning around a difficult situation.