Apparantley, there ARE a few good eggs left within The Administration. Here’s an email I got earlier today–there IS a pot o’ gold at the end of this one…

I just wanted to pass along a story about parking this past NYE downtown…

My fiance and I arrived downtown and parked our car in the Market Square Garage because they offered a special $2 parking rate for the event.  We left the car there overnight so we could be responsible and get a ride home.  The garage and fee were promoted on HarrisburgEvents.com and there was no mention the garage would close at a certain time or a fee for overnight parking.

Upon picking up the car shortly before noon the next day, the gates were down and the door was locked to the garage.  A gentleman from inside let myself and another group of tourists into the garage which is sometimes used for overflow parking for the Crowne Plaza.

When I pulled up to the exit gate the man asked for my key card.  I replied I didn’t have one since I paid the $2 upon entering the garage. He told me he couldn’t let me out without a card.  After I responded with a shocked look he said he could let me out but he requires the $18 charge for a lost or no card.  I argued I was here for the event and was not told about the overnight charge.  He said I could call security about it or pay him the $18 to let him out.  I gave him a $20 and he made change out of his pocket.  I drove out irritated and immediately emailed the Harrisburg Parking Authority when I got home.  It was clear this man did not work for the Authority and the way he handled the money was suspicious.

To my surprise I got an email that Tuesday asking if the Director of Operations for the HPA could call me on that number.  This morning I received a call from Nancy Keim who apologized, asked for a description of the man, time of the incident, and told me my money would be refunded.  In addition I would get an 8 hour parking card for my “inconvenience”.

She also is open to suggestions on how to improve the parking for the nightlife scene.  She asked for advance notice for larger events which may require more staff to speed things up in the garages.  She is in agreement about promoting overnight garage parking to keep people from drinking and driving.  I’m going to propose to her that overnight fees be waived on certain “drinking holidays” for HPA owned garages.

I pass this email along to show that not is all bad in bureaucratic agencies in Harrisburg.