Pet Peeve - Or Symptom of Something Larger?
I am very happy with the medical care I receive at the West LA VA Medical Center. Some of the administrative functions are less than pleasing, but considering I haven't had to wait months and months to get care, I have no serious complaints. But I do have a pet peeve about going to the VA. The patient parking lot on the north side of the main building.
I wrote about the VA Parking Wars back in 2004 and things have only worsened. I go out of my way to schedule my appointments for times that I know the parking situation will not be at its worst. I've seen that lot completely filled with more than a few cars circling like vultures, waiting for any car to pull out.
They did take steps to try to improve the situation. You can see that from these signs:
Do you see any mention of employees? Maybe this sign explains their omission from the above sign:
That sign, admittedly tough to read, says "All Employee Parking" with an arrow pointing away from the parking lot to the north of the Medical Center itself. It is to the left of the first sign pictured.
Maybe this next one will reinforce the point that employees aren't supposed to park in this lot.
You can't really see it in this pic, but the blue tape on the sign is covering the word "Employee." That's right, this lot was once designated for employees to park in. That was changed some time ago. However, as I noticed on my most recent visit to the VA, I saw at least a dozen people who clearly work at the VA walking to and from cars in this lot.
Let's review for a moment. The administration at the West LA VA made a decision to require employees to park in other parking lots, and then does nothing to enforce this change in the rules. The question is why?
Are the powers that be on the building's sixth floor unaware that employees are flouting the rules?
Do they know that this is the case and simply ignore employees failing to park where they are supposed to?
Parking in this lot is a nightmare at almost any moment between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on any weekday that is not a federal holiday. I have a handicapped placard but because so many of my fellow veterans also have those placards, the competition for the handicapped parking spaces can be extremely fierce. I often take one pass through a couple of rows and then just park wherever I can, often at the far side of the lot. I don't really mind. I can walk and rest, walk and rest if need be. But there would be a lot more available parking if the employees would park where they are supposed to.
Whoever is in charge needs to read Colin Powell's 13 rules of leadership and pay particular attention to this one: "Inspect Small Things"
I wrote about the VA Parking Wars back in 2004 and things have only worsened. I go out of my way to schedule my appointments for times that I know the parking situation will not be at its worst. I've seen that lot completely filled with more than a few cars circling like vultures, waiting for any car to pull out.
They did take steps to try to improve the situation. You can see that from these signs:
Do you see any mention of employees? Maybe this sign explains their omission from the above sign:
That sign, admittedly tough to read, says "All Employee Parking" with an arrow pointing away from the parking lot to the north of the Medical Center itself. It is to the left of the first sign pictured.
Maybe this next one will reinforce the point that employees aren't supposed to park in this lot.
You can't really see it in this pic, but the blue tape on the sign is covering the word "Employee." That's right, this lot was once designated for employees to park in. That was changed some time ago. However, as I noticed on my most recent visit to the VA, I saw at least a dozen people who clearly work at the VA walking to and from cars in this lot.
Let's review for a moment. The administration at the West LA VA made a decision to require employees to park in other parking lots, and then does nothing to enforce this change in the rules. The question is why?
Are the powers that be on the building's sixth floor unaware that employees are flouting the rules?
Do they know that this is the case and simply ignore employees failing to park where they are supposed to?
Parking in this lot is a nightmare at almost any moment between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on any weekday that is not a federal holiday. I have a handicapped placard but because so many of my fellow veterans also have those placards, the competition for the handicapped parking spaces can be extremely fierce. I often take one pass through a couple of rows and then just park wherever I can, often at the far side of the lot. I don't really mind. I can walk and rest, walk and rest if need be. But there would be a lot more available parking if the employees would park where they are supposed to.
Whoever is in charge needs to read Colin Powell's 13 rules of leadership and pay particular attention to this one: "Inspect Small Things"
posted by me at 11:22 AM
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