Parking Problems at Oshkosh

[vaflier]

While I and my friends had a great time at Oshkosh this year there were some problems. Especially with the parking Nazi. She was truly something. I was polite , friendly, courteous, and patient. She was none of the above. She gave a very poor representation of the spirit of EAA. I was upset enough by her behaviour that I went to the registration building and lodged a complaint with a gentleman , who informed me that I was the 9th complaint that morning concerning this individual. He further told me that he had received numerous complaints about her the day before as well, and had spoken with the higher ups including a VP , and felt that his concerns had been " Blown OFF ". He plainly stated that he had done all that he could, and unfortunately expected nothing to come of it. It turns out that this young lady was purported to be the daughter of one of the people in charge of aircraft parking. While I understand that not all of the people she came into contact with would be as friendly and polite as I was, I would suggest that starting a conversation about a problem by ranting and raving is probably not going to get the best reaction. There were many other people in the north forty who had similar experiences with her over the course of the event. She was really peeved that someone had authorised us to park in an area that she did not want us to be. We had proper registration and were in a numbered lane which was a proper parking area. What really made me mad was that, as she left she was yelling that " She would personally gaurantee that we would not be parking there next year ! "
I am very disturbed that we will not be allowed to camp with our friends next year. That is a big part of the event , to spend time with your friends ! If we are forced to be spread all over the grounds then what is the point. Surely there must be a way to accomodate groups that come in at different times. The gentleman at the registration building suggested that If I felt strongly about the matter, I should contact a Vice President or Mr Hightower. I left several messages at the main headquarters building requesting a call from Mr Hightower. To date I have heard nothing !. I realise that Mr. Hightower is a very busy man and I truly did not expect a call from him during Oshkosh. Enough time has now passed that beleive he has had time to " Catch Up "

Mr Hightower , I again ask for a moment of your time to discuss the concerns of myself and my friends.

Randy Powell
EAA # 820213

[flyingriki]

Randy I hope you'll keep us informed of how this turns out. There will always be the little power monsters in volunteering that have never been in control of others before and get stupid about it. I relieved a guy at a gate once, long after my time was done, because he was being such a jerk and I felt the gate needed a smile rather than a tyrant. But it's the management that needs to address this nonsense and it will be interesting to see if they do, or if they really have grown beyond giving a hoot. Oh, I'm sure you'll hear the platitudes from moderators etc. but will anything come of it....really? Good luck.
PS: Just to be fair, the folks I dealt with were great this year. Crappy facilities for $22 a night to sleep on dirt (3 night minimum!) but great volunteers.

[Bill Greenwood]

Randy, Your statement seems very fairly and calmly stated. Please pursue it with EAA. Don't just let them brush you off. There are too many nice people in EAA to let a few ruin it.
It will be interesting to see if this new man, Hightower? is just a pr oriented yes man, who puts on a good front or who really gets down to the lower levels and keeps EAA as it ought to be.
I have hopes.

[scoltharp]

Although I did not get involvedwith the young lady that you talk of I have my own gripe about the parking procedures in the North 40. A group of us from the Tulsa area have been meeting and camping around row 557 since 1998. We always arrive two days before the event starts so we will not not interrupt the heavy flow of airplanes by asking for a specific row. That row is never filled when we arrive. Actually that row is about as far away from "front row center" as you can get and most folks don't like to park that far out. We like it because we can go through the hole in the wall several times a day and get our supplies. Our procedure is to make a sign for the window with a large 557 on it and one for GAC. In years past there was no problem - the parkers would just wave us on and we would taxi over and park ourselves. This year the parkers said NO and made us park on whatever row was filling up at the time. The volunteer leader that parked me said we could not park over there - we had to park in the order we arrived. He also stated that "the special parking caused too many problems in 2010"(it seemed to me that in 2010 the parking problem was all the mud and soft areas). Three of our bunch parked within a few rows of each other this year simply because we came in together and none of us got waved off to the netherlands.

We were not able to enojy our evening "cook outs" because it was just too much hassle to get on the bus, go around to the hole in the wall, walk over to the store,get groceries, supplies and get back to the bus and back to our camping area. The evening camaraderie with my friends from Tulsa and other friends that we have gotten to know through the years by parking in our favorite area is the main reason for me enjoying Oshkosh for the last 12 years. I will not be returning to Oshkosh!

[Kyle Boatright]

I will not be returning to Oshkosh!

One parking problem and you're not going back?

Why not find the parking chairman and ask if the direction you were given this year is a new policy, and if so, ask it the policy could be changed? Alternately, if the volunteers just took it upon themselves to create a new rule, the parking chairman could probably address that with a little better training for the volunteers.

[jbeech]

My own business deals with several flying events each year. Thus, I know from experience dedicated volunteers are hard to find. There's an unfortunate byproduct of depending on volunteers, which leaves event organizers caught on the horns of a dilemma. To wit, matching up the available skills to the diverse jobs (because unlike a business, you must deal with the resources, e.g. people, you have).

Parking, for example, is a hot, dirty, and rather thankless job. Moreover, it requires dogged determination (more so than native intelligence). The fact they have roped someone into the job year after year provides ample proof the organization has found the round peg for the round hole. Thus, instead of kvetching about this person, be thankful they've got someone dumb enough for the essentially no-win job whom doesn't require monetary remuneration!

Of course, there's an alternative. Folks unhappy with the status quo can always volunteer their own time to be the replacement parking nazi. Somehow I rather suspect they'd be welcomed by the organization with open arms.

[scoltharp]

Kyle responded: "One parking problem and you're not going back?"

That was an assumption that this was the first time I had a problem getting to row 557 to park and camp.

While we have been camping in that area since 1998 and attending Oshkosh since 1981 this is not the first year we had problems getting an OK to camp on row 557. In 2008 some of our group were blocked from getting there. Even one guy who got to the event on Friday(three days before it started). After we were not allowed to camp there in 2008 several of us wrote letters to some of the leaders at Oshkosh including some phone calls. We received no real satisfaction from our communications but had a feeling that we had gotten some attention to our problem. In 2009 some of us attended with hope that we would once again be allowed to camp in that area and enjoy our camaraderie (some of us stayed at home, though). The parkers in 2009 greeted us and welcomed us - no problems(we felt our communcations had done some good).

Of course 2010 was a problem created by mother nature and it is amazing how well the parkers were able to adjust and get folks parked at all. Thank you!

When we arrived in 2011 the parkers were even more determined that we could not get to row 557 than they were in 2008.
So my decision not to return was not based on "one parking problem" but by two years of parking problems. So the success we had in our comunications after 2008 was apparently "over-ruled in 2011. Why fight it? Just quit attending.

Thanks --- Lynn