Well, I'll start by elucidating something some people may not realize about this firm. They don't just manage rental property in the form of apartments. They also manage an extensive collection of parking facilities in Madison, and I was trapped in one such parking garage last night for the better part of an hour.
Although I've used the parking facility beneath the big glass US Bank on Madison's Capitol Square before, I've never had a parking experience like last night's. From ULI's website:
"Parking can be a pain. Luckily, we've got a breakdown of the Urban Land Interests Capitol Square parking options - their location, cost and convenience. Enjoy downtown Madison without the hassle of searching for parking."
That statement is very true, but when you have an experience like mine, you'd rather drive around looking for an on-street spot from which you simply cannot be trapped and unable to leave to go home. I arrived at the lot at about 5:50, ten minutes before they close to public access. Got my ticket, took it up to the restaurant inside the same building where I had dinner, got validated, ate, and went back down to my car at about 7:35 p.m. When I got to the gate, where you insert first the card you got on entering the garage, and then the parking validation card you get from the restaurant, the machine kept my incoming card and just kept spitting out my validation card. Eventually, I had to back out most uncomfortably in a tight space, in order to allow someone behind me to get out. I repeated this procedure three times, also trying the "help" button on the card machine several times, but NEVER getting any help. I put my car back in a stall, and went to the entrance that goes to the elevators, so I could return to the restaurant and ask for help. I should also mention that in this giant mass of concrete, my cellphone got no signal, so I was unable to use a telephone to ask for help. Well, those doors were locked, and the panel to dial on was useless, no "help" feature, and dialing "0" did nothing. I began to seek another way out by foot. No exit near the car entrance, no stairwells on the back or side walls, and I wandered around seeking a way out for a while. Finally, a couple came down and out of a stairwell and I got INTO it, and it fortunately led up to the front of the building near the entrances to Graze and L'Etoile. When I got back to fresh air, I had been trapped in the garage for 35 minutes! I'm disabled, by the way, and not supposed to be climbing stairs, the four flights took a toll on me when I was already very stressed.
The restaurant staff said this has happened to them, too, but someone gave me a different card which they hoped would make the gate open so I could get me and my car out and head home. I opted to stop at the security desk I have to pass to go to the elevators in the building that go to the parking garage. I explained my situation to this person who promptly agreed to accompany me to ensure I got out. He has seen me come and go after eating in the building a number of times, and I have always greeted him as I pass. We got to the gate, and there was nothing he could do to make it open. He, too, tried pressing the "help" button to no avail. After a while, a woman in a car pulled up behind us, the security person asked her if she had a pass card, she said "yes," and he used it to let me get out. I thanked both the security person and the woman who allowed me out with her card, and finally was out of the sunless concrete bunker. That was almost 8:25, so the ordeal lasted FIFTY minutes. An especially annoying aspect of it was that several people told me variations on "you wouldn't believe how often this happens." Another thing I found especially annoying is that Urban Land Interests doesn't see fit to supply the security desk duty person with the means to make the gate open. As I understand it, the desk could simply have a card like the woman in the car, who let me out, and problem solved.
Other than the pains of moving in January of this year, this is hands down the worst thing that has happened to me in all of 2018! read more