One Move Left

April, 2020

Once found hanging on the walls of the Louvre, but now housed in a private collection, a painting entitled, “Checkmate”, regularly gathered large crowds. Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch, a man with a really cool name and possibly a miserably long email address, composed an amazing piece of art depicting an epic battle between the Devil and someone like you and me, a common person, in the form of a chess match. The chess game had played out and was nearing the end, and according to the title of Retzsch’s masterpiece, the Devil had just advised his opponent that all hope of victory for him was lost, he proclaimed, “Checkmate” against his opponent.

For some, this Covid19 feels like checkmate. Sadly, I have seen amazing and wonderfully talented members of our tight parking community lose their livelihoods during this time. 

Is your company feeling like the last move has been made and it’s simply moments until you concede checkmate to Covid19 and it’s devastating effect on your business, your family’s security, and our industry? Like in all things, the story isn’t over until it’s actually over. Legend has it that a chess champion once visited the Louvre and was captivated by the “Checkmate” painting. He stood over the painting for what seemed hours to his companion, only for him to proclaim, “Get me the curator, the artist, the painting is wrongly titled”. He further explained that the commoner still had one more move, it wasn’t checkmate at all. His King had one more move that would reverse the ending, granting the commoner the victory, or Checkmate over the devil. 

What move is left in your quiver? When in your past have you felt like certain defeat, only to rise from the ashes? Once Joseph was checkmated when he was sold as a slave into Egypt only to reverse the move and lead the nation through a time of horrible famine. Daniel was checkmated when he refused loyalty to a false king and remained faithful to his real King, surviving a visit to the lion’s den and a close encounter with some razor sharp teeth. Daniels King had one more move as did Josephs, and as does yours. The commoners King in Retzsch’s painting had one more move and the move would prove devastating to the Devil, and the move was the Kings! 

We have just gone through too long a season hearing how the parking industry was dying in front of our eyes. The speakers chosen for our seminars, even keynote speakers spoke freely about the death of our industry, they were proclaiming “Checkmate”, despite little evidence of such. Covid19 is threatening “Checkmate” to so many in our industry. The truth is that the parking demand until Covid19 was actually on the rise as was personal vehicle ownership. With the advent of social distancing, almost overnight, the parking industry will be faced with a supply and demand problem in major markets while commuters choose to drive instead of using mass transit. The parking industry stands poised to continue to support society professionally, skillfully, and compassionately. We will overcome because, we still have one more move and it happens to be the Kings.

Jeff Pinyot is the CEO of Eco Parking Technologies. He can be reached at jspinyot@ECOParkingTech.com