Parking attendant in the Pointes
has been punching tickets for 20 years

You've likely driven past Felicia Lacey many times, looked her in the eye, maybe even exchanged a few words – and still have no idea who she is. For 20 years she has been taking parking tickets and serving Pointes residents with a smile and poise.
 
When she left her job with the City of Detroit as a payroll manager, Lacey was at a crossroads. Her work in Detroit was dwindling, but the part-time job she'd taken to supplement it in Grosse Pointe was doing well. Lacey asked her manager at the parking lot if she could begin working full-time, and she did, after six years part-time.

Lacey started in 1990 at a lot at Kercheval and St. Clair in the Village. Lacey, now 56, has survived several location and ownership changes, from National Garage to Central Parking, and now works on the north side of the Hill with Miller Parking in the Farms.
 
She has gained the support of city council members who have recommended her to new parking lot owners throughout the changes.

"That's part of the reason I'm still here," she said.



She can name many of her customers, at least 20. “I know at least two Marys, Renee (a hairdresser), Robert, Sheila, Matt and the rest I know by the business they are with.” Her favorite part of the job, she said, is seeing so many familiar faces.

Lacey now works Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She said she has met a lot of people, including jazz singer and Pointes resident Anita Baker. Others have not been so nice. Lacey has had experiences with racism and rude and non-paying customers, but only a few.
 
“Early on I knew I could not respond to rudeness or racism because I had a family to raise and if I responded, the customer could always complain and it would be my word against theirs. I just ignored people like that,” she said.

“Most of the people are pretty nice and most of them know me,” and Lacey does recall a customer who once came back and apologized for her behavior. “I remember, one lady I guess she was having a bad day and had sort of a temper, but she came back the next day and brought me a gift and apologized; said she was having a bad day and she didn’t’ mean to take it out on me. I really didn’t remember, but it was nice.”


Lacey’s typical day consists of inserting tickets into a time register that totals the amount of time a customer has spent parked, then stapling the receipt to the individual ticket for each individual customer – up to 100 a day.

She processes them all manually. “We’re waiting for a (digital) replacement machine,” she said.

Lacey said that she would like to retire from Miller Parking, “I don’t see myself doing anything else at my age.”

She would love to travel after retirement – “Maui, Atlanta and New Orleans.”
 
Lacey’s proudest achievement is raising her two children, a son, 38, and daughter, 31. “I put them through school (college) with this job,” she said. 
Lacey lives just four miles from work on the east side of Detroit and is a proud grandmother of four with another bundle of joy on the way.

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