PETITION SEEKING RELIEF FROM KEY BUILKING PARKING FEE INCREASE(S)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00988R000600100017-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 25, 1999
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: April 4, 1975
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release. 1!W/09/28 : CIA-RDP85-00988R0O 00100017-8
}aApril 1975
fEMORA;,flUN FOR: CIA Component Administration Offices in. Key Building, Rosslyn
FROM : Agency Employees Using Key Building Parking Facilities
SUBJECT : Petition Seeking Relief From Key Building Parking Fee?Increase(s)
.one undersigned hereby, protest the announced 20; increase (to $360/yr.) in
the Yey Building Parking Fee, due to become effective 1 liay 1975, as both dis-
criminatory and unjustified for the following reasons:
(1) We have been and continue to be discriminated against as compared with
Agency employees working at Langley Headquarters, who are provided free parking
and therefore already end each year with $300 more usable income (at the snne
grade/step levels) than we who must pay for our own parking in Key Bldg'. And
those among us who decline to pay so much oust still run the added risk of un-
protected parking on local -area sidestreets.
(2) l-Ie have been observing for some time now the dwindling use of Key Bldg
parking facilities and strongly suspect that we are now being asked to make up
that difference in reduced income for Charles E. Smith Companies (CESC).
Ile have also observed the recent installation of additional "upstairs"
facilities which we feel no obligation to help pay for through parking fee
increases.
(3) Since there are no apparent special garage services or attendants, or
other building maintenance personnel solely responsible for supervision of the
parking garage, we must assume hat the parking fee increase comes as a result
of some increase in the ma.oa{;event's operating expenses for the building as a
whole. Tberelore, we feel that the lessee (Agency), rather than a couple
=^y (';"T'~1.'J'ens using the p:rkin? garage, should be the major co^_-
. " I '1- Ag`'1
tribtztor of any such~ increased building operating expenses if, as we suspect,
this constitutes a major excuse for Athe proposed parking fee increase.
0) Lacking specific knowledge of the privileges, restrictions, and
monetary terms of the Agency's 1et.se contract with CESC, we tend to view
this situation as one in which the Agency is actually condoniag,, if not in
fact encouraging.. ESC to oblige Agency employees -- the majority occupants
of Xey Bldg -- to subsidize and/or supplement the Agency's rental outlay for
}Ley Bldg. Since we also lack knowledge of the terms of such contracts between "
U ESC and other corporate occupants of Key }31dr,. neither do we have any basis
for concrete comparison of our situation vis-a-vis theirs.
In view of the above and of the new Freedom of Information Act, we
feel entitled to (but are not yet asking for) a FULL disclosure of such terms
of the f;r_ncv'2_ aye with C.x.SC as: what it costs, what it entitles the ency
toy en and under what Diego-Li tiiv eondition~ s enewabie and how it
~conrcs with the lea.,r_s. e d by ot}zcr corr.orlte occupants of }Ley g.
Ile therefore seek through the Agency -- as primarily responsible for
.,'cr being, thus obliged to divert co much as our saln~ies in the first pl:l: e
fn,cn of relief fro: the prospect of further such penalties at th6 h'~tnds
.,;' _ n t we believe that, if nothing more, we are at least entitled to be
4ir L'I'.i,'( aware of w}ia,tever jus i gee ion rtcty e claimed for such increase(s)
t,ry? r fees.
..~j.. this copZ,- but pass it on to the ne:tt
. i z,?3 space a ser for prior f ,k~ti't i.ari. ziition in the interr,;.
i t in, the ci.rct.tlation of th,r'' signature copy on its ta.,y:
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RESPONSE TO PETITION SEEKING RELIEF
FROM KEY BUILDING PARKING FEE 'INCREASES
1. The petition addressed to CIA component administrative officers
in Key Building, protesting the Lessor's planned parking rate increase, has
been referred to the undersigned for comment. The purpose of this memo is
to explain U.S. Government policy on providing cost-free parking in General
Services Administration (GSA) leased buildings in the Metropolitan Washington
area, to respond to specific issues concerning the Key Building, and to provide
clarifying information concerning the Key Building lease.
2. The Agency's management has always been acutely aware of obvious
inequities in parking facilities for our employees located in the Rosslyn
area. There is a long history of unsuccessful attempts to alleviate the
financial burden the Rosslyn area employees suffer as a result of parking
fees. We recognize that there is little solace in knowing that other Federal
employees working in the District of Columbia suffer even more serious finan-
cial burdens in that they are required to pay parking fees costing, in many
cases, double that of the Rosslyn area. Although Agency management remains
sympathetic and sensitive to the financial burden our Rosslyn area employees
must bear in paying for commercial parking, U.S. Government policy on employee
parking in leased buildings does not allow unilateral action by individual
Federal agencies to provide relief in this area. Paragraph 3 below outlines
the conditions under which GSA may lease parking facilities for Federal em-
ployees. We would like to reassure all employees that.CIA has fully explored
all the stipulated conditions and has been unable to provide the required jus-
tification that would permit GSA lease of'employee parking facilities in Rosslyn.
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3. U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICY ON EMPLOYEE PARKING IN LEASED BUILDINGS:
GSA, being the official U.S. Government housekeeper and landlord, negotiates
the lease with the Lessor. Generally, GSA does not have authority to lease
parking facilities for Federal employees. However, under certain conditions
and circumstances, parking may be leased by GSA in connection with the 'leasing
of space to be assigned to Federal agencies. Some of the conditions under
which parking may be leased by GSA and furnished to employees are as follows:
a. Where an analysis of alternate offers received from a
prospective Lessor in response to an Invitation for Bids or a
Solicitation for Offers shows that the amount of the offer, in-
cluding the specified employee parking, is not greater than the
25X1A6a offer without parking. (This was the case in the lease of the
area and in our initial lease at
1000 North Glebe, the Broyhill Building.)
b. Where local ordinances or zoning laws require a building
to provide off-street parking for tenants and visitors to the
building, and such ordinances or laws require, in effect, that
the cost of parking be included in the rental for the office
space.
c. In 1970, GSA, acting on the Comptroller General's favor-
able decision to provide (under certain circumstances) parking
facilities for Federal employees, circulated a draft amendment
of the Federal Property Management Regulations which would, in
effect, liberalize regulations concerning parking facilities for
privately pv ped gepi cl e- 1 1
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advised the Administrator, GSA, that, since there was no overall
Executive Branch policy to guide agencies in this matter, GSA was
to withhold action on agency requests for cost-free employee park-
ing until a Government-wide policy was established. The effect of
this OMB letter was to impose a general Government-wide freeze on
providing parking facilities for employees of the Federal agencies.
Exceptions to the freeze can be made only when the head of a Federal
department or agency certifies that facilities must be provided by
the Government in order to avoid significant impairment to the oper-
ating efficiency of the requesting agency.
prepared to provide GSA with the necessary certiYation
to obtain a waiver from the Government-wide
provided the waiver could be granted and leases negotiated
for parking facilities in the Rosslyn area without publicity
to the Agency. In this regard, the DCI did not want to be
the first agency head to request a waiver to the parking
freeze, thereby focussing press attention on what might be
misinterpreted as "special benefits" for Agency employees.
Since it was determined that we could not assure the DCI
that we could obtain this waiver and subsequently lease
parki5g for our Rosslyn employees without considera He
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publicity, it was determined not to proceed to seek this
special waiver. (For the DD/A: We assume that the DCI
does-EL-It-desire to pursue this today for the same reasons.)]
A recent check with GSA on 21 April 1975 confirms the fact that the freeze
on parking leases is still in effect and that there has never been a case
where a Federal agency has successfully justified an exception to the
Government-wide freeze on providing parking facilities for employees.
4. Where the Government leasing of parking facilities for Federal employees
cannot be justified, lease negotiations are directed toward including a provision
in the lease that a specified number of parking spaces will be made available by
the Lessor for Federal employees at a stated monthly rate to be determined by
the Lessor. In Arlington County, where the Key, Magazine, and Ames Buildings
are located, the local codes specify the number of parking spaces to be pro-
vided in or adjacent to a building. The number of spaces depends upon the
number of spaces or net square feet contained in the building. The Lessor,
as a minimum, shall make available for lease to the Federal employees who will
work in the building, a share of the total parking space.
50 With regard to some of the specific points raised in the petition,
it should be noted that the parking areas in Rosslyn area leased buildings,
except for official parking spaces which are included in the lease, are
owned and under the control of the Lessor. The rates for parking in the
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Key Building are set by Charles E. Smith Company (CESC) and are not con-
trolled by GSA or the Agency. the r'es byE`C areairoled..by to
oFe`Io dj ~ A survey of GSA-leased buildings in the area dis-
closes the following parking rates per month:
Key Building, after 1 May 1975
$30
Ames Building
$20 -
$25
Magazine Building
$22.50-
$30
Pomponio Plaza
$30 -
$35
Architect Building
$25 -
$30
Pomponio Plaza East
$25 -
$30
Commonwealth Building
$30
$35
Nash Street Building, after 1 May 1975
(Foreign Service)
$33 -
$36
The smaller rates are changed for small cars and less desirable spaces. A
spokesman for CESC states, "The rates for parking in the Key Building have
not been increased since 1968. The cost of electricity for lighting the
garage, labor for cleaning and maintaining the garage, and the real estate
taxes have increased drastically." TPe?atajected\incrAease_.-in tte,.KAy_GO14inq
rp oes n pe r-- be .9.ut -of -pronnrti on to rates charged in other buTTd-
6. The petition suggests that the Agency is the "fee collecting inter-
mediary" in parking transactions. While it is true that administrative offices
of many components provide a collecting and payment service for its employees,
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that service is provided as a personal convenience10,Wand is not an
official responsibility of those offices. From the standpoint of saving
employee time in making parking rental payments, it is a worthwhile service
but does not preclude an employee's handling his own transactions with the
Lessor as many continue to do.
7. Each of our outlying buildings has a certain number of "official
parking" spaces for the use of couriers, security police, and official visitors
from other buildings or agencies. These are operational requirements arid are
appropriately provided at Agency expense.
8. Since most of the questions raised. in the petition concern the lease
of Key Building space, the following is offered as clarification. The Agency
does not directly lease space from CESC but does so through GSA. GSA, being
the official U.S. Government housekeeper and landlord, negotiates the lease
with the Lessor. The terms of the lease are available in the GSA Rosslyn
Field Office Building Manager's office, Room 126, Architect Building, Wilson
Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia; however, some of the more important provisions
are cited. The present lease for the Key Building was negotiated for a period
from 1 January 1975 to 31 December 1980 for 5 years at a price of $5.49 per
square foot as compared to $4.07 per square foot under the earlier lease.
That rate covers the rental of all office and special-purpose space occupied
by the Agency, plus such items as janitor service, water, air conditioning,
etc. It excludes heat and electricity which GSA provides for separately.
Thirteen official parking spaces for official vehicles and visitors, at a
rate of $28 per month, are also included in the lease.
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9. Finally, the question has been raised in the petition regarding
the terms of the contract between CESC and the private (corporate) occupants
of the building. 'This, of course, is private information and not under the
purview of the Freedom of Information Act.
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