For the past four years Evans has served as the parking attendant for what he calls "playground duty," in the parking lot behind the Garden Center Plaza on Lincoln Avenue. Willow Glen locals like Linda Julian say the experience of trying to park there has been negative.

About two years ago, Julian says, while she was attempting to park in the Garden Center Plaza, Evans approached Julian and her husband's vehicle, waving them to stop. Julian says that Evans then questioned her about her destination in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

"He's not threatening, but he is approaching the vehicles in an aggressive manner," Julian says.

She adds, "I don't care if there is a monitor if they need that. But they can have someone who treats people in a courteous manner."

Evans denies that he's aggressive toward the drivers or in how he approaches the cars. "I think a lot of people think I take this job too seriously, but I don't," he says.

Evans says he is just doing his job, which is to ensure that people who use the parking lot are going to stores or offices in the plaza. Evans says he checks this by approaching cars entering the lot, motioning drivers to roll down their window and asking them where they are going. If drivers tell Evans they are going to a store or office in the Garden Plaza, the attendant allows them to pass. If they tell Evans they are going to an establishment that is not within the plaza, he tells the drivers to park their cars elsewhere.

Occasionally, Evans says he makes exceptions for people with children and customers running a quick errand, such as picking up takeout at Aqui's or dropping off videos at Blockbuster—if extra parking is available. But for the most part, he says he is following the instructions of Portfolio Realty Management—the firm that has managed the Garden Plaza for slightly more than a year.

He adds, "When someone lies about their intentions, I'm a totally different person. I see them walking down the alleyway away from the plaza and I let them know they won't get away with lying to me. That's when they get mad."

Evans says he believes people aren't displeased with the way he does his job but with the fact that they have been caught in a lie.

"Why get mad at me when I'm just doing my job? The person they should get mad at is the person not doing his job—the person who parked here when they shouldn't," Evans says.

If people confront him with complaints about the way he supervises the parking lot, Evans calls Portfolio Realty Management on his cell and lets those individuals relay their concerns immediately to property supervisor Vicky Hafheider.

Hafheider says that since Portfolio took over management of the Garden Plaza Center, three people have called her to complain about Evans. She says that, for the most part, she is satisfied with Evans' job performance.

"Typically, Cardale does his job," she says. "He stops each car and asks the driver where they are going. If they are going elsewhere, he tells them to park in another lot."

Hafheider adds that the firm employs Evans to secure the parking not just for the plaza's customers but for tenants and workers as well.

"Parking is tight, not just for our building but on the strip," she says.

She adds, "The parking [lot] is owned by the building and is for users of the building. Oftentimes people want to park there and have lunch somewhere else."

But for a number of merchants and businesses in downtown this way of thinking undermines their efforts to welcome and encourage people to shop, dine and relax in downtown Willow Glen.

In fact the frustration over the lack of parking is why the city of San Jose worked out an agreement last year with Bank of America to provide 75 additional public parking spaces and with Long's Drugs, which also allows public parking.

Creating a "parking district"—or an area where business owners are required to share parking—is one of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association's priorities, according to Norma Ruiz, the executive director of the association.

"We have enough parking, but it is not shared," Ruiz says. "We are trying to move away from the concept that you have to drive store to store."

But Hafheider isn't in accord with the association's game plan.

Hafheider says that although she sympathizes with customers' irritation at not being able to park in the area if they are not shopping at the Garden Plaza Center, sharing parking spaces with other businesses is not a viable option for the lot because extra parking is minimal.

"I certainly understand a shopper's frustration," Hafheider says. "But you also have to look at our standpoint. We want to protect the parking for our customers. If the customers can't find parking, then the businesses can't succeed."

Cathy Adkins, the former president of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association who is the association's current chairwoman to improve the downtown parking, disagrees. She says the Garden Plaza Center parking lot is a prime location for downtown shoppers.

"It's an obvious area for shared parking," Adkins says.

She adds, "As a group of merchants, we need to figure out how to solve this problem."