Paid Parking At Reston Town Center Must End: Merchant

RESTON, VA — Boston Properties' decision to roll back paid parking hours at Reston Town Center to just the working hours on weekdays isn't enough to restore RTC merchants to their former revenues -- they must abandon paid parking entirely, says one RTC business owner.

Aaron Gordon, owner of Red Velvet Cupcakery and a key figure in the battle against ParkRTC, told Patch in an interview that "we're never going to be [at 2016 revenue levels] again as long as paid parking in any way, shape, or form is in Reston." He did not mention Boston Properties by name during the interview, only referring to his "landlord."

Sales plummeted for local merchants after paid parking was put in place in January, and despite Boston Properties ending paid parking in the evenings and allowing an hour of free parking during weekdays, merchants are still down 10 to 50 percent, Gordon said.

"Some people have hope, some people have no hope at all, but nobody at this meeting [of the Reston Merchants Association a couple weeks ago] thought that their sales would come anywhere close to normal -- back to where it was last year," he said. "In fact I asked this specific question: does anyone feel they're going to get back to normal sales levels from 2016, and absolutely everyone, 100 percent of people, said no."

There is one possible compromise: parking validation of three hours, which was what merchants requested in the first place and were denied.

"I think if they did that, that might solve the problem entirely -- I'm not going to say for sure, but it might," he said. "The question is, is that communicated properly to customers? Is it ever marketed properly? How long would it take? Is it going to be just as confusing? If so, maybe not. But if communicated properly, maybe it would win back customers we lost."

However, the landlord has earned lots of ill will with RTC patrons, and that will be its own hurdle, he said.

"A lot of people are very angry, not just with the landlord, not just with RTC, but with us," he said. "And those people, I think we've lost some people for good."

Gordon says he doesn't blame Reston residents for being frustrated about the situation and refusing to come back to Reston Town Center.

"If I didn't have a shop in Reston Town Center, I would personally not drive and pay for parking," he said. "I wouldn't want to download the app because I have two apps on my phone, New York Times and ESPN, and that's it. I don't want all the rest of that crap.

"We're in the suburbs," he continued. "What is one of the main things people move to the suburbs for? It's generally speaking easy traffic, and free parking is up there. It might sound silly, but that's one of the perks of living in a suburb. It's easy to get around, so I don't blame these people at all. They don't want the app, they don't want to pay for parking, I dont' care if it's $2 or 50 cents. They have a right to be angry. It's 30 miles outside of D.C."

Image: Patch staff