Reston Locals Unimpressed With ParkRTC 'Fact Sheet'

RESTON, VA — Boston Properties' effort to win over the public to its new ParkRTC app is off to a rocky start. Despite releasing a new "fact sheet" on Monday that attempts to answer privacy concerns, many Reston residents don't appear to be ready to buy into the Reston Town Center's new parking plan.

Originally scheduled for a Sept. 12 rollout, paid parking at RTC won't go into effect until January. In the meantime, Boston Properties is embarking on an education campaign for Reston residents who argue that the ParkRTC app invades their privacy.

But despite the lengthy and detailed statement from the developer, chief opponents of the move to end free parking at RTC remain unconvinced. The Facebook post announcing the fact sheet has a number of comments, all of them negative. And Suzanne Zurn, a Reston resident who has spearheaded a petition to stop paid parking at RTC that currently has more than 8,000 signatures, accuses RTC of trying to "trick" locals.

"A new PR document dressed up as a fact sheet is not going to change the minds of this highly educated and tech-savvy community," Zurn told Patch.com. "We know all about the private information you’re seeking from our smart phones and your tireless efforts to trick people into giving it to you. The community knows about the ParkRTC system and they don’t want it."

Zurn argued that Boston Properties should be paying more attention to the "reams of feedback" from the community.

"It's humorous that Boston Properties would come out with a fact sheet about parking when their public relations team has not peddled 'the facts' since day one," she said. "The reason they initially cited for needing paid parking was to deal with a commuter parking problem. This PR smokescreen backfired on Boston Properties when the truth came out about the real reason they are adding paid parking. The community has been getting lots of education and the verdict is no one wants this system."