Councilmember Gajewski to Mayor and Council: Start Charging For Town Square Parking
Jan 27, 2008 18:24 - 3 Comments
>The following message was sent Sunday afternoon to the City Council and Mayor by Council Member Piotr Gajewski. I wonder if this will necessitate a change in the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting?
On Monday, I plan to advance a proposal to begin charging $1 per hour for parking in the Rockville garages (and at street meters) from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
I was not part of the government that developed the Town Center project on the terms that were negotiated, and it is futile now to go back and discuss “what ifs.”
The reality of the situation is that we are now managing a project that is bleeding at the rate of roughly $1.8 million per year or $30 per every man, woman and child that resides in Rockville. Depending on analysis, this number can be slightly smaller (or even slightly larger), but this is the order of magnitude. Boiling this down to a monthly bill, each month, the Rockville taxpayer pays $150,000 for cars to park free in the garages.
There is no way to avoid this reality and somebody has to continue to pay this monthly bill going forward. The question is whether as much as possible of this bill should be paid by those who use the garages, and my answer to that is a resounding “yes.” To the extent possible, users should pay for the garages – the Rockville taxpayer should be relieved of this burden.
Who are the users and will they mind paying?
The users of the garages are the business people of Town Square and their patrons as well as the users of the Rockville Library. And here is the best news of all: the employees and users of the Rockville Library are our dearest asset, because Montgomery County has agreed to foot the total bill for their parking. Montgomery County has not limited this to certain hours or days – as long as the Library is open, Montgomery County will pay for all employees and patrons so they will indeed continue to park for “free,” but the City of Rockville will benefit from a direct payment from Montgomery County.
We should not leave any of this money on the table! The library is open each weekday until 8:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The present garage usage data shows that early evening hours and especially Saturday hours enjoy the biggest use of our garages. That is the time when people frequent the library. We must be sure to take advantage of this and save the Rockville taxpayer from subsidizing the parking of Library users.
And what of the businesses and their patrons?
The Rockville taxpayer has subsidized free parking for a full year; this is considerably longer than in any early plans projected. Surely the businesses must have incorporated into their plans that convenient parking will not be free. Even with the availability of free garage parking, many people have chosen to park at the paid meters, so that paying for parking has not been a deterrent to coming to Town Square.
Many businesses may want to pay for their customers’ parking and the City of Rockville should work with the businesses to provide them with an easy system of validating parking for their customers, if they choose. As validation only happens when a purchase is made, this will be just a small cost to add: the price of doing business (much like fees that businesses pay on credit card purchases, for example).
Many cars are now parking in the garages. The drivers of those cars need to pay the cost of parking. By choosing an option to not charge for parking in the evening hours or on Saturdays, we would simply be shifting the cost of our garages from those who use them, to the Rockville taxpayer. As you look at the projected revenue for the various options that the staff has prepared, please note that for each $60,000 of revenue that we give up by not charging for parking (and again, note, that some of that lost revenue would have come directly from Montgomery County paying Rockville for library users’ parking), each Rockville (population 60,000) man, woman and child has to pay $1 in taxes. So that, for example, foregoing $60,000 per month of revenue, means that a Rockville family of four pays additional annual tax of $48 – a tax that could have been avoided if the user of the parking had been made to pay instead.
I hope that you can support my proposal. I look forward to our discussion.
Piotr Gajewski
Councilmember, City of Rockville
(Photo by Rockville Central.)
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1. I would rather pay extra taxes for a couple more years than have the town center businesses fail. The town center needs to be a success.>
2. Could the cost be .50 cents an hour which would be similar to what is being charged in Silver Spring and Bethesda.
I work in the Rockville Town Square, and I drive – Metro is rarely an option. Parking fees are important, not just as a means of recouping the City’s investment, but to making sure that visitors don’t hog spaces for hours and hours. (Parking fees have even been proved as a means of >relieving parking congestion.)
Would I want to pay for parking every time I come to work? No way. But I see the point. Hopefully we can work out a solution that benefits everyone.
Will parking fees keep me away from being a patron of Town Square? Not necessarily, but something needs to attach me to visit. Certainly while it is new, I enjoyed taking guests to Town Square. It is all about what will attach people to come. It is good to have a variety of eating areas with reasonable prices. Some of the shops are too upscale for most residents. >
My experience is that more out-of-towner people like to visit Town Square as do the neighbors who live close. Town Square is also a benefit for the government employees who work in Rockville.
If free parking didn’t bring customers to Town Square, the question is what will bring them in. Should my tax dollars be used to attract customers and pay for the parking structure? My opinion is “No.” Other business ventures in Rockville don’t get this benefit. There is no equity.
I believe most new business ventures require some time to build its business clientele and success. Compare it to this Rockville Central Blog. It started out slow and as time goes by more people learn of it and more comments are posted.
Another example of time helping bring a successful business venture is the Rio development in Gaithersburg. It started slow and it took a good ten years to become more popular. Who paid for the parking there? Parking at Rio is “FREE.” Would I not visit Rio if I had to pay for parking? Maybe, it depends on what attracts me to visit, a great movie, restaurant or sales I couldn’t get elsewhere. What is Town Square providing me that I can’t get in another location?
Rockville taxpayers are subsidizing Town Square with more money than most of them realize. Now that the decision to build it has been made, we all hope that the merchants make it work.
Parking in Rockville will continue to be a big concern. To help with this problem I recommend that Montgomery County and the State of Maryland plan and fund a parking garage on the jury parking lot to accommodate all the governmental agencies in Rockville. After all Rockville is the seat City of Montgomery County and the County employees and supporting agencies are benefiting from the amenities of Town Square with Rockville’s taxes.
Former Rockville Planning Commissioner Brigitta Mullican