23 Comments

1. Gerry Cashin

   As president of Plymouth Woods Board of Directors, I passed along the City’s press release announcing the parking fee changes to our newsletter editor for our upcoming issue. She replied that she will no longer go to town square for restaurants, shopping or the movies; in these economic times, she doesn’t want to pay for parking when she can park elsewhere for free. Her point is very valid.I must admit that if I head to the Town Center or the Regal for a movie, I look for free parking! When my 12 free parking credits run out, will I go elsewhere rather than “Buy Rockville”? The Mayor/Council must balance the budget in these hard times; we all understand. Does the city collect a sale tax? Forgive me, as I don’t really know the answer.Hopefully, the restaurants and shops will remain in business as Town Center great place to spend time.

2. John Cooper-Martin

   It really disturbs me that the increase in parking was ALREADY put into the City’s budget, BEFORE The Town Square’s business owners voiced their concerns at Monday’s City Council meeting. I have long been in favor of lowering parking fees, at The Town Square, but there are problems with that, since people who ride Metro could use The Town Square’s parking garages to park for riding on Metro.What bothers me WAY MUCH MORE is that the City Council HAD ALREADY DECIDED that they were going to raise the parking fees WITHOUT EVEN CONSIDERING THE TOWN SQUARE’S BUSINESS OWNERS TESTIMONY AT THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING! To me, this is unconscionable!!!

3. Trapper Martin

   To answer Gerry’s comment about sales tax. The city can’t collect a sales tax without approval from the state to do so. To also speak to Brad’s comments the parking system isn’t a right fit since it doesn’t even allow the opportunity for businesses to validate parking since you must pay before leaving your car. Perhaps if we had something a little more “old school” we could accomadate businesses that wanted to validate parking in order to increase their revenue.

4. Art Stigile

   John, your facts are incorrect. This was included in the budget last Spring, and there were several budget hearings prior to then, so there was ample opportunity for the business owners to voice their concerns. My recollection is that the Mayor and Council did the shop owners a favor by delaying the implementation of the increased hours of paid parking until now. The discussion at the time showed that it was a difficult decision — having to weigh the potential impact of extending paid parking against the huge interest costs that Rockville’s taxpayers are paying on the bonds that financed the garages. If I had to make the decision, I probably would have done the same thing. We’re paying a huge subsidy, and I would like to reduce it as much and as quickly as possible. But it’s also an extremely worthwhile investment in the redevelopment of Town Center, one that was sorely needed, and one that future generations will thank us for.

5. John Cooper-Martin

   Mr. Stigile:The way the issue was written, here, it did not appear that the issue had been heard previously. I believe you, when you say that it had. However, since it had been heard previously, why were the business owners at the Council meeting, on Monday voicing their concerns, when the issue had already been decided? That just does not make sense. It seems like the Council was wasting the business owners’ time and/or playing them along like the Council was going to somehow change its mind. To me, this does not seem right and fair to the businesses.

6. JJ

   Obviously the merchants were there to make an appeal to delay the rollout of the extended hours. The council had voted back in April to keep the then current extension good until October 5. I challenged the vote because the item to extend the time to October was not on the agenda that particular evening. I never received a satisfactory answer from anyone in the City as to the properness of that vote. Based on comments made in the “response to citizens forum ” part of the meeting, I thought there would be a discussion on the topic later in the session. A motion made by Councilmember Marcuccio, to engage in a discussion on the topic, failed for lack of a second.Monday was not the first time merchants from TS appeared before the Council to plead their case.

7. Councilmember Piotr Gajewski

   Mr. Cooper-Martin, Mr Stigile is accurate in his recollection (above). You ask: “why were the business owners at the Council meeting, on Monday voicing their concerns, when the issue had already been decided?” The reason, simply put, is: because under the extremely open and permissive Council rules any citizen can address the Council, during the Citizens Forum, for three minutes at any and all Council meetings. This great openness can sometimes lead to some confusion (as it seems that you were perhaps confused and led to believe that an insensitive Council was totally ignoring a legitimate point of view and a plea from the business owners). However, the alternative, limiting this free speech, would be much more destructive to our democratic process in the long run than the occasional confusion caused under the present protocol. The business owners were simply taking yet another opportunity, as is their right to do, to reiterate their point, prior to the extended paid parking hours taking effect.

8. Andrew

   At last the day finally approaches. I refuse to pay to park there in the evenings. Please, its after 7pm. Give people a break to get them to at least show up. It might be a ghost town, or maybe nobody will care and there will be no difference from now.I mostly just walk there now, for convenience. This winter, I may walk there even when it is cold, just to save $1 or 2. Maybe if they let me buy time by the half hour it would help a lot. Its hard to go and meaninfully exercise and be out in less than exactly one hour.Truth be told, though, somebody has to pay for those garages, one way or t’other.

9. Theresa Defino

   Has anyone ever parked in Bethesda? Washington, DC? Honestly, do you boycott these areas? Rockville’s policies are no different.

10. Andy R

    It isn’t entirely clear to me that parking fees are necessary. Roads are very expensive, and pretty much only for cars, yet they’re not all toll roads. It’s relatively common for certain areas (e.g., near stadiums) to have special sales taxes. I understand the difficulty in doing things like that, logistically and legally, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work (at least at night and on the weekends when you don’ t have to worry about commuters).That being said, I don’t mind parking fees, I mind having to make an effort to pay them. If there was some sort of E-ZPass-like system for paying tolls I wouldn’t care. But I hate having to remember my number, wait in line to use the machine, and guess how many hours I’ll be there. And, I really hate it when I guess wrong, and I have to go back out to feed the meter again.I won’t completely stop going to Town Square because of this, but I certainly will go less often. Why bother dealing with the extra hassles of paying for parking to go to Thai Pavilion when there are so many other options where I won’t?And this makes Bethesda look a little better in comparison. Sure, it’s a little bit further away, but there are a lot more options. I by no means will stop going to Town Square, I just suspect I’ll be heading to the Rio and Bethesda more often, or just sticking around the Twinbrook area.

11. John Cooper-Martin

    To Ms. Defino, in Reply 8:Yes, I do avoid Bethesda, exactly because of parking. And yes I generally don’t go to D.C., except for cultural events or social events, which aren’t in Rockville. It’s a little too far to travel, routinely, and then there is the parking problem there, too. Andy R, in Reply 10, has a great idea. It’s not the money; so much as it is the hassle. I’ve always been in favor of raising taxes, instead of paying higher parking in The Town Square, to pay for the garages. I am concerned about businesses staying for the long-haul. I think that’s why businesses were at the City Council meeting, again, Monday night — they know that higher parking fees means less clientele. You can look on this website, and one of the third most active topics was on June 10, when the topic was “Town Square Business Closures Sad But Not Troubling.” Even though I was not much of a patron of the business that closed, businesses closing, in The Town Square, to me, are troubling, and I think it should trouble our City Council more than it seems to be. A way to pay for parking, like E-Z pass, would be great.Unfortunately, for me, The Town Square has other disadvantages; its cobblestones and bricks are murder for handicapped people who use canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and battery-operated wheelchairs or battery-operated scooters. The City didn’t take this into consideration, when it built The Town Square. The County Council recently passed a resolution banning the use of bricks and cobblestones on areas that would be used for pedestrian travel. Too bad Rockville’s Town Square planners didn’t think of this. Now, it’s too late, so many handicapped people go elsewhere, or go The Town Square less, and go to businesses that are located where this is not a problem.

12. Temperance Blalock

    I’m lucky enough to live in walking distance to Town Square, so I haven’t yet experienced the parking procedure. However, I was very touched by the sincerity and passion of the merchants who spoke on Monday about how they feel the parking itself, and the way it’s calculated, are an impediment to encouraging shoppers to visit Town Square and then stay there long enough to shop effectively.As for the cobblestones, I agree that they were a terrible choice. I’m currently suffering from arthritic knee pain, and walking on the cobblestones is really harsh for my knees. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for those who rely on mechanical walking assistance.

13. Gloria Poole

    Once again, going to give Rockville residents a break on parking fees.Please consider those who do not live in the city limits who may just shop in the area. Then again, I feel singled out as I do not pay city taxes. but have shopped Rockville for over 60 years. Not to be forgotten of the faithful who lived and shopped thru urban renewal, Rockville Mall twice, and now Town Center. And the business owners who had to move about the city as leaders thought they had a better idea. My family business, Gene’s Florist did survive the moves but finally did move else where. Had the business remained in Rockville on Hungerford Dr., would have had to move again. The grass roots of Rockville are very deep and the memories can never be taken away, think about it!

14. Deb

    Actually, when Bethesda changed their paid parking hours to 10PM years ago, that’s when my husband and I stopped bothering to go there. Parking is often hard enough to find there as it is, and it was (for us) the straw that broke the camel’s back. It allowed us to discover all the great restaurants up here in Rockville, ironically; it’s how we came to love Pho and vaca frita, among other things. I understand that the garages need to be paid for somehow. Can rates be lowered after 7PM, maybe to half-price, as a sort of compromise? I’d hate to drive people to, say, Washingtonian/Rio, where parking is free, most especially not in economic times like this.

15. Trapper Martin

    There will be a large group of Rockville Towns Square merchants at the city council meeting tonight if anyone is interested in following this. I will also offer some additional suggestions instead of implementing the policy this week.

16. Rock Strongo

    Rio has parking garages as well and yet they are free. I don’t see how Town Center can expect to compete (and do well) against other venues where parking is free. Yes, the bills have to be paid, but it seems to me that the city over-spent a bit… somewhat irresponsibly, on this area.

17. Trapper Martin

    We had a great showing last night at the Council meeting but didn’t make any headway. I wrote a letter with one possible alternative that I will post below. If you feel strongly about this please email the Mayor and Counil at mayorcouncil@rockvillemd.gov. Thanks…..TrapperMayor and Council members, I believe I echo the concerns of all the merchants last night that the outcome on parking at the Square was not what any of us wanted to see. First let me state that while alternatives have been discussed all summer for potential alternatives to implementation of the extension, we have failed to try any of them. Several new ideas came up last night that could be quickly implemented or tried out before we implement the absolute harshest of all parking issues that has been brought up. I appreciate the willingness of all the Council to react to the situation if it declines after implementation, but that is basically admitting that we could see a major decline in overall traffic to the Square. My largest fear is that once we lose the business a “flip of the switch” to revert back to current policy will not get the customers back into the businesses for some time and this will have had an irreversible negative effect for many. I know that this is something that none of us want to see. If implementing the new policy is the wrong choice and we have major losses in the number of offerings at the Square this $300-400 incremental parking revenue will seem like pie in the sky. If the attitude of the Council is that this is something the next Council will decide then I urge you to hold off on implementation of this until after the election. This is not something that I am advocating because I would like for us to try a compromise or hybrid plan to gauge the effect to revenue through the holiday season. One of these plans could potentially generate just as much revenue as what is currently forecast without a loss of customers. One such compromise that could be quickly implemented would be to have $1 dollar parking after 6pm and all day $1 parking on Saturday. This would in effect keep the current policy in place M-F for the 6-7pm hour and generate additional funds for three hours Monday through Friday and all day on Saturday. This would be much easier for the people coming to the Town Center area in general to swallow since this is what the Regal parking policy is and it certainly fills up each Saturday with $1 parkers and has for years. As I mentioned last night, this would require the patrons to leave the receipt as proof of payment in their dash. I do feel that this would really eliminate some of the animosity that we have been hearing from our customers while at the same time improving the financial outlook of the garages Of course in addition to this we need to really take a look at how we can fill those garages Monday through Friday with additional parkers from the metro and other lots. There is no reason we should not be able to become more competitive with these by advertising along the metro lines and working with other businesses that might have contracts with Colonial Parking to try to offer their employees another parking choice. We need to immediately lift the 4 hour time limit imposed. We should be able to offer 15 or 30 minute increments in parking. Have we thought about selling ad space in the garages? We could partner with merchants to offer a “Welcome to RTS Garage” welcome kit that would include coupons and other info on businesses in the Square. These among other ideas will make this a partnership between the City and merchants that will benefit both sides. I realize that not much noise about this has been made until recent weeks, but all of us thought that this summer was going to be “the one” that made RTS truly great. We are close, but not there yet. I have heard talk of an emergency council meeting that might take place soon and ask that you strongly consider the request. There is more than enough interest on the merchant side to come to an agreement that will satisfy both sides until the situation improves. What we come up with might solve the issue for good, so that the City could even satisfy the debt on the garage. Thank you in advance for your strong consideration of further discussion prior to implementing this policy so we don’t make a mistake that could be very costly to this plan.

18. Temperance Blalock

    I watched the entire meeting on Channel 11, and was touched by the sincere desperation of all the merchant representatives who spoke about the adverse effect on their business. It was frustrating to watch the council be unable to agree about anything, even a simple week-long moratorium. I hope that whomever is sitting in those seats after Election Day will have the ability to take a stand without feeling the need to equivocate and CYA.I lived very close to Rio from 1994 to 2006, and in the first seven or eight years Rio was almost a ghost town: the main building was essentially empty, except for the movie theater, and parking in that lot at night to see a movie was frightening because there weren’t enough parked cars there to give a sense of security. Even now, there is still a chronic crime problem at Rio, lots of cars vandalized and not a few robberies of patrons. Reminded me of the bad old days in the mid 1970s at Rockville Mall.

19. Randy Alton

    I was impressed with the solidarity of the merchants at the council meeting this past Monday. The merchants offered suggestions and embraced comments from citizens and the council. The merchants acknowledged the contribution and effort to date and asked for the extension of paid parking enforcement to be put on hold until June 1, 2010. As previously stated, there are other options to fill the parking garage spaces to help recoup some of the lost revenue. The City is in a crisis. Adding the potential collapse of Town Center to the budget mistakes is not an option. Allowing one more business to ‘go under’, is not acceptable. The Rockville 2010 budget woes have come home to roost. The Mayor and Council should reconvene to address this crisis. The people currently sitting in those seats need to be accountable and demonstrate leadership.

20. Brigitta Mulilcan

    What is the real problem with our Rockville City Council? Did they not receive enough information to make a decision on the parking issue at this council meeting? What would a one week extension have solved anything? Would more information have made the group come up with a reasonable solution?It appears to me that there should be less stubbornness and more acknowledgment of each other’s different views and acceptance of questions. Differences need to be discussed. This would bring about better compromises. The attitudes of the council members are the same today as they were in the beginning of their term (November 2007). There appears to be is a power struggle. Each member has the same vote and each should represent the Rockville community. Did the voters vote for the wrong council members to represent us?Phyllis Marcuccio suggested a committee getting together to discuss all the parking issues and maybe having the next Council make the decision. That sounded like a good idea to me, but the council did not conclude much at the end of the meeting. Lack of support for Marcuccio’s suggestions and the conversation ending abruptly disappointed me. After listening to the first part of the council meeting again, I see why the meeting ended as it did. The business representatives must really be disappointed. No decision is bad enough, but the council not compromising is even worse.

21. Andrew

    “Allowing one more business to ‘go under’, is not acceptable.”-Well, its not the job of government to prop up businesses that need to go out of business due to marketplace factors. Profits are the applause of your customers. Profits keep you in business.-That said, it is in the interest of us all for government to help level the playing field and support some of the infrastructure required so businesses can exist and citizens can patronize them. Thus paying taxes, thus supporting government.The garages are a millstone around the neck of the project. People raised a flag about this YEARS ago, we’re talking 5-6 years ago, about the bonds being issued and the costs. We’ve created an outpost of paid parking far from the nearest place where density warrants paid parking. That’s essentially what has happened. If Staff thinks the City is leaving $500K on the table every year by not charging after 7pm and on Saturdays – they may be vastly overestimating what people are willing to pay to park. We may be killing businesses and yet bringing in only 50-100K after all.It would be really refreshing to see several candidates join to form some slates, where we could get. some distinct choices on issues, at this election.

22. Trapper Martin

    OK the merchants had another meeting this morning and this is what we came up with after much discussion throughout the day. Once again if you feel strongly about his please write the Mayor and Council at mayorcouncil@rockvillemd.gov. Thanks….TrapperMadam Mayor, Council and Mr. Ullery, Since the last Council meeting the merchants in Town Square have had many conversations via email and met this morning in person to try to come up with some alternate sources of funding to generate the $3-400k expected from the implementation of the Monday-Saturday 7-10 parking fees. All of us recognize the need to generate as much revenue as possible to satisfy the debt that the City has on these garages but want to make sure we are generating this revenue from sources that make sense with as little resistance or pushback from the customers of the Square. We all feel strongly that one of the major sources of this revenue should come from an increase in monthly or metro parkers. We also feel that we could generate additional revenue from parking until 10pm and on Saturdays but feel that it is important to keep the pricing structure similar to what immediatly surrounds the garages. Based on some conservative figures outlined below here is how we would like to go forward. Increase the current number of monthly parkers to 400 up from our best guess of the current 100. Merchants are willing to partner with the city in order to make this happen through in house marketing, word of mouth etc. At $55 per month this would generate incremental revenue of $198,000. At $65 per month is would generate $243,000. We feel that dropping this to $55 would be a quick way to fill up the garages and once the situations stabilizes this could be raised back to $65 easily. Include Saturday parking for $1 unlimited hours. This keeps the price in line with ALL surrounding lots. Based on 50% usage and “turning” each space three times during the day we estimate an additional $76,500. Additionally should free library parking be discontinued by the county this might ease the burden for library patrons. Monday through Friday parking from 6-10pm at $1 per car (also in line with ALL surrounding garages). Based on 50% usage with no spaces turning over anticipated revenue increase would be $126,750. Assuming a drop in the monthly fee to $55 would total a revenue increase of $400,800 and holding at $65 per month it totals $436,800. We feel these are all conservative numbers that will increase over time as the local economy recovers and the Square begins to take further root. As part of the discussion in April when the implementation of expanded hours was delayed until October, it was stated that further analysis of how the summer went would be considered before implementation. In fact it was originally suggested that the new parking hours take effect after Labor Day, but then was brought up by Councilman Britton that he wanted that date further into the future so it could be evaluated again. This clearly did not happen and we request the opportunity to have this issue discussed as an agenda item at the October 12th Mayor and Council meeting. We have already scheduled a meeting with Scott Ullery for Monday, September 28th to discuss the above. At this time we hope to have some further data we can use to modify the projections listed. The undersigned are all willing to give the above proposal a fair shake. As business managers and owners we all feel that this has reached “emergency” status since gaining back lost customers who are upset by this policy isn’t as easy as the council seems to think it is by “closely monitoring the situation.” We thank you in advance for the opportunity to be heard and evaluate the current state of the Square with you as promised when this delay was voted on in April before this new policy is implemented. Acqua Nails, Austin Grill, Bobby’s Crabcakes, Chevy Chase Bank, Cloud 9 Clothing, Cosi, The Cottage Monet, First Watch Restaurant; Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries, Fractured Prune, Gifford’s Ice Cream & Candy Co., Gold’s Gym, Gordon Biersch, Hair Cuttery, HSBC, Jerry’s Subs & Pizza, Jouvence Aveda Lifestyle Salon & Spa, La Canela, La Tasca, Lebanese Taverna, Noodles & Co., Oro Pomodoro, The Papery, Pomegranate & Co., Primo Italiano, Rockville Town Square Cleaners, Robeks Fruit Smoothies & Healthy Eats, Sands Artwork, Spice Xing Indian Cuisine, Starbucks Coffee, Sushi Damo, Taste of Saigon, Ten Thousand Villages – Rockville Location, Thai Pavilion, Town Square Jewelers, Toy Kingdom, Verizon Wireless, The Waygoose

23. Ruth

    Living in a city that offers such easy access to elected officials and government, one would assume responsiveness and respect would naturally follow. The plight of the town center merchants proves otherwise. Promised a review of the proposed increase in parking fees in the spring, the only proposal put foreward at the last council meeting was a pathetic one week delay when the mayor realized the new fees would impact restaurant week. Never miind Toy Kingdom, Waygoose and the other retailers some of whom are local independent merchants putting in long hours and trying hard to provide Rockville with products and services to be proud of.Councils’ infrequent sessions must certainly allow for convening to address this or other critical issues. Please find a way to defer the increased fees until after the holiday season when the creative ideas proposed by the merchants can be evaluated. The previous repeated rise and fall of the core of Rockville must not happen yet again.

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