Reston Town Center Merchants to Organize Against Paid Parking

RESTON, VA — A large group of Reston Town Center merchants gathered at Vapiano Monday to air their grievances against Boston Properties and ParkRTC, and to push forward with getting legal representation to explore their options -- including potentially a lawsuit.

Aaron Gordon of Red Velvet Cupcakery and Aaron Mervis of Big Bowl have spearheaded the movement against paid parking and did much of the talking at the meeting, but many other merchants in attendance also spoke up to tell everyone that they had seen huge drops in their sales numbers in the month since ParkRTC went into effect.

Paul Thaler and Edward Seglias, representatives of the law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Gurman PC, were on hand to explain to merchants that their next step would be to officially organize. Seglias added it was too early to say that a lawsuit would be necessary.

Gordon said he hopes to get legal representation sorted out in about a week. He said that merchants have pledged about $30,000 to $50,000 toward that end.

Reston Town Center currently charges $2 per hour for the first two hours of parking, and a total of $24 per day, far more than any other mall or shopping center in the Northern Virginia area.

Gordon and several other merchants said during the meeting that numerous customers had complained to them about the parking fees and many had pledged to never return to RTC as long as they were in effect. Gordon added that even if Boston Properties reverses course, the move to paid parking has created a lot of ill will toward merchants.

While most visitors know that Boston Properties profits from the paid parking and not merchants, many customers think that they get a cut, Gordon told Patch after the meeting.

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