Residents of the Hunter Mill District will have their chance on March 4 to weigh in on the proposed Fairfax County FY2018 budget.

County Executive Edward Long presented the $4.1 billion proposal to the county Board of Supervisors at their Tuesday meeting. Each supervisor is holding local meetings to get community input on its details.

Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins will hold her summit Saturday, March 4 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Frying Pan Farm Park visitor center (2739 West Ox Road, Herndon). In addition to the budget presentation and a speaker, the event will also include a “build-a-budget” workshop that Hudgins said would help residents understand what has to be done with the funds available.

In her response to Long’s proposal to the board Tuesday, Hudgins said the state has made it difficult for Fairfax County to “control [its] own destiny.”

“It is troubling when we have to return our value to the state in the way that we do,” Hudgins said. “When you think about that, it is daunting to have our citizens look to us and think that we actually do control it, and we don’t.”

Hudgins said a lack of diversity of revenue for the county, caused by an “inability to break through the stronghold that is in the general assembly,” is forcing some residents to be priced out.

“The cost of living here, it does increase, and many of those seniors that I talked with at a senior group [Monday] are saying, ‘I have to move if I want to stay in a place that is affordable for me,'” she said. “We are going to have a lot of discussion from people on that conversation.”

Following their community meetings, supervisors plan to present their changes to the executive’s recommendations on April 25. The budget is scheduled to be adopted May 2.

Hudgins will be joined at the March 4 budget session by Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and Vienna Mayor Laurie DiRocco. Residents interested in attending are asked to RSVP to [email protected].

Chart via Fairfax County FY2018 budget presentation

The Fairfax County Police Department says charges have been filed against a man accused of stealing wheels from vehicles last year.

Jason Brooks, 38, was charged recently with seven counts of grand larceny and seven counts of larceny with the intent to sell stolen property. The Maryland resident was already in custody in Loudoun County, on unrelated charges.

Police say Brooks has been connected with seven different tire and rim thefts in Fairfax County between March and July. Two of the incidents took place in Herndon.

SHOTS FIRED IN HERNDON

Police are investigating a shots-fired incident that took place Saturday evening in Herndon.

Officers responded to a home on Poener Place, near Hutchison Elementary School, for a report of several people at the door with guns. The caller also told police shots may have been fired at the home. Arriving officers say they heard shots, and a bullet was found at the scene.

From the police report:

“Four suspects fled in a white SUV and a lookout was broadcast. The suspect vehicle was stopped a short time later in the Town of Herndon. The suspects have been taken into custody for interviews and further investigation. An extensive check of the area by Fairfax 1 and K9 did not yield any additional suspects.”

No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 703-691-2131 or 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), or text “TIP187” plus the message to CRIMES(274637).

Other incidents reported from the Reston District Station in the past week:

LARCENIES:

1800 block of Fountain Drive, security devices from business

1900 block of Bowman Towne Drive, backpack from residence

2200 block of Wheelwright Court, packages from residence

1700 block of Business Center Drive, wallet from residence

13100 block of Foxhunt Lane, property from residence

2400 block of Centreville Road, wallet from business

STOLEN VEHICLES:

None reported

Fairfax County police also responded to the alleged armed robbery of a man while he walked his dog outside Winterthur Apartments, which we reported Monday.

Coloring Book Tackles Topic of Divorce — Debbie MacDougall, of Reston, is currently going through a lengthy legal process related to her divorce. She has published “Divorce: The Comic Coloring Book” in the attempt to help others who may be going through a similar time in their lives. [Washington Post]

Schools Looking for Bus Drivers — Fairfax County Public Schools is seeking qualified applicants to drive the district’s buses. Starting pay is $18.82 an hour, with the potential to earn up to $31 an hour. A pair of job fairs are planned for next month. [Fairfax County Public Schools]

Automatic Concealed-Carry Bill Up for Vote — Legislation that would make domestic violence victims who have taken out protective orders automatically eligible to carry a concealed weapon is set for final approval in Richmond. Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a similar bill last year. [WTOP]

Alissa Buoni says her 5-year-old daughter is always starting sentences with “When I grow up.”

“It just got me thinking,” Buoni said. “There are some pros to being an adult, but [my daughter] should really enjoy being a kid.”

With that thought in mind, the 2002 South Lakes High School graduate penned her first children’s book, “Oh, The #Adulting You’ll Do.” The book reminds children, Buoni said, that there are a lot of responsibilities associated with the fun of being an adult.

“Trust me, you’ll get to a point where you can make those [grown-up] decisions for yourself, but there’s sort of a price for that,” she said. “It’s not meant to scare kids from adulthood either, because … obviously there’s things adults enjoy about being adults. But you can’t go backward in time, so enjoy the moment.”

Buoni said she used the hashtag in the book when describing “adulting” as a nod to the parents, because it’s a term that is often used on social media.

“I’m on Instagram, I’m on a lot of social media, and I see my friends being like, ‘Ugh, I have to #adult today,” she said. “It’s this dreaded thing, like I’m paying my car bill or I have to go do this and that — boo to #adulting. … It follows throughout the book, kids are going to get to this stuff too.”

Buoni worked in government contracting for several years and also received a master’s degree in school counseling. She is now a stay-at-home mom, with children ages 5, 2 and 1. She says she gets ideas for writing topics from them constantly.

“[Writing] became sort of an outlet at home,” she said. “They inspire me a lot with that day-to-day fun stuff.”

Published by Rocket Science Productions, the book came together quickly once the ball started rolling, Buoni said. Now she calls holding the finished product in her hands “surreal.”

“It was definitely a process, never having done this before,” she said. “It’s been fun, and I like seeing it come to life. But it’s a lot of work, obviously.”

Buoni’s first child, Kendrick, tragically passed away in 2009. The loss of her son to complications of Heterotaxy syndrome and congenital heart disease has inspired her donate a portion of sales to Children’s National Hospital. Buoni has written a book on the topic of loss in families, “Make a Wish for Me,” that is scheduled to be released in April.

“Oh, The #Adulting You’ll Do” features illustrations by Kosta Gregory, a Boston-based artist. The book is currently available for purchase on Buoni’s website as well as on Amazon and other sites. It can also be downloaded through iTunes.

Editor’s Note: February is Black History Month. Reston Now recently asked Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, who has lived in Reston since 1969, to share her memories of arriving in the community after her family had difficulty finding acceptance in other places.

“[My two sons] went to school here, but schools were different. They were Virginia schools and we really did have to do some work as parents, as well as as a community. This community was very overt in saying to the Fairfax County school system, ‘Equity is not here.’ We saw overt discrimination and we had to speak up.”

“Lake Anne Elementary was the first school built here, and a group of families… realized that the history of Virginia that [schools were] teaching kids was not the history of real Virginia, and we don’t want our kids to learn just one side. This is not just African-American families, all families were saying that. ‘This isn’t the history.’ And so they went out and said, ‘We’ll help you create a curriculum, because this isn’t what we want.’ Those kinds of things took place often.”

“Coming here, we found it very welcoming. We found people who were looking for the same thing that we were looking for, and that was to be able to bring our children and raise them here. [The children] got the opportunity to not only live with people like them, but with people of all different environments. That was the richness of what I think this has done for us as a family. It has been, I think, what makes Reston one of the really great places to live.”

Do you have a personal story about Black History in Reston you would like to share? Please contact [email protected].

The water in Lake Anne was 38 degrees Saturday, but that didn’t stop nearly 200 people from making a “splash” for charity.

The 10th annual Virginia Polar Dip at Lake Anne raised $75,000 for Camp Sunshine, organizers announced at the conclusion of the day’s festivities. A total of 198 people, many dressed in colorful costumes, leapt from the dock to show their support of the cause.

The dry onlookers cheered from the plaza as plungers — some solo, some in groups; some tentatively, some with backflips and cannonballs — took the chilly dive.

Curtis Ellor of Reston had participated in the event every year since its inception, but was forced to miss it last year after an operation. He was excited to get back into the water, continuing the tradition of diving along with his guitar.

“It’s wonderful,” Ellor said. “[It’s] for the kids.”

One of those kids was Mathias, who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when he was 11 and died at the age of 13. Team Mathias, represented by a large group of jumpers from around Loudoun and Fairfax counties, has participated in the event for four years and has raised thousands of dollars for Camp Sunshine.

“Team Mathias’s mission is to support cancer families, siblings and parents — we do care packages for them,” said Emily Kelly of Herndon. “This year we raised almost $5,000 [for the plunge].”

Kelly said the event is a special chance to help kids and families who need a pick-me-up while battling a life-threatening illness.

“It’s special, it really is,” she said. “This is why we do this.”

Lake Anne Plaza merchants banded together during the event. Some, including Lake Anne Brew House and Kalypso’s, participated in the plunge itself. They and many others also offered specials throughout the day and donated a portion of the proceeds to the cause.

Organizers said the money raised from this year’s event will support an entire week of services at Camp Sunshine, which is located in Casco, Maine. It is the only year-round program in the nation designed to serve the entire family.

The $75,000 raised this year brings the total amount raised during the event’s 10 years to nearly $700,000.

High Winds Cause Power Outages — Winds up to 60 mph have been striking the area, and a high-wind warning from the National Weather Service remains in effect until 6 p.m. tonight. More than 13,000 customers are reported without power this morning in Northern Virginia, including a handful in Reston. [Dominion Power]

‘Adopt a Hydrant’ Program Underway — Fairfax County Fire and Rescue is asking residents and business owners to maintain the areas around fire hydrants. Hydrants must be free of snow and ice in the winter, and free of weeds, leaves and shrubbery in warmer weather. [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue]

Teachers Likely to See More in Paychecks — The Virginia General Assembly is entering the final two weeks of its session, and it looks like teachers will get raises. The Senate budget plan provides raises for teachers, while the House would give schools more unrestricted money that could be used for raises. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has also proposed a 1.5 percent bonus for teachers and state workers. [WTOP]

Photo of sunrise over Reston this morning via Twitter user @JGS3584

Looking for something to do this weekend? Here is a sampling of what’s available in Reston:

• The Virginia Polar Dip is Saturday at Lake Anne Plaza. Registration starts at noon, with the event itself scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. All proceeds will benefit Camp Sunshine.
• Events at Reston Town Center this weekend include a handmade Valentine card workshop, a pre-Valentine cooking class at Il Fornaio, a wine tasting and more.
• A pub crawl is slated for 2-6 p.m. Saturday, beginning at World of Beer (1888 Explorer St.). The event is to support the Fairfax Boxing Club.
• An open house is scheduled for The Lake House (11450 Baron Cameron Ave.) from noon-2 p.m. Sunday.
• Reston Community Center Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road) has a Sunday Afternoon Dance and a Sunday Country Western Dance both slated for this weekend.
• Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St.) will offer a workshop, Career in the Arts: Opportunities for Visually Creative People, Saturday evening.
• The Reston Chorale will present Camerata: Inside Out at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road) on Sunday afternoon.
• Art exhibitions “CUT” and “Springtime in Winter” remain on display at Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St.) and Reston Art Gallery & Studios (11400 Washington Plaza W.), respectively.
• Tom Saputo and Friends will play at Café Montmarte tonight.
• Kalypso’s will have musical guests New Dominion Band tonight and DJ Kram on Saturday.
• Wuayra Peruvian Silver Jewelry will have a pop-up shop in collaboration with Scrawl Books (11862 Market St.) this weekend.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Feb. 23 as the approval process for the Reston Town Center Metro station continues.

The special exemption application for the south entrance pavilion of the station calls for modifying a zoning ordinance that requires 15 percent open space to require only 5 percent. According to the site plan:

“The applicants state that the boundary for the SE area is highly constrained in order to avoid adverse impact to future development of adjacent properties and to ensure that the development of the proposed mass transit facilities remain in harmony with the adjacent development. The site design and layout is consistent with the design of the other entrance pavilion areas along the Silver Line.”

The new station’s entrance pavilion is slated to look nearly identical to the pavilion at the Wiehle-Reston East station.

The Metro station was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last year. It is part of Metro’s Silver Line Phase 2, with a projected opening date in 2020.

If recommended, the Board of Supervisors will hear the special exemption application on March 14.

Graphics via project site plan

Many Reston residents turned out Thursday afternoon to give their two cents to the forensic accounting firm tasked with analyzing the cost overruns associated with Reston Association’s purchase of the Tetra/Lake House facility.

Deirdre Flaherty, partner and co-founder of the StoneTurn Group, joined RA Vice President Michael Sanio and Eric Carr, chair of RA’s Tetra Review Committee, on a panel to hear statements from Reston citizens. StoneTurn has been contracted by the Reston Association Board of Directors at a cost not to exceed $45,000 to conduct their review by the end of February.

The forum was structured loosely, with members provided three minutes to take the podium and speak individually, or five minutes to speak on behalf of a group. It broke down into informal conversation throughout, however, as residents asked questions from the audience and demanded answers regarding what exactly the firm is planning to find — and how those findings will be presented.

“The intention is to make the report public when it is finished,” Sanio said when pressed about how the findings would be shared with the community. “That’s why we have the consultant doing the work.”

Many residents shared their skepticism about the transparency of the review process, though.

“It is vitally important… that your final report is published, unaltered and unredacted,” said Dick Stillson, who was a member of the MediaWorld group that had offered to do the work for a fee of $1. Negotiations ended, Stillson said, in part over RA’s requirement that findings be confidential. “There is no way that the community will have confidence in the work that you’ve done, or in fact that the board really did ask for an independent review of the Tetra purchase, if that report is not published in its complete form and made available to the community.”

RA members voted in a referendum in May 2015 to allow the association to purchase the Tetra property for $2.6 million — a cost more than double its tax assessment. Renovations made on the property, which were expected to cost $259,000, ended up costing nearly three times that. RA has since opened the renovated facility as The Lake House.

The goal of the review, according to Reston Association, is to “identify areas for process improvement, potential changes to internal controls and/or modification to governance procedures to help ensure situations like the Lake House cost overrun can be avoided in the future.” Sanio said the goal is twofold: to determine what transpired during the Tetra purchase and to make sure something similar doesn’t happen again.

Several residents at the meeting inquired why the StoneTurn contract was not made available on the Reston Association website for public review; the 13-page document was later added to the site.

Flaherty told residents she is extremely confident the review will be completed to its scope and within the time frame allotted. Some residents, though, questioned how intricacies of the matter including culpability, conflicts of interest and potential law-breaking would be handled.

“The scope of our work isn’t to do that right now,” Flaherty said. “[But] whatever we see will be divulged.”

While Flaherty said it is not the reviewer’s responsibility to go to the authorities with any evidence of illegal activity, both Sanio and Carr said they would do so if necessary.

Terry Maynard, of the Reston 20/20 Committee, said a “vigorous investigation” is needed to get to the bottom of “the greatest leadership crisis in the history of the Reston Association.”

“Never have so many people in Reston’s leadership on the RA Board of Directors and among its senior staff behaved so unethically if not outright illegally,” Maynard said. “[They have] demonstrated such complete incompetence in analyzing and managing the finances of a single RA project, and used secrecy behind a legal facade to protect the guilty while so neglecting the interests of the community.”

Sanio said members of the RA board have endured a lot of negativity from the community throughout the process.

“I’ve heard lots of accusations, I’ve read accusations, some of them unfounded, and I think for those that serve on the board as volunteers, you’ve put those individuals that commit untold hours in your service into a very, very difficult position,” he said. “I would urge you to reflect on that. These are your peers in the community, and they’ve stepped forward to be helpful. … I think that those that have stepped forward deserve the respect.”

Sanio said he is confident StoneTurn’s work will provide what RA has been looking for regarding closure on the Tetra purchase.

“We too are looking for answers as well, and I’m confident with the competency of the StoneTurn group and Dee (Flaherty) here, that we’ll get what we need,” he said.

But Dennis Hays, of the Reston Citizens Association board, said the meeting didn’t clear up many of the issues people have about the process. In fact, he said, the opposite occurred.

“I’m more concerned now at the end of this meeting than I was in the beginning,” he said. “If we get a report that just says, ‘Here’s what we need to do in the future,’ then we have wasted $45,000.”

Anyone with comments to share who was unable to attend Thursday’s community session is encouraged to email [email protected].

Roads in Good Shape for Morning Commute — The Virginia Department of Transportation says overnight winds assisted road crews by drying most of the region, but low pavement temperatures will quickly refreeze any additional moisture. [VDOT]

Animal Protection Police Come to the Rescue — The Fairfax County Police Department shared a photo Thursday of a raccoon that got tangled up while trying to get into a bird feeder in Reston. Police said “No harm, no fowl!” — [Fairfax County Police Department/Twitter]

RA Committees to Meet Next Week — The Reston Association meeting schedule for the week of Feb. 13-17 includes meetings of the Board Governance, Elections, 55+ Advisory, Covenants and Multimodal Transportation Advisory committees. [Reston Association]

(Updated Feb. 10 at 11 a.m. after a third candidate withdrew from the election)

Three of the 14 people who were registered to run for the Reston Association Board of Directors in this year’s election will not be on the ballot.

Don Wright, who was announced as a candidate for the North Point seat, and Hank Schonzeit and Kevin Witt, who were both announced candidates for the Apartment Owners’ seat, have withdrawn.

A six-person race for an At-Large seat remains, along with two-person races for the Hunters Woods/Dogwood and North Point seats. David Bobzien now finds himself unopposed in the race for Apartment Owners’ Representative.

Remaining candidates are:

At-Large Director (3-year term)
Roberto Anguizola
Eric Carr
Mike Collins
Charles Dorfeuille
Ven Iyer
HeidiAnne Werner

Hunters Woods/Dogwood District Director (3-year term)
Syazana Durrani
Victoria White

North Point District Director (2-year term)
Arlene Krieger
John Mooney

Apartment Owners’ Representative (3-year term)
David Bobzien

More information about each candidate is available at the Reston Association website.

The At-Large seat is currently held by Jeff Thomas; the Hunters Woods/Dogwood District seat, by Lucinda Shannon; and the apartment owners’ seat, by board president Ellen Graves.

Graves has reached her two-term limit. Neither Thomas nor Shannon, who are each coming to the end of their first term, applied for re-election.

The North Point District seat is currently held by Danielle LaRosa. LaRosa was elected in 2016 but will resign at the end of her first year. The person elected to fill the seat, either Krieger or Mooney, will serve the remaining two years on the existing term.

Votes will be cast by residents between March 6 and April 3. Election winners will be announced at the RA board’s April 11 meeting, with the new board to be sworn in the following day.

The four electees will join five returning members of the board: Vice President Michael Sanio (At-Large), Secretary Eve Thompson (At-Large), Sherri Hebert (Lake Anne/Tall Oaks), Julie Bitzer (South Lakes) and Ray Wedell (At-Large).

The Reston Community Center Board of Governors adopted their 2016-21 Strategic Plan last year, and they will discuss progress with the public next week.

The largest number of January updates to the Strategic Plan are in the section about expanding programs. In the plan, RCC identified goals that included “balanc[ing] services to neighborhoods within Reston with programming that brings the community together and fosters a sense of belonging to the community as a whole.”

Among the items listed in the update is a proposed building needs analysis to “investigate intersections feasible with Park Authority efforts related to indoor recreation facility planning for Reston and [to] seek differentiation from Reston Association efforts to date.” It also lists plans to coordinate summer programming options with Cornerstones, among other initiatives.

At the Monday night event, the RCC board also will discuss content for inclusion in their FY19 budget and capital project planning for the Terry L. Smith Aquatics Center.

The public is invited to the meeting at RCC Hunter Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road), scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. Monday, but it is requested RSVP be made to [email protected] by 4 p.m. Friday. Anyone would who like to provide input but is unable to attend is invited to contact the same email address.

After a community input meeting Wednesday night on improvements to Lake Newport soccer fields, the Reston Soccer Association has requested the postponement of a Design Review Board session slated for later this month.

The proposal from Reston Soccer would include the installation of artificial turf fields, LED lighting and a clubhouse building at the fields. All would be paid for by Reston Soccer, but the project would need to be approved by member referendum.

Robert Anguizola, Reston Soccer president, said in an email to Reston Association CEO Cate Fulkerson that concerns of residents in the area deserve more time for consideration:

“During the community input meeting [Wednesday] night, we heard that many residents in the clusters surrounding the fields felt that they did not have adequate notice of the community meeting and the upcoming DRB Information Session. We also heard pleas from many for more time to absorb our proposal and to further engage with their neighbors, RA and Reston Soccer. That seems like a reasonable request and for that reason we respectfully request postponement of the February 21 DRB Information Session on the Lake Newport Soccer proposal.”

Residents of adjacent clusters — Bayfield Station, Arbor Glen and Concord Green — have voiced concerns including disruption of the community due to increased use of the field at later hours.

Video of the meeting is available on the Reston Association YouTube channel.

According to Mike Leone, RA’s communications director, Reston Association will inform residents of the communities that the presentation has been postponed.

Anguizola said Reston Soccer “looks forward to further engagement with the community on this important project” and would renew its request for a DRB information session later this year.

(Updated at 12:40 p.m. to correct title of Kathy Walsh. She is marketing director of the Fallston Group, not of Boston Properties.)

Following Monday’s meeting of Reston Town Center merchants discussing their concerns with Town Center owner Boston Properties’ handling of paid parking, Reston Now reached out to Boston Properties with some questions.

Printed below is the full text of the responses received from Kathy Walsh, marketing director of the Fallston Group and a spokesperson for Boston Properties.

Q: Has Boston Properties met/spoken with any of the merchants since paid parking began? Are there any plans in the near future to do so?
A: Yes. Boston Properties team members remain in routine, personal contact with merchants, particularly around the paid parking model and its roll-out. The ongoing communication occurs at differing levels within each organization, from business owners to management.

Q: Does BP have any response to the claims sales went down 10-50 percent in January?
A: Although Boston Properties generally doesn’t receive January revenue data until February or March of the same year, they have specifically reached out to retailers to more quickly analyze January 2016 to January 2017 revenue data. Upon close analysis, it is clear that some of the most vocal retailers who have publicly claimed year-over-year sales are down due to paid parking are actually experiencing sales increases for that time period. It is important to emphasize this is a 30-day snapshot and not a longer-term trend, and this reflects a small sampling of retailers. Boston Properties will continue to closely analyze all revenue activity.

Q: Has there been any discussion internally at BP about what this change has done to the business climate at RTC?
A: While Boston Properties fully expects to see some change upon the onset of paid parking, our data reflects far less impact than what is being reported publicly by certain merchants. For instance, when analyzing parking occupancy in garages Monday through Friday from 4:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., there were 68,000 visits in January, compared to 72,000 in November, which is naturally higher as the holiday shopping season kicks off. We believe this is a normal seasonal decrease. Interestingly, data shows that, on average, those visitors stayed longer in January – 4.59 hours – as compared to November (4.5) and December (4.25).

Q: A business owner at [Monday]’s meeting claimed she signed a new lease last year and BP’s plan to switch to paid parking was not disclosed. Was the intention to implement paid parking disclosed to all incoming/renewing businesses?
A: Without exception, there is language about paid parking built into every lease, so any renewing or new tenants should have been fully aware of the possibility.

Q: Is BP confident about maintaining paid parking as is?
A: While Boston Properties is confident paid parking is here to stay, the paid parking model has only been activated for five weeks. As Boston Properties continues to monitor impact and feedback, Boston Properties will assess if modifications to the system and process are necessary.

Walsh also said paid parking has not been the explicit reason for any retailers leaving Reston Town Center since its implementation.

“Every tenant who has left either already planned to leave Reston Town Center and was in the process of negotiating their departure or closed their doors for other business reasons.”

Walsh said 13 retailers renewed leases in the Town Center in 2016. Already in 2017, she said, two have renewed and four new retail leases are in progress.

The spokesperson also stressed that Boston Properties has determined that many owners of Reston Town Center establishments have “a very high degree of concern” about what people representing their businesses are saying publicly:

“Through Boston Properties’ efforts to engage retailers, they have determined that many of the most vocal people allegedly representing Reston Town Center retailers are employees rather than owners of those establishments. Boston Properties has had numerous discussions with owners and senior managers who have indicated they do not share their employees’ views or approve of their behavior in response to paid parking. In fact, Boston Properties has received numerous calls from retailers who expressed a very high degree of concern about the public posture of a few. Candidly, they want no part of those who are attempting to dissuade customers from coming to Reston Town Center.”

In regard to the ParkRTC app, Walsh said the number of phone calls and emails regarding questions about the app have “dropped significantly,” though she says Boston Properties understands some people continue to experience frustration.

“Boston Properties is continuing to work to implement changes to make it even more user-friendly. Many people are successfully using the app, with 78% of daily parkers paying via the app. There have also been 75,000 downloads of the app to date, with an average of 1,000 new downloads per day.”

While a number of people have expressed fears about the security of the app, Walsh said those worries are unfounded:

“The ParkRTC app is supported by Passport, the largest provider of mobile payment software for parking in North America. Both Passport Inc. and Reston Town Center take the important responsibility to protect credit card information very seriously. Passport conducts regular audits of its information security systems to ensure there are no vulnerabilities — data security is core to their business. In fact, Passport employs a two factor authentication (2FA) process that requires first-time users to verify their identity by entering a text authorization sent to verify device ownership in addition to a pin number. Passport also holds compliance with PCI DSS Level 1 certification, the most stringent data security framework administered by the PCI Security Standards Council. Passport will never sell or distribute ParkRTC user information to third parties.”

Walsh said Boston Properties has implemented, or plans to implement, a number of system improvements in response to customer feedback, including:

• Doubled the number of parking ambassadors, primarily at night for retail shoppers
• Added educational signage
• Added a list of validating retailers to the app
• Updated the FAQs on the website
• Coming in March, look for an upgraded credit card pay station with a screen three times the size of the current screen and that provides better functionality in extreme weather

Walsh said a task force is working to ensure the future of Reston Town Center is bright.

“Boston Properties has assembled a task force consisting of development, leasing, marketing and property management personnel representing residential, commercial and office properties who are meeting with national consultants to develop and implement a strategy designed to ensure Reston Town Center remains an upscale destination and draw for those looking to live, work, shop and play.”

Aaron Mervis, who manages Big Bowl restaurant and is one of the organizers of the merchants’ group opposing the current paid parking system, issued this statement to Reston Now in response:

“It is important that Boston Properties understands that the Tenants’ goal is to improve the situation in the Reston Town Center and protect their businesses, which will also benefit Boston Properties. Tenants have expressed a large list of concerns directly related to the paid parking, including decreased sales and a significant rise in customer complaints about both the complexity of the system and the cost.”

“Boston Properties’ desire to wait while continuing to analyze the effects on business in the hope the uproar will recede will only make it more difficult to convince disenchanted customers who have changed their eating and buying habits to return. They have many options.”

“While owners and managers of establishments are upset, we also encourage management from Boston Properties to speak directly with the employees of the various stores in the town center for their thoughts on the impact of paid parking. Many of these employees receive tips or commission. As business has slumped, hours have been reduced and they are earning less in commissions and tips.”