Letters to the Editor: February 27 – March 4, 2020
How Will City Respond to Metro Parking Closures?
Editor,
With reference to your Feb. 20 News Brief regarding the planned closure of the East and West Falls Church Metro stations from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2020, it is important to note that the East F.C. parking lot will be completely closed as of March 15, and the West F.C. parking lot will be partially closed with WMATA warning that the remaining West F.C. parking spaces likely will be filled by 7 a.m. weekday mornings. Those lots will be used as staging areas for the construction work.
What this means is that for 10 weeks, from March 15 – May 25, there will be no parking at East F.C. metro station and limited parking at the West F.C. station, resulting potentially in literally hundreds of cars roaming our neighborhoods looking for parking spots just as our neighborhood school-age children are walking on our sidewalk-less streets and waiting at intersections for school busses. It also means substantially more cars parking in the neighborhoods. And it may continue past May 25 if WMATA offers bus shuttle service to Ballston.
Requests for information from city officials about how the city administration will handle this have resulted in less than adequate responses. Apparently WMATA has been less than open with relevant information provided to the city. We need much better communication from the city administration about this matter, including how commuters who typically park in those lots will be informed about parking restrictions and the need to be cautious as they search for parking opportunities.
David McCloud
Falls Church
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