Parking Can be a Sore Spot in Downtown Lot

The parking lot bordered by Wayne Avenue, Fenton Street, the St. Michael's Archangel Church and Veteran's Plaza is one of the last bastions of free parking in Downtown Silver Spring, but it is also a source of frustration for shoppers.

Hasaan Brown, attempting to park his car in the lot, shared his experiences with the lot.

"I have spent 15 plus minutes looking for a space on some days, and would probably take more trips if I knew parking wasn't such an issue," Brown said. "The lot can be quite stressful when everyone is fighting for an open space. When everyone is in a frenzy, you have people driving the wrong way, people walking in front of cars. It can be a show!"

While the signs clearly warn potential parkers that the 218 spaces in the lot offer "Two Hour Parking While Patronizing Whole Foods/Strosniders Shopping Center," enforcement of the policy is inconsistent.

Jerry Bennett, part-owner of has received numerous complaints about the availability of spaces.

"Customers have told me that it can take a half-hour to find a spot on weekends, and that they're not going to come here anymore," Bennett said. "It is the shopping center owners' [The Peterson Companies] choice to tow or not, and I wish they would more often."

When asked about the towing enforcement policy, the Peterson Companies' Jennifer Nettles, manager of Downtown Silver Spring, responded, "That lot is randomly towed. We're not there all day. At one point, we had towing all the time and we got complaints about towing too much."

The lot is regularly used by people not patronizing the shopping center, such as people attending events at St. Michael's Archangel Church. Peterson has acknowledged their need by coming to an agreement with the church that they may use the last row. Requests for comments from the church's leadership went unanswered as of the writing of this story.

Jaime Guerrero, a team leader at the shopping center's anchor store — Whole Foods Market — has also heard complaints from customers about parking. He recalled one remark in particular: "Your store looks empty. Why are there no spots? Other stores like Giant and Safeway control their lots!"

Guerrero said he is concerned that the lack of spaces could push customers to competitors.

When asked how the store handles the issue, he continued, "We call the [towing] company, but sometimes they only come out at night, after three or four calls, which doesn't really help."

Guerrero wishes that "[Peterson] would implement a company that watches in a consistent way, so our customers know we are listening to them."

Responding to a question about potential changes for the parking situation, Nettles said, "We are investigating the possibility of making it metered, but we know locals like free parking, And we try our hardest not to make it paid."