WASHINGTON — Montgomery County officials are rejecting a popular diner’s complaints about temporary parking restrictions near the downtown Bethesda construction site for Marriott’s new world headquarters.
The owner of Tastee Diner, Gene Wilkes, says on-street parking restrictions on Norfolk and Woodmont avenues have strangled his business, cutting sales by an average of $1,000 a day since Aug. 13.
But Jose Thommana, chief of the county Transportation Department’s division of parking management, says that while most of the parking meters on Norfolk facing the restaurant’s entrance are unavailable, there is ample parking on both sides of Woodmont after 4 p.m. each day.
Thommana also says parking is not restricted on the east side of Woodmont during early morning hours and mid-day hours, in addition to evening hours. However, a Monday midday visit to Woodmont found construction crews had temporarily prohibited parking at the available spaces on the east side of the street to accommodate activity at the Marriott construction site.
“It could have been less disruptive, but I don’t think the county gave us fair consideration as a small business,” Wilkes said. “In the last 15 years, I see no consideration for small business,” he said.
“Montgomery County is a business-friendly community committed to ensuring that our large and small businesses thrive,” said Ester Bowring, strategic communications director for the county’s Transportation Department.
