A Very Special RA Meeting: New Headquarters Decided?

The Reston Association Board of Directors is holding a "special" meeting at 7 tonight, and among other "action," the RA board plans to "receive an analysis by Cresa Partners of the proposed economic offers from the properties under consideration for relocating the Association’s Headquarters Facility." We're guessing that portion of the meeting will be held in executive session, meaning there's no point in showing up and seeing if the RA decides to pick a building with the previously mentioned cubby for child labor.

Meanwhile, RA President Robin Smyers has weighed in again on this filthy "web log" about the other uncontroversial decision in the works, the one involving a juicery and attached rec center. Here's what she said in the comments of an earlier post:

As I thanked everyone who attended last night's meeting at Lake Anne Elementary, it is OK for us to disagree. I do appreciate the fact that people are paying attention and weighing in on the issues that we have been working on long before I was elected to the board, and will be after I am gone. My term is up in April 2010 and I look forward to the supporting the next director for Lake Anne and Tall Oaks.

Again, it is OK to disagree. Getting involved and staying involved is a responsibility I hope many in our community will embrace.I will not apologize for letting the process run its due course. All members should be heard and to the previous point, I do hear from hundreds of people, many who are in fear of being ridiculed for supporting some of the ideas others who disagree. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

We agree with her, and as we've said before, hope some of those who support the rec center find a way to make themselves heard. Just over the weekend, we saw what can happen when people don't pay attention to what goes on in their community, when a heavily funnel cake-and-lemonade intensive event/election became a potentially huge embarrassment after people found out, most likely too late to do anything about it, that an unopposed candidate has, shall we say, a bit of an image problem.

Speaking of which: The results of the Reston Citizens Association election are supposed to be announced tomorrow, so we'll soon find out if Reston is represented by the author of "America the Doodiful" and other, less humorous work. Based on the comments on this "web log," this race has attracted considerable attention from folks whose interests are far removed from DRB violations and earth-toned architecture, so we're not the only ones watching closely.

RCA & the Reston Festival: Fun, Games and Holocaust Denial

If you're wandering around the Reston Festival this weekend and happen to make time between visiting the gutter guard booth and the chili dog stand to stop by the Reston Citizens Association booth to do a little of that stone-cold votin', be warned: One of the RCA's unopposed candidates is a Holocaust denier. Wait, what?

Ken Meyercord has an Ivy League education, a high-tech job at Freddie Mac, a local public-access cable television show on international affairs and a long history of writing about what he says are "myths" of the Holocaust, including a piece called "(Holo-) History is Bunk."

Now Meyercord hopes to add a new entry on his résumé: winning an at-large seat on the board of the Reston Citizens Association, a quasi-governmental body that sets the agenda for the community of 60,000, which is not officially a municipality. The odds are in his favor, because he is running unopposed.

But some residents, mortified by his views on the Holocaust, have thrown together a last-minute write-in campaign to stop him. Former RCA Board Member Debra Steppel, along with five volunteers, is soliciting votes for write-in candidate Colin Mills, a member of the board who was not planning to seek reelection until Meyercord's views came to light.

All because of easily misconstrued comments like this:

"To hear eyewitnesses tell it, it took little more than a match for the corpses to spontaneously combust."

That's not from his RCA campaign literature, which advocates making sure Reston doesn't turn out like "Queens," but from one of his publications that got the attention of Steppel, the former RCA board member behind the write-in campaign. But we're sure Mr. Meyercord will clear up this whole wacky misunderstanding. Right?

In an interview yesterday, Meyercord described himself as "a Holocaust revisionist," taking pains to distinguish himself from Holocaust deniers.

"I believe millions of Jews were uprooted from their homes and died in droves," Meyercord said. But he dismisses as Allied propaganda the assertion that Nazi Germany embarked on a mission to annihilate European Jews, a plan known as the Final Solution. He also denies that Nazis used gas chambers to murder Jews, saying gas chambers did not exist, and expresses skepticism that the number of Holocaust victims reached 6 million.

Meyercord said he does not understand the fuss over his candidacy. "I would say it's a little off-topic," Meyercord said.

Among his other, more on-topic accomplishments: a "song parody" called "America the Doodiful." We're guessing there's some satire at play there, but we're not sure. Anyhoo, voting continues through Sunday, so be sure to grab a corn dog and do the right thing if you're in that neck of the woods.

Reston Real Estate: A long time ago, in a planned community far, far away....

Now here is a swank designer motif Bob Simon could only have dreamed of when he envisioned his New Town out in the woods back in the '60s! This room, and the rest of the Ring Road structure it's attached to, can be yours for a mere $550,000. We especially like how Yoda is standing on the heating register for warmth. Let's just hope that register doesn't connect to an external exhaust port just two meters wide, or you'll never be able to get homeowners insurance with an X-Wing rider.

Little known fact: Every room in Restonian World Headquarters looks exactly like this.

Heal the World (or at least Reston Parkway)

The passing of the "King of Pop" didn't just profoundly move Anderson Cooper and Larry King, as can be attested by this makeshift Michael Jackson memorial, complete with Beanie Baby thingies, plus a balloon with a puppy clutching a heart and a note addressed to "Prince and Blanket," spotted at the intersection of Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron Avenue on Thursday. Very touching, but when did Macaulay Culkin move to Reston?

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Signal to Noise

Here's yet another account of yet another Brown's Chapel rec center meeting, this time the one held by those sticks in the mud at Reston ARCH, who keep insisting on these crazy concepts of "accountability" and whatnot. The one bit of news we gleaned is that Brown's Chapel is no longer the only site being considered -- Lake Newport is also apparently under consideration. Wait, isn't that the same general neck of the woods?

Anyhoo, here's the account:

Went to the meeting last night. Very high signal to noise. Robert Goudie did a good job as moderator. Most questions went to RCC, but RA clarified several issues.

Large crowd very hostile to large cost of plan and loss of green space.

RCC did good job explaining:
a) Long lead time needed for planning infrastructure upgrades
b) Confident that planned population increase in Reston (post-Metro) can fund new rec. center
c) RCC & RA working together, not RCC and FC Parks and Rec
d) Site planning is Lake Newport or Browns Chapel
e) Baron Cameron & Lake Fairfax Parks, or North Government Center areas have "issues"
f) One detailed plan with max of 100 million in total costs over 20 years.
f1) Construction cost projected to be 50 million with free land provided by someone
g) No express desire for rec center from local businesses (pay 45% of SD 5 taxes)
h) More cost effective to have one big center
i) RCC wants a championship sized indoor pool, RA wants indoor tennis
j) Key to development direction is response to phone survey in Fall 09
k) Earliest bond (if needed) would be issued ~ winter 2011

RA added:
l) Value of land is approximately $4 million. ($2-2.5 / sq. ft. @ 12 acres) No assessment in hand
m) Only DRB approved structure is a covered tennis area at Lake Newport
n) Cost was $1.8 million in 2003. Plan cancelled then due to high cost.
o) even with approval from the residents via referendum, a planned building, and a bond issue to pay for $100 million, the DRB needs to approve design.

My note: DRB seems to be the unelected, uncontrollable ruler of what Reston becomes.

As of today, no post on ARCH or RCC sites on meeting.

Good times.

Good times, indeed! And with tonight's meeting at Lake Anne Elementary, the good times keep on coming. We've said it before, and we'll say it again -- we'd welcome the folks who are in favor of the rec center to speak up, as they appear to be nowhere to be found. At least not on this filthy "web log," anyway.

This and That: A Random Perambulation Around Reston News We Haven't Gotten Around to Posting

• The Reston Citizens Association is holding elections in the most democratic way imaginable: at a booth at this weekend's Reston Festival.
  
  
• Here's a shocker: Commercial real estate still kinda sucks.

  “There isn’t a lot of positive news out there,” said Mark Larsen, president of Reston-based Larsen Commercial Real Estate/ONCOR International. “There’s a little more activity now than there was between October and March, but that isn’t saying much. If companies can downsize or sublet the space, they’re going to.”
  
  According to statistics from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the county’s commercial vacancy rate hit 14.5 percent in 2008, up from 10.9 percent the previous year. That remains significantly lower than the high-water mark of 2002, when a post-9/11 freeze pushed vacancy rates to nearly 19 percent.

  Reston's vacancy rate is higher than the countywide average, at 17.5 percent. Way to go! But federal contractor Ericcson recently moved its headquarters to Reston, where we presume they'll be strapping bombs to dolphins and figuring out where that extra 's' in their name came from.
  
  
• Stratton Woods Park, which is really closer to Bratz-lovin' Fox Mill than Reston, is getting some awesome lighting to allow 3am softball games and whatnot. Apparently some people aren't happy about this, but at least they'll still have a volleyball court to play on.
  
  
• Now that it's illegal to text your BFF while driving, a Reston company by the name of ZoomSafer is developing software that will allow you to text, or "tweet," or whatever it is the kool kidz do these days, via voice commands. Our favorite part is that the software will remind you to "drive safely." Nanny state! Or you could just use the bitchin' satellite phones offered by Reston-based TerreStar, which have the added benefit of beaming your tweets into outer space, where perplexed aliens can wonder what "OMG" means.
  
  
• A couple of good-news numbers: The Greater Reston Arts Center turns 35, celebrating with a juried exhibit called "Faraway Nearby." We assume they're talking about Loudoun County. Also, Reston Interfaith dedicated its 39th house for a needy family, which we're sure will lead to more snark in our comments section.
  
  
• The Reston Chamber of Commerce has a new CEO. Mark Ingrao is a past Chairman of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Arlington, which means he probably moved out here to escape the gangsta rap videos. Matt Brennan of Brennan & Waite, P.L.C. was also announced as Chairman of the Chamber for 2009-10, but we don't have a good joke for that, so let's move on.
  
  
• Finally, the economy might stink, but there's one thing you can still get for free in Reston: 80 gallons of unfiltered restaurant grease. Bon appetit!
  

Photo Finish

A photo of the Reston Grand Prix at Reston Town Center this past weekend, or traffic on the soon-to-be dieted Lawyers Road? You be the judge.

Speaking of which, the grand resurfacing project of the Lawyers Road velodrome begins Aug. 2 and is expected to be completed by Aug. 27. Beat the rush and start shopping for spandex pants now!

This Week in Crime: A Rough Couple of Weeks to be a Cop in Reston

Police officers were assaulted in two separate incidents around Reston in recent weeks. First up, a noise complaint in Northgate:

Police arrested a man for assault on a police officer on Monday, June 22. Officers were called to the 1500 block of Northgate Square around 1:27 a.m. for a noise complaint. As they attempted to talk to the man, he was not cooperative and allegedly assaulted one of the officers. The officers struggled with the suspect and were able to take him into custody.

Khalil Mhaidar, 20, of 1520 Northgate Square in Reston, was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center and charged with felony assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and noise violation. The suspect received minor injuries during the struggle and was treated at the jail.

Next, an officer was assaulted by one of three men pushing a stolen car on Reston Parkway and South Lakes Drive:

Three men were arrested on Wednesday, July 1 after one of them fought with an officer. The officer was driving in the area of Reston Parkway and South Lakes Drive around 3:55 a.m. when she saw the men pushing a car off the roadway. She pulled up behind them and got out of the car to assist. One man allegedly pushed the officer and a struggle began; the other two men were not involved. She was able to subdue and detain the suspect. An investigation determined the car was taken without permission from a neighboring jurisdiction. All three suspects were arrested and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Joseph Schrotz, 18, of Aldie, Virginia, was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Marshall Harrison, 22, of 42579 Good Hope Lane in Ashburn, and Lavonte France, 19, of 7820 Belvedere Drive in Alexandria, were charged with felony possession of stolen property. No one required medical attention.

After all that, you'll almost be relieved to see the usual Reston crime -- petty theft on Reston's Herndon's ultra-safe sidewalks and trails:

A woman was arrested for robbing another woman on Monday, June 29 in the 13100 block of Parcher Avenue. The victim was walking on a sidewalk around 8:30 p.m. when the suspect allegedly approached her and demanded money. The suspect grabbed a necklace from the victim’s neck and fled on foot. The victim called police about two hours later and an investigation led to the arrest of Jacqueline Escobar, of no fixed address. She was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center and charged with robbery. The victim was not injured.

Or if that doesn't grab you, how about an attempted burglary?

A man and a woman returned to their home in the 2600 block of Logan Wood Drive at about 12:30 p.m. to find a man attempting to break in. The 41-year-old woman screamed and the man fled. The couple saw the man flee in a small, silver or white sport utility vehicle. No description of the man is available at this time and no injuries were reported.

Happy summer, everyone,

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Flyers and Whatnot

South Lakes Mom discovered a curious thing after a swim meet last week: a pro-rec center flyer stuffed under the windshield of her car:

We don’t know who did this. There may well be a coalition of Reston residents who are in favor of the Rec Center but who have not organized into a group (such as those opposed have for Save Browns Chapel). This flyer may be the doing of people in favor of a new Rec center.

However, the way the flyer reads sounds like the same party-line that has been coming out of the RA and RCC. If it is from RA and RCC, they used our money to print these up and probably paid a bunch of people to go around papering the cars. And let’s not even get started about the litter…

Regular readers of this filthy "web log" know that we're not at all happy about the way this process was handled -- and we would conservatively guess that 99.9 percent of the commenters on this site, at least, are not in favor of a rec center, juicery or rollerdrome in any form or fashion. But the folks who are in favor of it should be organizing and finding a way to build support for it, before it's too late to provide some of that "input" the RA and RCC loves them so much of. Who knows, maybe they'll get their chance at the two meetings planned this week about the rec center. Seems more productive than a bunch of flyers.

Flashback Monday: Reston's First Church

Even though the idea of a planned community with "town houses" in the middle of nowhere seemed a bit heretical at the time, the antidisestablismentarian types that decided to call the New Town home in the mid-1960s still hankered for that old-time religion.

Here is a nicely artsy picture of Reston's first place of worship, Redeemer Methodist Church -- which is what we think is now the UCC church on North Shore Drive near Lake Anne. Apparently their prayers were strong enough to create a mini-vortex near the right-hand side of the photo which looks remarkably like a hole punch.