News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, March 14, 2024

RELAC, Still Do It: Referendum Ensures Frankie, Lake-Cooled AC Doesn't Go To Hollywood, Stays In Reston

 

Lake Anne residents will be able to enjoy the tepid chills of lake-cooled air conditioning at least a bit longer. The Reston Association says that fewer than half of the eligible households -- far below the needed 2/3 supermajority -- voted in a fancy fun referendum to revoke the covenants prohibiting homes in RELAC's service area from installing individual air conditioning systems for their homes, at least not without a medical (cough cough) provision like the ones your Restonian's roommates may have used way back in college (School of Hard Knocks, '64). 

But we digress! Give us some typo-riddled blockquote, BFFs at Reston Patch:

If the referendum had past [sic], residents in the affected clusters would've been able [sic] install individual cooling systems for their homes.

With RELAC's future in doubt after the company managing the jet-aged system announced it was ending service late last year, the RA had actually encouraged residents to vote to change the covenant to allow the sweet sweet sound of freedom AC units grinding away behind each home. With the covenants unchanged, the only way to install your own AC is to visit your "doctor" about your "allergies" -- a tactic which the former operators blamed for the shutdown in the first place.

Fortunately, a co-op is planning to continue RELAC's operations, so hopefully it'll be a mild spring until all this gets sorted out, the end.


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Kill Bill 3: The Casinopocalypse: Tysons Casino Opponents Seek to Stop, Not Just Delay, Proposal in General Assembly (Updated)


Not satisfied to squash our schoolgirl dreams of spending an hour or six playing the penny slots before getting on the Metro in Reston, or to delay until next year the possibility of building a fun, floating 96-story casino in an abandoned car lot in Tysons, Fairfax's Emerald City, opponents are now urging county residents to help put a Hattori Hanzo sword to the proposal once and for all. 

Give us some good five point palm exploding heart technique blockquote, BFFs at Coalition for a Planned Reston:

The casino bill will be on the agenda of the full Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, February 6. The Committee Chair will ask the full committee to vote to hold the bill over to the 2025 legislative session. Senator Boysko will offer an alternative proposal to kill the casino bill entirely.

It will help tremendously if there are many Fairfax County residents seated in the room to show support for her motion. This nonpartisan effort is open to all, whether you vote Independent, Republican, or Democrat. There is no better way to show our opposition than to show up in person on Tuesday. Senator Boysko will ask us all to stand to show our support for her motion.

There's a link to sign up to take a free bus to Richmond for Tuesday's hearing, so if you're into sitting in traffic on I-95, holding elected officials accountable to the will of the people, or just standing up when someone asks you to, have at it, the end.

Update: The bill wasn't killed, but it was coldpilled -- continued until the 2025 General Assembly session.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Casinopocalypse 2025: Bill Killed Until Next Year, Providing Respite for Compulsive Gamblers, Tysons Used Car Lots


Sad news for compulsive gamblers, national security threats, and Crystal Koons: The General Assembly bill that would have allowed a fun floating 97 story casino to be built on a used car lot in Tysons, but definitely not Reston, is dead—at least for now. Give us some good legislative blockquote, BFF Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn:

Senate Bill 675 authorizing a casino in Tysons is dead for this year and carried over to 2025, after a vote by the Senate Resource Subcommittee. I'm very happy that the subcommittee members listened to the community and the people elected to represent them. It is a big victory for everyone who cares about good government!

While this is a victory for those in Reston and elsewhere in Fairfax County who expressed opposition to the casino, it's definitely coming back. Give us some good I'll-be-back blockquote, BFFs at Reston FFX Now:

The postponement came despite apparent support for the proposal by Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-18), who chairs the Senate Finance & Appropriations resources subcommittee and quipped that she’s been called “the casino queen” during the meeting. 
 
Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35), who patroned the bill that would make Fairfax County — specifically Tysons — eligible for a casino, previously told FFXnow that he was hopeful it would pass, noting that Lucas, who also chairs the overall finance committee, “likes [the] bill.”

 Marsden says he’s “disappointed” by the outcome, noting that the vote still keeps the bill alive until 2025. “No one has any other ideas to give Fairfax County a brighter revenue future,” he told FFXnow.

The year delay gives the developer(s) behind the casino a year to replenish their own war chests and build support for the proposal. Given the more than $630,000 they've already sunk into supporting lawmakers who support the bill, this might be just the beginning, the end. 

Monday, January 22, 2024

Casinopocalyse Nearby: RA Declares Victory in Casino Shift To Tysons, Bill Opponents Slide Into Our DMs (Updated)

ZOMG, throw in a couple of floormats and an extended warranty, because as the bill that would create a fun floating casino atop an abandoned car lot in the county's Emerald City wends its way through Virginia's General Assembly, it appears that Reston is really, probably, maybe officially out of consideration. At least the Reston Association is declaring victory in terms of getting the casino out of our backyards:

Senate Bill 675 was officially introduced by Senator David Marsden, and that as a direct result of our advocacy, he intends to exclude Reston as a possible location for a future casino. This is due significantly to the outreach from RA and its membership, and we thank Senator Marsden for meeting with us, listening to the concerns of our community and taking act on that addresses those concerns. We are confident that Senator Marsden will continue to work with us to ensure Reston is not an option in the bill.

This comes as our BFFs at Patch quantify just how much Comstock has donated to our legislature's casino backers: $51,000 to the Senate subcommittee which will determine the bill's fate. That's cheaper than trying to buy a seat on the county board of supervisors, but not when you consider the $637,000 casino backers have contributed to date.

This bit of news did Not Amuse our county supervisor, Walter Acorn, who writes:

There has been some excellent coverage in the local media including the Patch story this morning disclosing various attempts to grease the skids in Richmond. Such news reinforces my opposition to a casino along the Silver Line. 

Meanwhile, we got this Hot Text on our cellular telephone:

When we were warned about people sliding into our DMs, as the kids might have said a few years ago, this is not what we had in mind! The link sends you to a petition site that lets you send a message to state and county lawmakers, all while you watch video of some sweeeeeeeeet gridlocked traffic crawl by in the background. Advocacy has never been more hypnotic! 

Although last week, we saw an even more Northern Virginia reason for opposing the casino:

**National Security Threat: **  

Fairfax County and surrounding areas have a high concentration of personnel employed by the intelligence community. Gambling debt is a key way that other countries could potentially compromise our national security.

Just keep your neighbor who says he works "for the government" away from the penny slots, the end.

Update: On Tuesday, a House subcommittee voted a 4-4 tie on the fun casino legislation, and the vote is going to the full committee on Wednesday. If you want to take a fun bus ride to Richmond, click here

Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn weighs in:

I know of at least one group of concerned residents that are meeting at the Hartke Office Building parking lot, 11890 Sunrise Valley Drive, 11 a.m. tomorrow (Jan. 24) to bus and carpool to Richmond on this topic (for more information contact conniehartke@gmail.com). It should also be possible to testify remotely tomorrow, see the senate virtual participation policy. Follow the instructions, including signing up at least a half hour before the committee meeting begins  likely early afternoon.


If you cannot attend personally or virtually, emails are also an option. Here is a link to the committee which lists all members – click on each member to get their email address. Here’s my letter I sent Senator Marsden and committee members earlier this evening. If you care about this issue like I do, please make your voice heard!

Update to the Update: After a 10-4 vote Wednesday, the bill is going to the full Senate finance committee, which could kill it or advance it to the full senate. If the bill passes, Fairfax county residents would get their own vote in a referendum before the fun floating casino could be built. 


Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Casinopocalypse Now, But Maybe Nearby: Casino Bill Appears to Strike Reston, Tysons Latest Victim

ZOMG, someone get Crystal Koons off the phone trying to upsell some Scotchguarding on that 1995 Camry and down to Richmond: the fun, 96-story casino first proposed by State Sen. Dave Marsden last year appears to no longer have the exotic, semi-occupied parallelograms of Reston in its sights. New legislation introduced by Marsden in this legislative session narrows the language of where the proposed casino could be placed to exactly one (1) spot: an abandoned car lot in the Paris of Fairfax County, Tysons Corner. Those are disappearing fast, but they still shouldn't have too much trouble finding one! Give us some good how-the-legislative-sausage-is-made blockquote, BFFs at ActionMcNews4!

“The eligible host locality described in subdivision A 6 shall be limited to a proposed site for a casino gaming establishment that is (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside of the Dulles airport flight path, (iv) within two miles of a major shopping destination containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (v) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway.”

On Wednesday, Marsden specified that the language actually only allows the casino on one particular parcel in Tysons, on the site of a "defunct auto dealership on Route 7 in Tysons,” he said.

It goes without saying the idea of a casino in Reston has proven... unpopular. The Reston Citizens Association, Rescue Reston, Reston Strong, Save Our Sunrise, and Reston 20/20 joined forces to create Citizens Opposed to Reston Casino (CORC). The Reston Association created a website and wrote a letter formally opposing the idea. They even made a fancy YouTube video:


In his weekly email message this afternoon, Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn said it isn't clear if the proposed car lot casino site is in his district or not, but if it is, "I want to reiterate that I am against a casino in Hunter Mill District and will continue to work to defeat any legislation that could lead to what I consider a bad outcome for our community." Our BFFs at Reston 2020 talked about the social impact of casinos, and pointed out the massive amount of lobbying Comstock has put into the... hospitality field:

So far, it has hired six lobbyists through its hospitality subsidiary and  created “Building a Remarkable Virginia” PAC that has contributed more than $500,000 to Virginia state political candidates (including $109K to Marsden and Sen. Surovell, another local casino proponent).  Virtually all the money is from Comstock executives or others closely associated with Comstock. 

The funny thing is that the ActionMcNews article describing the new bill spoke to an anonymous "interested developer," whose identity we can't possibly guess, except for following all those dollars lined up in a cartoon-like trail from Reston Station straight to Richmond:

An interested developer said on background that a casino alone isn’t their vision. This developer, who asked to remain anonymous given the early stages and competitiveness of such a large project, envisions a casino paired with a large convention center, hotels, restaurants, office space and residences. Some Fairfax County officials have previously opined their desire to have a convention center and/or entertainment venue.

Sounds perfect for Tysons, where as of late last year, you can stroll around the mall with a cocktail in your hand, just like that nearly as entertaining desert mecca in Nevada. And, in fact, there's a casino design that would work perfectly with that  Emerald City marketing concept that was unironically pitched for Tysons Corner a few years back:


Imagine walking out the front door of that glittering green mauvescraper and using your hard-won slots winnings at the Wal-Mart next door, the end.

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Meanwhile, in the Anti-Reston: TikTok Tunneler Unearths Bigger Problems Than the DRB

You know, if someone told us that a local homeowner got in trouble for making  unapproved modifications to their residence and broadcasting it to the world via TikTok, we would have assumed it was a fellow Restonian using white stone or red mulch and called it a day.  But they do things bigger in our neighbor to the west! Give us some alarming underground blockquote, BFFs at ActionMcNews On Your Side:

A Virginia woman is gaining notoriety online after documenting a home project of digging a tunnel underneath her suburban home... In response to the tunnel digging, FOX 5 received an email from the town of Herndon and a spokesperson said the town received notice of activity of potential violation of the Uniform Statewide Building Code that was occurring at a residential property within the town’s corporate limits.

"As is standard protocol following such notifications, representatives from the building official’s and zoning administrator’s offices conducted a site inspection on Thursday, December 7, 2023. The town is working with the property owner to correct any violations and ensure that the property is safe and in compliance with the code," an email to FOX 5 read.

Rumor has it that TikToker "Kala," better known as @engineer.everything, was outed by a shot of the Reston Home Depot in one of her videos, so there is what we in the "web logging" business like to call "a local angle." But we can only imagine what would happen if someone in Reston started building an underground bunker beneath their 1970s townhouse: A sternly worded letter from the DRB stressing that they must use T1-11 pressed plywood for the support beams and historically appropriate furnishings (a brass cage for the canary), the end.


Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Frankie Comes Back From Hollywood: Reston Co-Op Tries to Ensure RELAC Will Live To Pump Tepid Lake Water Another Day

Great news for fans of tepid lake water, jet-age technology and not being overly cold during the hot summer months: after announcing it would cease operations last month, RELAC has announced it has been subsumed by a cooperative of Reston homeowners, which is at the same time good news and the most Reston-y thing since our community's earliest residents formed their own socialist bus service to get to their strapping-bombs-to-dolphins jobs closer to civilization. 

Give us some good seizing-the-means-of-production blockquote, BFFs at Patch:

As Board members of HOA's under RELAC services, we are pleased to announce a significant development that holds great promise for our community. Yesterday, an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding between the Directors of Reston RELAC LLC, the service entity RELAC, and Simon McKeown as Steering Committee Chair was signed, marking a crucial step towards addressing the operational and managerial concerns related to the service currently known as RELAC.

The MOU establishes the foundation for a carefully structured community-owned entity that will assume responsibility for the management and operation of the RELAC service. This cooperative model is designed to enhance efficiency, transparency, and community engagement, ensuring that the RELAC service will remain operational and provide a service designed in the best interests of all residents, as well as commercial clients.

Clusters of the world, unite!  You have nothing to lose but your chilled air.

The next step is a series of town hall meetings with impacted clusters. The service has a longstanding list of challenges, many of which were enumerated in RELAC's closing announcement, but kudos to the folks who took quick action to try to keep the system running pumping water.