Several secret Restonian operatives forwarded us this "electronic message" from RA President Robin Smyers, encouraging people to vote for three "non-partisan" candidates and calling another unnamed endorsed slate of candidates -- presumably the Gang of Three endorsed by Save Brown's Chapel -- "a partisan slate of candidates who, if elected, could cause much harm to Reston."
Smyers endorsed David Robinson, Kevin Danaher, and Mike Collins, who coincidentally were the same three candidates mentioned in another "non-partisan" e-mail about snow removal sent by the RA. Well, knock us over with a feather! Smyers' "electronic message" is below:
From: Robin SmyersFor the record, we think Smyers has every right to endorse candidates she supports, particularly since this message was not sent through official RA channels. Other board members have done the same in the past, and we suspect they always will. We just can't recall a RA Board election that's generated this level of emotion.
Date: March 5, 2010 10:16:23 PM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Good Candidates to Support - Please VOTE
Dear Friends and Fellow RA Members, The RA Board of Directors candidates‚ ballots have been mailed and it is very important that those whom we elect are people of integrity. There have been unfounded attacks on RA recently, led by a special interest group looking out for its own agenda, rather than looking out for Reston as a whole.
This coalition has put forth a partisan slate of candidates who, if elected, could cause much harm to Reston.
Please give your consideration to the following non-partisan candidates who have experiences that would make them thoughtful and contributing board members and who are enthusiastic about Reston and willing to put in the work needed to guide us in the years ahead.
If you live in Lake Anne/Tall Oaks or in North Point, you have the opportunity to vote for two of these three excellent candidates.
If you live in South Lakes or Hunters Woods/Dogwood, you can only vote for David, but he‚s terrific!
*On a personal note, even though I will soon be leaving Reston, my heart and passion for this community will never fade. This community is worthy of the enthusiasm these fine candidates are willing to dedicate to our members and your vote counts!! This community deserves leaders who have no personal agendas, vendettas, but bring educated ideas and openness to this important time.
Reston resident Evan Gargiulo, who was charged in the November 2008 slaying of a taxi driver in Tysons Corner while wearing a wetsuit from a Halloween party, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Evan D. Gargiulo, now 23, had been at a Halloween party in the District, and claimed his wallet and keys had been stolen at the party. He convinced Nazir to drive him home to Reston, where he apparently retrieved a 9 mm handgun, then had Nazir drive him back to his car at Tysons.An update on Garguilo's insanity defense:
Gargiulo told police that he didn't have any cash, and that Nazir heard this and tried to climb over the front seat to attack him, so Gargiulo shot him. In a pretrial hearing, prosecutors revealed that Nazir was still wearing his seat belt when he was discovered.
This morning, Gargiulo entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Lawyers told Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Bruce D. White the trial should take four or five days.
Renowned psychologist Stanton Samenow, who often testifies against defendants making an insanity claim, examined Gargiulo and found that he was "psychologically destabilized," defense attorney Steven Garver said, and "was unable to distinguish right from wrong as a result of that mental illness."
Thanks, RA, for sending us all eight copies of the weekly Upcoming Events e-mail over the weekend.... each more exciting than the last! At least there was some interesting stuff to promote (newcomers night on Thursday, a special presentation on "What Does the Master Plan Special Study Mean to Your Neighborhood?" on Wednesday night at the Nature House, and something called "Dancing Wind" which reminds us of the last time we had too many microwave burritos, etc.)
The eight e-mails didn't mention that the RA Board will meet tonight to consider sending a letter to the Fairfax County Planning Commission about Comstock's awesome proposed Wiehle Avenue Metro development. A draft of the RA letter suggests extending Soapstone Drive over the Toll Road to one end of the project -- which makes sense, given the fact that the only two bridges across the Toll Road are crowded enough as it is, even before they add shiny new buildings and parking garages and whatnot. The draft RA letter also calls for a fancy ramp into the parking garage right off the Toll Road, more work with adjacent property holders so the area is developed in some sort of consistent way, and the provision of county incentives to prod Comstock into including more than the required amount of affordable housing. Also the RA is worried about stormwater collection, but they could always just add a big long metal pipe to Lake Anne so it can help run that awesome RELAC air-conditioning system. That's what developers might call a "win-win."
But we digress. The RA isn't the only group with a twitchy e-mail finger of late. Reston 2020's Terry Maynard sent county officials a letter calling the Wiehle proposal "ghastly" and "a farce of the county's stated goals for TOD development," urging county planners to send Comstock back to the drawring board. And if you think that's a less than positive review, Kathy Kaplan and Guy Rando's letter calls the proposal "immoral" for including such limited open space when starting with a "completely blank site." Here's our favorite line:
Comstock has said it will try to attract world-class retail to the plaza, such as Gucci. This plaza will be so drab and unhealthy we doubt they could drag in a kiosk with WalMart costume jewelry to the site.Ouch! Another letter from John and Fran Lovaas takes Comstock to task for not responding to earlier critiques:
They seem to believe that they have the county and ultimately our community over a major barrel with a sole source PPEA deal and tight timelines to meet a train coming down the track. The Reston community has no power to alter Comstock's plans. So, we must look to Fairfax County to act on our behalf and demand excellence in the plans for this site.There's also a Tuesday evening meeting about the broader Reston Master Plan and how it relates to Wiehle development, held by the fancy task force with a long name we're too tired to even come up with a wacky acronym for (FTFWALNWTTTECUWAWAF). That's at 7pm at Lake Anne. All we can say is that if the RA Board votes to send their fancy letter along to the county, here's hoping they don't accidentally send it eight times.
A Thursday morning fire in Winterport cluster in South Reston injured a firefighter and caused $180,000 in damages.
A fire in a Reston-area townhouse caused $180,000 damage after someone improperly discarded fireplace ashes Thursday.
And, a firefighter was hurt when ceiling drywall fell on him as he battled the blaze in the 1900 block of Winterport Cluster. His injuries are not life-threatening.
The two people who lived in the home managed to get out safely and are being assisted by the Red Cross.
When firefighters got on the scene, they found the rear of the two-story townhouse and deck on fire. The fire quickly spread to the attic and roof, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue says.
The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes.
With all the excitement about the proposed sunless canyon Wiehle Metro development, we keep forgetting that Metro's Silver Line will eventually extend to the site of the current Herndon-Monroe park-and-ride, currently home to a crumbly garage, some bird-intensive wetlands, and Targetville's sister city.
Fortunately, the Reston Master Plan Task Force With a Ridiculously Long Name (RMPTFWARLN) hadn't forgotten, and during its meeting last weekend, brought Herndon and Reston residents together to discuss the area's future. Just check out this West Side Story-like introduction to a fancy "news paper" article about the meeting:
Ian McDonald of Herndon wondered whether more pedestrian and bicycle routes over the Dulles Toll Road were planned for the area where the Herndon-Monroe Metro station will one day be situated. Regarding the existing Monroe Street bridge, he said, "The pedestrian facilities on there are not great."KNIFE FIGHT! KNIFE FIGHT! No, wait. That's not what happened:
Meanwhile, Anthony Balducci of the Polo Fields neighborhood in Reston worried that in the future, drivers would park in his community and walk to the Metro station, as some already did in order to access the existing park-and-ride facility.
Both men live less than a half-mile from the planned Herndon-Monroe Metro station, but the community workshop at Langston Hughes Middle School Saturday morning, Feb. 27 represented a rare occasion when they might meet in a public forum, as residents and leaders of Reston and Herndon came together to discuss the future of the area around the Metro station they expect to share by 2016.
County planner Heidi Merkel told the nearly 200 people in attendance that the areas of prime concern to the county, in accordance with Fairfax’s transit-oriented development (TOD) policies, were those within a half-mile of the stations, but she noted that some low-density, single-family-home neighborhoods crossed into those circles. "We are not proposing or planning any changes for those areas," she said.So wetlands and single-family homes will remain on one side of the Toll Road, with giant high-rise complexes that will serve as shining monuments to tolerance on the other. Or maybe not:
Most of the areas around stations, though, will see increases in density, as planners attempt to mitigate future traffic congestion caused by the rapid population and job growth the area is expecting.
THE HERNDON-MONROE STATION will sit in the median of the Dulles Toll Road, near the current park-and-ride facility, with Fairfax County to the south and the town of Herndon to the north. For the county’s part, Merkel said, this station is the most problematic for transit-oriented development. According to policy, the greatest density is to be situated closest to the station, but to the immediate south of the planned Metro stop is a 1,700-space parking structure that is to double in size. And the low-density Polo Fields neighborhood is within throwing distance of the parking garage and will have to be buffered from any new development. Meanwhile, the nearby property of the Reston Arboretum office development contains a natural wetland. "Staff does not anticipate any proposals to change the wetland area," Merkel said to applause.
To the north, however, the land in Herndon closest to the station is already planned for urban development, said town planner Kay Robertson. The town has not yet established transit-oriented development goals but is seeking a consultant to develop a policy, she said.
Herndon Town Council member Charlie Waddell said the first reaction he usually heard from residents was that they didn’t want the area overdeveloped. But he said the council had also received suggestions that nightspots and hotels be built there, and he noted that a trolley system to serve the area and possibly even connect it to Reston Town Center could be desirable.A booze boat-like trolley linking H-M with Reston Town Center so tipsy consultants can safely hit both Pizzeria Unos and some new Macaroni Grill-caliber good-time eatery at Herndon Monroe during the very same happy hour? Well, why didn't they say so in the first place?
A small twin-engine plane which crashed into a home in Louisa, Virginia, yesterday afternoon, was registered to James A. Youngquist of Reston, according to the FAA.
An update:
Virginia State Police say 62-year-old Jay Youngquist of Reston, Virginia was the pilot who died in the plane crash. Family and friends of Reston's northpoint community are in shock. Neighbors say he was one of the nicest people who would plow their streets during the snow storm and he loved to do yard work outside.Hats off.
Investigators say he was heading to a baseball game on the Southside, in Danville, Virginia. Neighbors say he often volunteered to umpire games.
"One of the nicest things is it doesn't really change the use of the site," said Larry Butler, director of Parks and Recreation for the Reston Association.We're guessing that means no juicery. Nuts.
Though still in the early stages of design, Butler said the footprint of the facility would likely fall in line with what is currently at Lake Newport. The six outdoor courts there -- about 36,000 square feet -- will be replaced with five courts at 46,000 square feet, he said.
"We're really just taking a seasonal facility and making it year-round. It makes the most sense to put it at the Lake Newport site," Butler said.
Previous plans for an indoor tennis facility lost momentum because of location and scale. In July 2009, the Reston Association voted to eliminate the choice of Brown's Chapel -- a 22-acre park with walking trails, baseball fields, basketball courts, tot lot, picnic pavilion and historic chapel. The 500,000-square-foot facility carried a $65 million price tag. The size of the project sparked debate in the community, including a campaign to "Save Brown's Chapel," which opposed having a large complex on a historic site.
"Brown's Chapel was an integrated complex. It had aquatics, tennis, fitness, community meeting areas," Butler said. "What we're talking about now is a different animal."
"Dr. Havens wishes to express his deep regret that medical records of his patients were inadvertently included in the disposal of other non-medical records. This isolated incident is outside of the usual office procedures and protocols for the destruction of patients’ records."The funny part? Officials made Fox give the records back to the doctor's office, where they will be destroyed, or maybe put up on eBay or something.
