Your Redistricting Fever Box Score: 10-2

As expected, the Fairfax County School Board voted 10-2 to approve the awesome redistricting plan for South Lakes High School, ensuring that socioeconomically privileged brats and Bratz alike will learn together in perfect harmony.

Board member Stuart D. Gibson (Hunter Mill), a proponent of the plan, said it is "about making sure that all children we serve have the same access to the services we expect for all our children."

Two board members supported by anti-redistricting proponents voted against the plan.

Newly elected board members Martina A. Hone (At Large) and James L. Raney (At Large) urged the board to halt the process and rethink the school system's approach toward drawing boundaries.

Hone proposed a countywide moratorium on boundary changes, with exceptions for new schools, to allow a review of all attendance zones.

"I believe that this is the healthiest thing for our community to do," she said, "especially after this very difficult exercise: to stop, assess, plan and make the difficult decisions that we have to do countywide."

Her proposal drew an ovation from parents who oppose new boundaries but failed 10 to 2. Several board members said changes in western Fairfax are needed now. A moratorium "does not address the immediate problem," said member Tessie Wilson (Braddock).

The same majority held in the final roll call for the boundary plan, which concluded shortly before 11 p.m., with Hone and Raney dissenting.

Well, glad that's over. Now everyone can pick up the pieces from this contentious, often hurtful debate that literally split neighborhoods apart and work for what's best for the kids, right?

Some vowed to fight the plan in court if it was approved. Others said they would rather pay for private school or seek permission to place their children in another public school instead of South Lakes.

Oh. Well then. Turns out there was another awesome, less discussed redistricting plan in the works, too.

Last night the board also approved plans to move some students from Wolftrap Elementary School in Vienna to Sunrise Valley Elementary in Reston and from Thoreau Middle School in Vienna to Hughes Middle in Reston.

Here we go again!

Redistricting Fever: Hey, who told the Washington Post people were upset about this?

In anticipation of tonight's awesome meeting at which the Fairfax County School Board will decide whether to redistrict South Lakes High School into what folks in transitional neighborhoods like the ghetto-like, $758,000-a-home Oakton Heights might call a magnet reeducation center for affluent children, kind of like the classic 1980s movie Richie Rich, only a) without MacCauley Culkin and b) with slightly more focus on IB, the Washington Post ran a front-page story about this whole sordid mess. Guess what they figured out? People are upset!

At least they clued into how damaging all these months' of back-and-forth about band programs, Bratz dolls, and vaguely racist anonymous message board comments have been, using the Fox Mill neighborhood as an example:

For months, Fox Mill parents have managed an uneasy peace, smiling across driveways, agreeing to disagree. But lately, tempers have flared. About two weeks ago, board member Kathy L. Smith (Sully) proposed an alternative -- to split the Fox Mill area in two, keeping half of the residents at Oakton.

Rona Ackerman, president of the Fox Mill Elementary PTA, dashed off a survey before the plan was publicly announced to gauge parents' opinions. A few days later, she sent a PTA letter home with students, urging parents to contact the School Board about the proposal.

Her actions touched off a furor. She supports the school system's plan for new boundaries. Some neighbors accused her of seeking to kill Smith's proposal since it would not move all Fox Mill students to South Lakes High. Disgruntled parents circulated e-mails urging a boycott of the elementary school's biggest fundraiser, the PTA-sponsored Family Fun Night.

Ackerman said she wanted only to keep the school community together, a goal she thought neighbors supported. But fallout from Smith's proposal to split Fox Mill showed she might have been wrong.

"Once they drew that line, it became us against them," she said.

Meanwhile, the awesome, positive pro-school group FairfaxCAPS, after basically saying they wouldn't even think about suing the School Board if they failed to meet its demands by promising to end all redistricting forever and build a giant fence around South Reston and give everyone ponies is now... wait for it... talking about suing the school board.

Fairfax CAPS will continue as a watchdog after the vote, Pesce said, but the organization also has plans to bring legal action should the School Board vote to approve the redistricting.

Storck said the School Board has not been sued in recent years, but it isn't concerned about potential lawsuits.

“The legal record is clear, we will be successful,” he said.

Opponents of redistricting made it an issue in the fall's school board elections. They backed Christine "If I thought Reston was bad, I wouldn't live here" Arakelian in her failed attempt to unseat Stu Gibson on the board, and now they're pointing fingers at him and others.

Many parents at the public hearings questioned the motives of school board members whose districts were affected and suggested the process was politically motivated by Stu Gibson, who represents Hunter Mill District.

Tom France, a parent of three elementary-age children in the Madison district said the study's overt political motives has disenfranchised many of the parents.

“The fact that this is so politically driven, Stu Gibson is obviously the main driving force behind this. Janie and Kathy also have a dog in the fight, but the others seem to have the appearance that they just want this to go away,” he said.

Storck said that is an unfortunate inevitability of any boundary study, and he himself was the target of similar accusations during the South County study.

But it sounds like they do have at least one dog in their fight.

One school board member who appears to be more sympathetic to parents who oppose the study is newcomer Tina Hone (At-Large), who told The Times on Feb. 8 that she would like to re-examine the entire process and look at a countywide redistricting.

“If Jim Rainey doesn't offer an amendment, I will offer one that says stop, and it will fail. I think we really need to talk about this issue, otherwise next year it will be somebody else,” Hone said.

Somebody else, sure. But it won't be Langley.

Own a piece of Reston history (aside from the original shag carpeting in your house)

In anticipation of its upcoming renovation, the Reston Museum is holding an auction tonight. Just think -- you could own one of the items that makes the museum so popular with foreign tourists.

The auction, to be held Thursday, Feb. 28, will have a silent portion from 5:30-6:30 p.m. followed by a live auction. Phil Tobey will be the auctioneer.

Items for both auctions consist of donated Reston memorabilia and items that aren't necessarily a good fit for the museum.

“We have a lot of other things people would enjoy but are not really appropriate for us to keep; either we have duplicates or they're not relevant to the history,” she said.

Lillienthal said one of the more interesting items is an abstract ink drawing by Jim Rosant, one of the original architects of Lake Anne Plaza. The drawing was donated by Bob and Cheryl Simon.

Another is an out-of-print book by Tom Grubisich titled "Reston: The First Twenty Years." Grubisich is a writer and former longtime resident of Reston.

Awesome book! We actually quoted from it in our very first post ever on this blog. Now if they'll just auction off some of their vast archive of design review board violations documentation, we'd be there!

Metro Silver Line: Maybe Really the End of the Line?

After winning an extension last month to finish up some paperwork and maybe collate it and put it in a nice plastic binder from Staples so it can be filed and ignored by the Federal Transit Authority, time may be running out for Metro's awesome Silver Line extension, which would give commuters an awesome monorail ride through the architectural wonderland of Tysons Tegucigalpa before encountering a track fire somewhere near Wolf Trap and getting disgorged along the median of the Toll Road.

With the end of the month looming, officials for the Dulles Rail Project are busy working with the Federal Transit Authority to get the project approved before the current construction contract expires.

That situation could seem familiar because at the end of January all of those players were in the exact same position, until they agreed to a one-month extension in the contract, giving everyone involved more time to win over the FTA.

Now, that extension is about to expire, and sources close to the process say that the upcoming contract deadline has motivated a more intense effort to get a resolution for the foundering rail project.

The FTA could issue some sort of decision by Friday, but uncertainty over the dispensation of the $900 million in federal dollars needed for the project's current design has made life difficult for those working on the project.

People have said that the constant delays show that the Feds hate mass transit, because they want everyone to drive their polluting H2s everywhere. But they recently funded a new subway line in New York City to the tune of $2 billion -- that's almost enough to pay for all the orange construction signs they're putting up in Tysons Tegucigalpa! What do those New York City elitists have that the Dulles corridor doesn't? Let's consider:

New York City	Dulles corridor
Empire State bldg.	Reston International Center (and Chili's)
United Nations	Herndon: Center of Tolerance
AOL Headquarters	AOL Headquarters
Statue of Liberty	Statue of Robert E. Simon
Broadway	Baron Cameron Avenue
Hot dog vendors	Macaroni Grill

This Week in Crime: Good thinking!

A 40-year-old Reston woman was arrested after entering D.C. Police headquarters and attempting to take a guard's gun:

[She] entered the building at 300 Indiana Ave. NW about 3:45 p.m. and pulled out a handgun, police said. She approached a private security officer who was guarding the door, demanding, "Give me your gun," according to charging papers filed yesterday.

She then pointed her handgun at the guard and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, according to the charging documents.

The charging papers quoted her as telling police that her plan was to "rob a police officer of his weapon."

Well, at least she went to the right place.

Meanwhile, in the Anti-Reston: The sessions were okay, but you should have seen the souvenir stands

Remember how Herndon's Crowne Plaza hotel was going to host that awesome, vaguely racist conference? About 50 protesters tried to enter the hotel to disrupt the American Renaissance Conference on Saturday, but police held them back. Too bad, because it sounds like they missed quite a show inside:

Among the seminars were "Understanding the African Mind" and "Mexico From the Inside: Who the Mexicans Are and Why They Do What They Do.'' For sale outside conference rooms were neckties decorated with Confederate emblems and books such as "Race Differences in Intelligence'' and "Zoological Subspecies of Man.''

The Post felt compelled to point out that of the 100 attendees, "most of them [were] white men." You think?

Meanwhile, Jared Taylor, the group's founder, pointed to national politics to say they're not so extreme after all:

Taylor said a theme of the conference was the intersection of immigration and race, which he said is reflected in the presidential campaign. "The country is catching up with us,'' he said.

So are some local politicians, at least in our enlightened neighbor to the west.

Redistricting Fever: In That Amount of Time, We Could Have Read 'War and Peace'

This week's awesome -- and perhaps final -- redistricting public hearing, which was supposed to take into account the two new awesome boundary proposals floated a week or so back to make South Lakes High School a classless utopia where newly redistricted children from affluent neighborhoods will be taught from Das Kapital and forced to hold hands with their less fortunate classmates and sing mid-1970s Coca-Cola commercials, apparently lasted six freaking hours. How many ways can people say "It's all about the band programs" before everyone starts losing interest and wondering if Bratz dolls and IB and whatnot maybe aren't so bad after all?

Well, apparently not.

The School Board had established a rule that if people wanted to speak at the hearing their message must pertain to the two new boundary options, which were made available last week. "Unfortunately that was not what most of the comment was about," said Gibson, who represents Hunters Mill. There were 125 people who spoke and most of the comments were similar to what the board had already heard, he said. "The main focus of this was to give people who were newly affected by the proposals from last week a chance to speak," he said.

FairfaxCAPS, the positive, not-gonna-sue anti-redistricting group was also on the scene.

The group FairfaxCAPS, which opposes the redistricting, held a protest in front of Jackson Middle School prior to the hearing. Jay Frost, a member of the group, said the protest was very similar to their last one, held on Feb. 9, drawing about 100 residents from West Fairfax County.

"It was pretty much the same kind of package in terms of people, the things they were saying and where they were walking," Frost said. The only message the group wanted to emphasize was "no redistricting," he said.

It turns out that if they're not successful, it's because they're being too darned nice about this whole spot of bother.

Frost said FairfaxCAPS wanted to respect the School Board's wishes by being less visible and less vocal at the hearing but he thinks it was a mistake and lessened the group's impact.

"Our cause wasn't well reflected last night," he said. "In the future we won't make that mistake again."

The Fairfax County School Board will supposedly vote on this whole sordid mess Feb. 28, so in the spirit of being positive and proactive, maybe they'll break out paisley T-shirts instead of black ones for that hearing.

This Week in Crime: Because Everyone Loves New Year's Parties

Reston's traditional New Year's Eve festivities, which culminated in a mob attack and stabbing, have finally yielded a second arrest. So after wondering why 10 or 15 people might be hanging around in a parking lot in the middle of the night for nearly two months, we've finally figured out it was gang related. Turns out gang members are only human -- they want to ring in the New Year, too!

Police investigation revealed that the driver, rear passenger, and a female passenger had driven to Scotch Bonnet Court after attending a party in Loudoun County.

Investigation revealed that the residence of the party was the home of a gang member of the Ghost Town Crips," according to court documents.

The boyfriend -- a juvenile -- and a group of 10 to 15 men surrounded the victims' vehicle, according to Fairfax Police Department press releases. "I'm going to teach this man a lesson," the juvenile said, according to search warrants.

The juvenile assaulted the driver with his fists, according to search warrants filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court. A second individual assaulted the rear passenger, when the rear passenger attempted to help the driver. The second individual produced a large buck knife and stabbed the rear passenger several times in his back. As the victim driver drove away, both suspects fell out of the car and onto the ground, according to search warrants.

"A large amount of blood was found inside the victim's vehicle," according to search warrants.

To be fair, watching Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark always puts us into a rage, too. But we'll try stick to noisemakers and bad champagne.

That gives folks another week to click on the banner ads

The Reston Association pushes back the deadline to pay the annual assessment fee to March 7. It's an accommodation to make up for the fact that its awesome online transaction system was down for some period of time. So long as it's up and running at 4:59pm March 7, we're set!

Meanwhile, in the Anti-Reston: Crisp manners (and sheets) on display

Ah, Herndon... city of tolerance, now-uncrowded 7-11 parking lots and K-Mart. What awesome news do you have to share?

Remember that time a Herndon hotel was going to host a fun racist convention this weekend? Well, it's still on, and protesters are planning to demonstrate.

David Welliver, General Manager of the Crowne Plaza hotel in Herndon, told The Times that despite extreme pressure, he has no plans to cancel the event, which will take place Feb. 22-24.

The biannual New Century Foundation/American Renaissance convention is organized by Oakton resident Jared Taylor, who calls himself a "race realist" and publishes American Renaissance magazine, which he has done for nearly 20 years.

"Taylor is a Nazi pig," Jeff Adler, spokesman for the militant group Jewish Defense Organization, told The Times in November. Upon hearing about the convention, Adler began a campaign, called Operation Nazi-Kicker, to prompt the Crowne Plaza hotel to cancel what he called the "meeting of hate." He also said a physical protest was not out of the question.

Operation Nazi-Kicker? Well, that doesn't sound tolerant at all!

Anyway. We're sure the Herndon Crowne Plaza is an awesome hotel, with top-notch conference facilities and probably a couple of those ice machines with the complementary buckets and tongs and whatnot. But why did this group decide to meet there?

An unflattering report published by Taylor's New Century Foundation titled “Hispanics, a statistical portrait,” caught the attention of El Pueblo Unido, a Latino empowerment organization.

Oh.

Anyway, that group and others are planning a protest march on Saturday. Taylor says he's prepared.

“So what can we expect,” wrote Taylor on the Web site VDARE about expected protests. “Perhaps a dozen shaggy, braying throwbacks to the 1960s who will divert conference-goers and passing motorists alike with quaint slogans and eccentric attire. Nothing could be more edifying than the contrast between the detritus on the sidewalk and the crisp, good manners in the conference hall.”

Good manners. Crisp good manners. Hopefully as crisp as their freshly starched sheets.

Now that's a good sign for the white-hot real estate market!

Spotted at the corner of Glade and Soapstone on Sunday: A dancing person dressed like the chap pictured at right, except that instead of hawking comestibles, the epileptic mustard-colored human billboard was promoting a nearby open house -- a tactic commonly used by such equally reputable businesses as payday loan palaces and french fry emporiums. Time to call your friendly neighborhood Realtor(tm)(R) -- with innovative sales tactics like that, it looks like the housing market's got nowhere to go but up!

Turns out there are worse things than IB....

...like gay penguins. That's what's keeping folks busy in the school system next door, anyway.

Reston Real Estate: The High-Low Game, pt. 5

We start this edition of everyone's favorite soft market game of wheelin' and dealin' not with the usual McMansion or condo, but a restaurant in Lake Anne Plaza.

Hidden Gem located with a view of Lake Ann in Reston. Where else can you get a high quality property for under $400 a square foot? Present owner relocated and pursuing other interest. TOP Opportunity for a restaurant owner currently leasing. Make a quick offer to own tax benefits and get a jump start on Spring inundation of outdoor customers with many seats with a view of the lake.

You might want to get an exterminator to check out that inundation. It doesn't mention which restaurant is on the block, but the address suggests it's the building housing Il Cigno Tavern on the Lake. The asking price of $1.7 million will buy a lot of tapas!

Too rich for your blood? Just $149,000 will get you this charming three-bedroom walk-up in Freetown Court.

SHORT SALE, 3RD PARTY APROVAL... BEAUTIFUL CONDO, 3 BEDROOMS, 1 FULLBATH, GREAT LOCATION, BREAKFAST ROOM, LOCATED ON 2ND FLOOR, W/ BALCONY AND MUCH MORE...

Awesome! With a mortgage of just $705, you can use all the money you're saving on rent to buy a dictionary and a new keyboard with a SHIFT key!

Meanwhile, bargain hunters take note: One of our previous winners, the swank Town Center condo, is back on the market for the low, low price of $1.995 million, a savings of more than $300,000. Dinner at Uno's is on us!

A Not-So-Super Tuesday in the Works

Four Reston residents will vie for two open seats on the Reston Association board of directors.

Cheryl Beamer, who won in last year’s election to fill the seat left vacant with the death of Barbara Aaron, and John Bowman will vie for the Hunters Woods/Dogwood representative. Barbara Zicari and Richard Chew have announced candidacy for the At-Large seat.

Ballots get mailed out in early March and are due April 4.

No, they didn't see that balloon-making clown on the Plaza

The Virginia Polar Plunge attracted what one newspaper account called "tens" of people willing to expose themselves to the chilly waters and iggy runoff of Lake Anne, each raising funds for Camp Sunshine, a Maine facility for children with life-threatening illnesses. But why, you may ask, did the event organizers pick Lake Anne?

“Last February [Jennifer] said we should have one in Virginia. Since there are no oceans handy we looked at Lake Anne,” Jennifer's mother, Gail Toth, said.

Just don't tell anyone in Virginia Beach.

Redistricting Fever: Because This Hasn't Been Too Confusing Already

Just when we thought it was a sure thing that the South Lakes High School boundaries would be redistricted in a maniacal social engineering experiment that would swallow whole all surrounding high-income neighborhoods and use the power of eminent domain to force their children to play with Bratz dolls or work in soup kitchens or even take IB, Fairfax County School Board members have put two new options on the table.

Kathy Smith (Sully) and Stuart Gibson (Hunter Mill) have submitted what they are terming "Scenario 2" and "Scenario 3," respectively.

Both would redistrict the Madison High School attendance island to South Lakes High School and include within that the elementary and middle school.

Wasn't there already an Option 1 and Option 2? And didn't Option 5 become Option 1? And wouldn't that make these new proposals Options 2 and 3? Or maybe Options 2(a) and 3(a)?

Anyway. Both awesome new plans affect people in neighborhoods who thought they were clear after the earlier options were whittled down following the wonderful input sessions. Folks in the Langley High School district are especially hard hit.

Had you going there for a moment, didn't we? No, they're basically tweaks to more of the same old, same old.

Both propose to assign a portion of the McNair Elementary School attendance area that is north of Fox Mill Road, east of Centreville Road and south of the Dulles Toll Road to Herndon High School from Westfield High School.

Both options also would assign a portion of the Oak Hill Elementary School attendance area known as Chantilly Highlands, with the exception of the Ladybank Lane, area to Westfield from Chantilly High School.

The two representatives differed on two points, and Gibson offered a sixth recommendation, one more than Smith.

Gibson proposed shifting the entirety of the Fox Mill Elementary School attendance area from Oakton High School to South Lakes, while Smith proposed moving only the portion that is northwest of the stream valley that bisects the subdivision.

Smith would reassign the portion of Floris Elementary School's attendance area that is east of Centreville Road and south of Frying Pan Road to South Lakes, with the exception of the Spring Lakes Estates subdivision, which would remain at Westfield.

Gibson would move the portion of Floris' attendance area that is east of Centreville Road, north of West Ox Road and south of Frying Pan Road from Westfield to South Lakes.

Gibson's recommendations further included reassigning to Oakton from Westfield the portion of Floris that is east of Centreville Road and south of West Ox Road with the exception of the Spring Lakes Estates subdivision.

At this point, our heads are spinning. But more information on the two options is here. Another awesome public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19, but it's already too late to sign up to speak. Of course, it's never too late to build a website or wear black or come up with some arbitrary technicality, so go for it!

Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 15: Corn fritters (or buyouts) for everyone!

After months of speculation, it's official: Sprint is movin' its headquarters to Kansas.

It was unclear how many employees at the Reston campus would be affected by the relocation, as the company is offering voluntary retirement packages as part of its plan to reduce staff worldwide by 4,000. Yet the wireless carrier said Sprint will continue to maintain sizable operations locally, reducing the number of office buildings it operates from nine to seven.

Here's the official boilerplate from the internal memo.

We will retain a very significant employee presence in Reston. It remains an important source of talent for the company. Very few Reston-based employees, other than some executives, will be expected to relocate to Overland Park. We'll use this opportunity to re-energize and strengthen the Reston campus.

If by "re-energize" and "strengthen" you mean "find plenty of room to hold meetings in empty cubicles." You can read the rest of the internal memo here. Or better yet, just wait for the movie:

But what of the Macaroni Grill? Reston's Fake Downtown to continue paying onerous developer fees

As they face less and less demand for their awesome particleboard McMansions with 2-story foyers in soulless subdivisions with names like Pointe Hunte Preserve, Virginia homebuilders have been lobbying heavily in the statehouse to get something called "impact fees," which basically let them all but stop paying for the new schools, roads and flashing red traffic lights needed to serve said wonderful particleboard subdivisions. When that didn't go over so well, they offered up a compromise, making Reston's Fake Downtown and Tysons Tegucigalpa sacrifical lambs.

By exempting Tysons Corner and part of the Reston Town Center from the so-called impact fees, the development industry was trying to placate Fairfax County, which opposes the bill along with Loudoun and Prince William counties. Tysons and Reston, which are slated for urban-style redevelopment projects, would remain under the current system, which would allow county officials to negotiate contributions, called proffers, from developers.

But the change was not sufficient to win over Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), who called it a last-minute attempt to garner support before the Tuesday deadline.

Swell. But what does all this mean to folks like you and me?

In addition, association officials said, it would stabilize the market and slow the double-digit percentage increases in housing values.

Right. Because we're all concerned about the double-digit increases in our property values right now. Thanks, Selfless Homebuilders!

We Get Letters

A reader writes in:

After discovering your website, I would love to read your take on the FCPS Budget proposing reducing and then eliminating Focus School programs, K-2 Initiatives, etc.

Schools deeply affected?: Forest Edge Elementary, Lake Anne Elementary, Dogwood - all Title I school, well hell, all of the schools are being affected by this craziness.

Imagine that. Or, for that matter, this. Dollar for dollar, early childhood programs are among the best money spent in public schools, and one of the best indicators of future success. At least full-day kindergarten is continuing to be rolled out, but if these kinds of programs were available everywhere, then six or seven or eleven years down the road, people wouldn't be able to brandish dog-eared copies of the latest "dismal" test scores from Westfield High School, or maybe Oakton or Madison -- or whatever school might be considered the new "troubled" high school feared by parents and Realtors alike at that point.

Imagine the scene. Tempers would flare. Emotions would be high on all sides. Parents from the now-desirable South Lakes district, where property values have skyrocketed because of the awesome new Metro stations and the school's universally acclaimed IB programs, will protest redistricting like hell, saying it's all about the band programs, or the football team, or maybe even come up with some tenuous, half-baked Margaret Mead comments about Bratz dolls. They might start their own friendly website talking about how much they support the schools while quietly threatening to sue them in the same breath. If they get really desperate, they might even start questioning 10-year-old student census numbers and suggest that school officials don't know how to count.

Nah, that's crazy. That would never happen.

Metro Silver Line: Back on the Bus

As Metro's awesome Silver Line remains in hilarious, sitcom-like limbo, its longtime opponents are bringing back the idea of something faster, cheaper, and at least somewhat less likely to burst into flames on a regular basis: a bus line.

Del. Bob Marshall (R-Leesburg) and Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Centreville) held a press conference Feb. 3 to discuss the possibility of using a bus rapid transit system to supplement or replace the proposed rail project.

“I believe now that the governor should stop pushing this project – I think it’s like pushing air through a corpse – and get serious about bus rapid transit,” Marshall said.

Cuccinelli also expressed concerns over the efficiency of the rail system. He said he opposed the “Dulles rail boondoggle” since 2002. He believes the bus system would benefit more of the region, instead of just having the one rail line.

“The Metro system is crumbling,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to add to it when we need congestion relief, and all we get from Metro is essentially broken down trains … and we do not need the additional taxes.”

Fine, but if we're going to have an awesome bus system, let's do it right. None of those boring commuter buses -- that's so Montgomery County! Let's get those awesome open-air double decker buses so people can get the full experience of the sights, sounds, and smells of all the wonderful chain eateries in Tysons Tegucigalpa. In fact, instead of worrying about some sort of bus-Metro connector fare, they should just sell hop-on-hop-off tickets like they do on the tour buses downtown, so folks can jump off at the Bed-Bath N Beyond and then get back on, new perfumed bedding in hand, to head over to the awesome CompUSA, or whatever big-box store has taken its place. Which, given the awesome, non-Metro abated traffic, should only take... 30 minutes.

Redistricting Fever: In Case You're Keeping Score at Home

After several months of awesome public input sessions, two public hearings, one ejected videographer, and millions of insightful message board comments, let it be known that the real reason parents are up in arms about the boundary study involving South Lakes High School is their concern about the band programs ethnic makeup the IB program socioeconomics school spirit football Bratz dolls real estate values whether Fairfax County School officials know how to count. That is, until someone comes up with yet another carefully crafted, proactive yet non-spiteful reason during tomorrow's final public hearing.

That is all.

Tall Oaks: Hope Blooms Eternal Pt. 2: The postcard is mightier than the sword

Ever since the awesome Tall Oaks Giant closed last year, leaving behind an eerie wasteland of empty shelves and stucco in the mostly vacant shopping center, people have been hoping that Bloom, Food Lion's less bleachy, non-Nascar-intensive grocery chain, would take its place. Turns out Bloom may well be interested after all.

According to the campaign’s initiator, Tara Coonin, decision makers at Bloom have told her that the grocery store is interested in the space formerly occupied by Giant. She said more than 1,500 postcards were mailed to Bloom to encourage the store to open at Tall Oaks.

That awesome postcard campaign actually may have worked. Yay! Of course, there's one small hitch:

However, she said, the chain is reluctant to move into the space until better signage for the shopping center is placed on Wiehle Avenue. Coonin said the leasing company for Tall Oaks, KLNB, has tasked a consultant with a signage study for the area.

Awesome! Maybe they'll erect a giant blinking neon sign surrounded by spotlights visible from outer space. Or at least replace the missing letter from the word "Center" on the existing sign. But how do we get those pencil-pushing bureaucrats to move from a "signage study" to a... well, an actual freaking sign? How 'bout another petition!

The petition, found here, states that the undersigned "understand Bloom has begun negotiations with Tall Oaks Village Center to open a store where Giant was previously located. We would like the process of opening a Bloom to be done in a timely, efficient manner by all parties involved so that Bloom will be opening its doors to the public as soon as possible."

Next up: Convincing a Captain D's to take the place of the shuttered stucco Burger King.

This Week on an exquisitely special 'Reston Heights': They Paved Paradise (or at least the Chili's) and put up a parking lot

Reston's Planning and Zoning committee gives the green light to an awesome new parking garage for the Reston Sheraton, which will replace... well, an existing parking lot, actually.

JBG Companies request[ed] to replace 165 surface parking spaces behind Reston Sheraton Hotel with a garage containing 309 spaces. The proposal would allow development of an approved retail building where a parking lot in front of the Sheraton stands today.

That building and the garage will go up as "market conditions" permit, so don't throw away that awesome cardboard windshield shade with the wacky oversized sunglasses just yet. During the meeting, someone brought up the question of additional traffic on Sunrise Valley Drive. But don't they always?

Quote of the Week

From a Fairfax County Times article on last week's awesome public hearings on the boundary study involving South Lakes High School and a host of other, less Bratz-intensive area high schools:

Amy Girardi, a senior at South Lakes and SGA president, said the boundary process, which began in earnest in November, has taught her that “adults can be more childish than any high school student."

Oh, the humanity!

Lake Anne Chevron, which was out of business for more than a year after a drugged-out driver hit the building and started a massive fire that attracted more TV station helicopters than a remake of the beach scene in Apocalypse Now, has suffered yet another insurmountable blow. Below is a picture of the carnage, but be warned -- it ain't pretty. We'd suggest getting anyone under the age of 17 or over the age of 63 out of the room before scrolling down, because the uncensored scene of raw destruction depicted below will shock and offend just about everyone who believes in Reston's core principles of truth, justice, and the mauve-colored way.


Okay. Everyone with delicate constitutions out of the room?


Don't say we didn't warn you... here goes.


There are no words.

Actually, the whole thing kind of sucks, because the accident happened in front of two other drivers who, like the driver of the "big box" style truck, drove off without notifying anyone.

Kapoor hoped to present the perpetrator’s credit card number, but the officer told him that privacy laws preclude him from pursuing anyone based on a credit card number. Kapoor said he received the same answer when he tried to send the credit card number to the oil company.

Just like in one of those buddy movies starring a wisecracking Cop on the Edge and his long-suffering parter who's got one more week to go until he retires and is Getting Too Old For This, those paper-pushing bureaucrats are actually helping the criminals! Maybe once Chuck Norris is finished shilling for Mike Huckabee, we can get him down here for some Texas-style justice.

Metro Silver Line: So You're Telling Me There's a Chance

After telling Virginia officials that Metro's awesome proposed Silver Line through Tysons Tegucigalpa, Reston, Dulles and the hinterlands beyond was as dead as a doornail, the Feds have lightened up a bit.

WASHINGTON - The proposed Metrorail extension to Dulles Airport remains unrated in a Federal Transit Administration report, boosting the hopes of the project's supporters.

Backers of the 23-mile extension anticipated that it would receive a failing grade in Tuesday's report because of warnings from federal regulators that the project was unlikely to qualify for $900 million in U.S. funds.

FTA spokesman Wes Irvin said it would have been "unfair" to give Dulles rail a poor rating, The Washington Post reports. He said the report was assembled in the fall as the agency awaited information from Virginia about the project's cost, management and timeline.

To us, Wes sounds a bit like an overwhelmed middle school science teacher bullied by parent calls into not flunking the kids who didn't get their baking soda-fueled volcano science fair projects done on time. That's not totally fair, though, since Metro's tracks actually manage to flame out and smolder on a regular basis. And an "incomplete" is a lot better than an "F," even if it doesn't get federal funds flowing in time to turn Tysons Tegucigalpa into a winter wonderland full of yellow construction cones and indolent construction workers loitering on backhoes.

But there's still hope. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is asking the Feds for suggestions. And the business community is still clapping.

"Before, only people with a special axe to grind were engaged," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "Now it's a much broader voice."

That broad voice includes Reston businesses.

Reston Hospital Center has found that transferring patients by ambulance is not an option at rush hour. It has increasingly been shuttling patients by helicopter, a safer and faster, yet more expensive, alternative.

Northrop Grumman opened a headquarters in Reston 10 years ago with the expectation that employees would be able to ride Metrorail to work by now, said Bob Waters, vice president of human resources and administration. If employees are no longer willing to make the difficult commute, the company won't be able to expand here, he said.

"If we can't staff big projects locally, we may decide to go to West Virginia," he said. "We do have to look at alternatives."

Makes sense. After all, West Virginia has awesome mass transit.

This Week in Crime: From Sordid to Sad

Seven people have been arrested in connection with a series of six burglaries that took place in Reston from Dec. 23-Jan. 16.

Personal property including electronics, computer equipment and guns were stolen from the homes. This was an apparent organized, coordinated effort on the part of all suspects involved.

Or maybe it just seems impressively organized because this time the perps didn't just waltz into a series of open, unlocked garages.

Another Reston man pleaded guilty to robbing a strip club in Baltimore.And finally, a former Herndon Middle School teacher pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquincy of a minor.

Metro Silver Line: When all else fails, an online petition will do the trick

That'll show those pesky Feds.

Redistricting Boogaloo: It's really all about the football teams

And we thought it was the band programs! But at the first of three awesome public hearings on proposals to redistrict South Lakes High School boundaries to include both Bratz and Barbie lovers, both transitional neighborhoods like $758,000-per-home Oakton Woods and South Reston, that was apparently the takeaway.

For Brian Stout, a junior at South Lakes High School in Reston, inequities in high school enrollment across western Fairfax County have crystallized on the football field, where his team is compared with regional powers more than twice its size, such as the one at Westfield High. "The schools are literally not on a level playing field," he said.

Who says IB doesn't do a good job teaching abstract concepts like "metaphor"? Anyway, the public hearings were supposed to mark the debut of the awesome, kinder and gentler FairfaxCAPS group's efforts, but the Post reporter was so enthralled by gridiron metaphors he apparently missed them. But founding member Jay Frost says they're keeping the tone positive. And all that talk about lawsuits is just that... talk.

Frost denied that FairfaxCAPS is considering any sort of legal action against the county. Rumors of various organizations filing lawsuit against the county have come and gone in the wake of the study.

“Even if we wanted to we wouldn't need to,” he said. “We hope all those things would go away when we're finally able to talk to the board.”

Frost said FairfaxCAPS hopes to have a more engaged, if less vitriolic, discussion with school board members and FCPS staff. Frost called the tone of discussions until this point “acidic.”

“I'm hoping we're going to take that tone and turn it around; if it doesn't, something terrible is going to happen,” he said.

So, how'd that new, non-acidic approach work out?

Adding more deck chairs to the ship and rearranging them is not going to keep the ship afloat," said Nicholas Pesce, a parent of a preschool-age child who would eventually head to South Lakes rather than Westfield High under the plan. Another parent, Choa-Chong Lee, whose children would be similarly rerouted, shared a cartoon he drew of a ship sinking while School Board members depicted as sailors invited people aboard.

Meanwhile, South Lakes supporters pulled out all the PR stops:

Among the proponents of the redistricting were Alan Webb, a 2001 South Lakes alumnus, Olympian and U.S. record holder in track and field, who praised his alma mater as a place where high-achieving students can thrive, and Susan Sather, a South Lakes parent and Girl Scout troop leader. Sather wore her forest green jumper and argued that her 21 Brownies and Daisy Scouts deserve to look forward to "a community high school with enough students to let that school blossom."

"They are the future of South Lakes, and they need your help right now," she told the board.

Awwwww. Forest green jumpers vs. some snarky cartoon? Advantage: girl scouts!

The final awesome public meeting is on Feb. 9, and the Fairfax County School Board is expected to make a final decision about a month afterwards, which we'll keep following, assuming the snarky behavior on both sides doesn't turn us into Huckabee-supporting, evolution-denying homeschoolers before then.