Your RA: As much turnover as an urban fast-food restaurant

When we dug up a yellowing, week-old copy of the freebee newspaper and wrote about the new members of the RA board, little did we know we were just scratching the surface!

The Reston Association's Board of Directors underwent numerous leadership changes last week. Cheryl Beamer, Richard Chew and Timothy McMahon were elected to serve on the Board of Directors April 15; the board appointed new officers April 16; and Jenn Blackwell, who had served as president for three years, resigned from her position as an at-large director April 18.

Robin Smyers, who was the board's vice president and is the district director for Lake Anne and Tall Oaks, was elected president. At-large Director Mark Watts was elected as vice president, South Lakes district Director Kathleen Driscoll McKee was elected secretary and John Higgins was re-elected as treasurer.

Yeah, but other than that, did we miss anything important?

Blackwell, who served on the board for two terms, was selected to serve as the assistant United States attorney for Michigan and is relocating to the Ann Arbor area. "It was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life," Blackwell said. Ever since she was in law school she wanted to work as a criminal prosecutor on behalf of the U.S. government, she said. "When it was offered to me, I really had to wrestle with the decision of leaving Reston," she said.

Smyers said she hopes to get started on a number of projects this year, including deciding whether to move forward on an indoor recreational facility, breaking ground on the nature house and seeking out a potential new headquarters for RA. She also said she hopes to improve communication between the tenants and renters of RA properties rather than communicating only with the owners of the properties.

Oh. We thought the awesome indoor tennis facility, long cited as a key hot-button issue among Reston voters, was a done deal. Go figure: Instead of God and guns, our politicians message us about tennis and taupe.