Reston Association President Robin Smyers has responded to recent blog posts and comments about the $65 million rec center proposed for Brown's Chapel Park. Below is her unedited response:
Dear Restonian,Yes, this is a "web log" of opinion. And for the record, #10 was a joke. So, too, were previous comments about competitive hang gliding, roller derbies, and combat-style chess/knitting arenas being among the features being considered. We somehow doubt anyone took those comments seriously.
Most often, we at the Reston Association avoid providing a platform for negativity. Further, since the Restonian is a blog and not written by an experienced journalist, the blog is by design, opinion and not fact.
However, we feel compelled to address the errors in your recent posting, Brown's Chapel Rec Center: A (Sort of) Shocking Revelation.
Let us state the facts.
1. No decision has been made with regard to the building of an indoor recreational facility in the Reston community.
2. There is no plan to put anything at Brown’s Chapel. That just one of many, many ideas put forth in discussions. Over the years, Reston Association has also discussed covering tennis courts, had one of our larger pools enclosed for a number of years. Anyone who attends any of the four community listening and informational sessions will see all the ideas be strongly encouraged to share their ideas.
3. We want to hear from the entire community – not just the small, vocal faction that boasts it says no to just about every forward thinking idea.
4. There will be four district meetings during June and July for the express purpose of gathering information from the community. Those meetings will be announced as soon as all the locations are confirmed.
5. The questions asked at those meetings will focus on what the community, as a whole, thinks of the idea of an indoor facility and what services and resources are needed.
6. Reston Association is in no way trying to circumvent any process that leads to garnering public opinion. This includes, but is not limited to holding a referendum.
7. In fact, RA’s General Counsel has been investigating whether a referendum would be required and as of Monday’s meeting, he had not released an official ruling. If one is required and IF we get to the point of moving ahead with an indoor recreational facility, the Reston Association would certainly welcome additional community input.
8. Anyone who looks at the promotion for the May 18, 2009 meeting will realize it was a regularly scheduled meeting of the RCC Finance Committee, with an opportunity for public input and not a “community input” meeting.
9. Monday’s meeting was held in a small room and many, many people stood outside in the hallway. Reston Association CEO Milton Matthews was among the many, many people who stood outside in the hallway. By his own words, Mr. Matthews engaged in several conversations covering many topics. “I never mentioned that I did not want to go inside the room, nor did I state that RA was looking for ways to avoid a referendum,” Matthews said.
10. Last time we checked, laser tag was an amusement and is therefore not one of the needs expressed in the many surveys of the Reston community by the county.
11. By examining the language of the Restonian, one quickly realizes there are only suppositions, opinions and hearsay presented as facts. There are many references to “someone” and “someone was told by an eye witness.” But those are not facts. Facts rely on data and first-hand accounts that are attributable to a person with a name. Facts are what we have presented here.
12. You are invited to the RA Web site and to sign up for enotices, where you can have a real voice and learn the real facts. Attend the meetings where you can engage in respectful, civil dialogue.
Robin Smyers, President
Reston Association
www.reston.org
We, too, are big fans of "civility," and we're actually encouraged by Smyers' attempts to explain the RA's side of the story. But even "experienced journalists" have expressed concern about the way this process has been handled to date. So along with civility, we'd encourage transparency from all parties involved.
K? We now return you to your regularly scheduled jokes about earth-toned 60s architecture and DRB violations.
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