Reston Association Headquarters: Like a Nike Factory, Only With Earth Tones

This shocking schematic of a prototype space for the proposed shiny new Reston Association headquarters (PDF) lays bare the true secret of how the RA plans to sort all those files that have been stacking up over the past four decades: by hiring (or kidnapping?) an army of child slave labor, who, after a brief primer on alphabetization, will be forced to file away the organization's historic collection of goldenrod copies of Design Review Board citations for 18 hours a day.

Well, maybe not. But if you believe our legions of commenters, there still seems to be some third world-like behavior going on as the Very Special Committee (tm) charted with figuring out how to rent or build the new headquarters held its first meeting:

Our at-large representatives, Joe Leighton and Richard Chew, were not allowed to attend the executive session. They were asked to leave so the other board members could "review submitted facility proposals" for the new headquarters building. Our elected representatives were not allowed to attend the executive session. I guess I can say it again, OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES were not allowed to attend. Cheryl Beamer, acting as chair, sent them from the room. OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. Folks, this is our homeowner's association, not dirty politics in Chicago in the 1930s. Or, I might be wrong.

We'd keep an extra close eye on the kids at the tot lot, is all we're saying.

Reston Land Use College: Like Animal House, Minus the Keggers and Hilarity

Miss those crazy days of tapping the keg with your fellow Dekes before the party with the Delts, or whatever? Well, you can relive all the "fun" of college, only instead of taking classes like "Intro to Geology" and "Physics for English Majors," you'll be cramming for the "Understanding PRC Zoning" final at the ongoing sessions of the Reston Land Use College, which had its first "mixer" a week or so back at Lake Anne Elementary.

Around 80 Reston citizens gathered in the Lake Anne Elementary School cafeteria for the first session of the Reston Land Use College to learn about the process of rezoning and new development. The June 16 meeting offered "an opportunity for community members who want to know what is happening to be grounded in what happens," said Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill).

The final project? Something called the Reston Master Plan, which is what allowed all our wonderful earth-toned housing stock to be built and is in the process of being revised for such 21st century concepts as "mass transit" and "fake downtowns."

THE RESTON MASTER PLAN, a set of three maps for communities, transportation and land use, guides the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in its zoning regulations, said Heidi Merkel, a senior planner with the county’s Department of Planning and Zoning and event speaker. However, she added that this plan does not have the force of regulation.

County planner Loren Bruce said that the re-evaluation would include the Dulles Corridor Metrorail’s impact on the Town Center, the possible addition of hotels to Reston, the size of Reston and the development of the centers.

IN 2008, local focus groups and an October public meeting outlined the four phases for reviewing and modifying the Master Plan, Merkel said. The Land Use College and an examination of existing conditions mark the first step of a four-part process. The second step includes a reexamination of the Dulles Corridor and Town Center as well as an overview of Robert Simon’s original seven principles for Reston. The last two steps include a reexamination of the residential neighborhoods and the village centers.

Sweet! Anyway, if you missed out on all the fun earlier this month, the Reston Land Use College will hold a repeat of its kick-off session at 7pm July 28 at Hunters Woods Community Center, followed by more meetings in September:

There will be 3 sessions in September. The dates and location for these sessions are not confirmed yet but we will notify everyone who registered for the future sessions as soon as the dates are set.

The first September session will cover General Land Use Concepts and Terminology and examples in Fairfax County. The next one will focus on Understanding the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, the Reston Master Plan, how these two documents relate to each other and what issues we will be looking to address in the Reston Master Plan update. The final session will focus on Understanding PRC Zoning, which is different from the conventional zoning used in much of the rest of Fairfax County, and how the PRC zoning impacts the development of land in Reston. The September sessions will also include group activities and other interactive elements to make some of the information more accessible.

Translation: KEGGER!

To sign up, contact Heidi Merkel at the county's department of planning and zoning.

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Motions and Commotions

Wacky communication mixups weren't the only "highlight" of last week's Reston Association Board meeting. As our astute commenters have already pointed out, a board member motioned that Brown's Chapel, the proposed home of the $65 million rec center/ juicery, be taken off the list of proposed sites. Here's how Save Brown's Chapel described the "action" on their Facebook group, presumably before taking the "What Kind of Juice Bar are You?" quiz and "poking" a dozen of their Facebook BFFs.

Last night, the RA Board of Director's meeting was well attended. Many citizens from all over Reston came to express their concern that the board is moving ahead with plans to pave over a park.

And one of the board members was listening. Late in the meeting, Director Joe Leighton put forth a motion to eliminate Brown's Chapel Park as a possible site for the proposed joint RA/RCC recreational center.

Joe Leighton asked for a second from Director Frank Lynch but he declined. The motion was seconded by Director Richard Chew. The motion was then tabled by Director Richard Chew until the next Board meeting July 23.

What does this mean for the supporters of Save Brown's Brown Chapel? It means that we need to ask the other board members to explain their actions.

Why is the Reston Association Board of Directors pursuing a plan that will enable the RCC to locate a county recreation center, of any size or shape, on Reston Association land?

The upcoming District Meetings will be our opportunity to ask the questions and get the answers. Please plan on attending while it is still your money and your park.

The next of those meetings is from 7-9 tomorrow at Armstrong Elementary school, followed by another next Thursday, July 9, at Lake Anne Elementary.

Meanwhile, RA President Robin Smyers has written yet another of her "web-log" posts, and the big news is that her "Administrator Account" byline has been changed to "RA President." They'll figure out this Internet thingy yet! Anyhoo, Smyers discusses the community input meetings and the long-term impact they could have:

At the first district meeting held for the Hunters Woods/Dogwood district, members had the opportunity to have a real conversation about the future of Reston. And it is really about the future. At the end of the day, that is what we are talking about – how our decisions today affect Reston in the next three to four decades from now. As members, we have never had to pay for the building of the facilities now owned by Reston Association. Our 15 pools, 48 tennis courts, 4 lakes, 55 miles of paved pathways, just to name some of the assets we benefit from, have all been given to us, with the sole responsibility of maintaining these invaluable gifts. Even the soon-to-be-built Nature House has only come to be thanks to the private donations of many of our friends and neighbors. It is time for us think about the next generations and how we can give back.

Smyers also pointed out that during the last election, there were no contested races for three board seats, and that before recent events, few spoke at public hearings.

So, please make time to attend at least one of the community meetings and take part in the process that affects our community. But please don’t just get involved because you are angry or feel you weren’t informed. Find a positive reason, a passion that is good, and strive to give something back. If there is something else we should be doing, let us know. But don’t just say “no”. That’s not a foundation on which we were built.

Smyers has an excellent point, but we have a feeling the next three open board seats won't be uncontested.

Can You Hear Me Now?

South Lakes Mom shares one fun tidbit from last night's RA Board meeting:

But, just to make you laugh, RA President Robin Smyers was attending the meeting via audio link…only it wasn’t working. You know those really infuriating cell conversations that are breaking up all over? That’s what it was like, but with a room FULL of people listening. It was actually pretty funny but then got tedious. After advice from legal counsel (!), Cheryl Beamer was asked to be acting president or something and after motion and approval went on to read Robin’s remarks.

An innocent telecommunications snag or an Al Haig moment? You be the judge.

Reston: More Fun than a Kool and the Gang Reunion Tour

All of the sudden, Reston's agog about gangs! You'd think some weirdly tagged dirt and a run-of-the-mill melee would be all in a day's work, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. First, a 17-year-old Reston male was charged with gang participation and destruction of property after a series of tagging incidents in Herndon. What, we don't have enough dirt and trees to tag here?

The Herndon Police Department has charged a 17-year-old Reston male with ten destruction of property cases and seven counts of gang participation.

The charges stem from a rash of incidences of graffiti appearing in various locations in the town throughout 2009.

Last month, the Herndon Police Department arrested three additional suspects--two juveniles and one adult--and charged them with causing thousands of dollars of damage by spray painting, or "tagging" grafitti all over the town.

"Unlike this latest one, those incidents were not gang related," said Lt. Jeff Coulter of the HPD.

On June 22, the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relation Court ordered the two juveniles to pay restitution of $6,697 to victims of the tagging.

A third suspect awaits a hearing in Fairfax General District Court, currently scheduled for July 29.

Fairfax County Police actually spoke about the topic of gangs at last night's RA Board Meeting, and one of our filthy "web-log commenters" pointed out this tidbit:

Last night the Police Captain said the victims tend to be Hispanic and the perps have so far, been African American.

Interesting.

Really?

Only in Reston: The Washington Plaza Baptist Church at Lake Anne Plaza -- yes, that's a Baptist church -- will celebrate "Gay Acceptance Sunday" this weekend at its 11 a.m. service.

If there ever was a doubt that we were a different kind of church, this Sunday tops the cake! It is a day to celebrate the gay community that is within our church family and thank God for all people in our community no matter who they choose to partner with.

Good for them.

Road Rules: Leaving Reston Just Got More Expensive

Despite the snazzy "Live. Work. Play" logo on the Reston Association's "web site," there are times we all have to leave our lovely earth-toned planned community. And it looks like they're all about to get more expensive.

First, the fees on the Dulles Toll Road are expected to double by 2012, in part to fund the shrine to rad '80s art planned for Wiehle Avenue and the associated Metro Silver Line planned to bring patrons of the arts out to view it.

Under the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority proposal, tolls would go up incrementally, starting in January. It costs 75 cents to drive through the main plaza and 50 cents to use one of the on- or offramps. The proposal, subject to approval by the authority's board of directors, would increase the main toll to $1.50 by 2012, and the ramp toll would rise to 75 cents.

Better start looking under the sofa cushions for change now! But what's scarier is that if you take the bus to the Pentagon or Crystal City, change isn't going to be of much use any more. Starting Sunday, a series of service changes are going into effect, including $7 one-way fares on the express buses to the Pentagon and Crystal City. Here's the final list of changes, long expected due to county budget cuts:

Fairfax Connector's 2010 budget includes a fare increase to $7 for the three express routes, which travel outside Fairfax County boundaries. The routes, 380, 595 and 597, provide bus service to the Pentagon and Crystal city. The fare increase does not apply to any other routes. Many of the routes are located in Herndon and Reston.
• Bus routes 380, 585 and 980 will have reduced service on holidays.
• Bus route 425 will have reduced service on weekends.
• Bus routes 301, 505, 553, 557 and 585 will have reduced service on weekdays.
• Bus routes 303, 556, 922 and the VRE EZ-Bus have been discontinued.

For those of us who still have jobs, it's enough to make you want to stay home and engage in some low-cost entertainment, like checking books out of the library. But starting July 1, all libraries are reducing their hours and increasing their overdue fees.

Oh, well. At least blogging is still free.

This Week in Crime: Police Break Up Melee, Stabbings Behind Hunters Woods Village Center

It's always good when the words "brawl" and "melee" get used to describe a friendly exchange of differing viewpoints. A Wednesday evening brawl involving two groups behind the Hunters Woods Village Center left two men seriously injured with stab wounds, Fairfax Police said.

Two men suffered serious injuries Wednesday night during a melee between two groups of men fighting behind a Reston area shopping center, Fairfax County police said.

Officers were called about 9:30 p.m. for the report of an assault on a wooded path behind the Hunters Woods shopping center. Police think the two groups began to argue as they approached each other and then brawled, said Eddy Azcarate, a police spokesman.

When police arrived on the scene, all six people involved scattered, including the two seriously wounded men, Azcarate said. Police soon found the victims and they were flown to a hospital with injuries that appeared to be stab wounds.

The others involved in the fight were not caught, police said. The victims' injuries were described as not life threatening.

Police officials declined to comment on any potential motives for the argument or the fight.

Who knows? Maybe they were trying to decide between dinner at Burger King or ice cream at DQ and things got ugly.

Update: Police finally issued a news release about the incident, which says they are investigating the "possibility that this case involved members or associates of a criminal street gang." You think?

The suspects were described as black, in their 20s. They were all approximately 6 feet tall and 180 pounds wearing white T-shirts and dark jeans.

As people have pointed out in the comments, most incidents of this nature in Reston are gang-related. We're not sure if that's reassuring or not.

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Another Week, Another "Community Input" Meeting

South Lakes Mom, one of our regular commenters, attended this week's community input meeting on the rec center / juice bar planned for Brown's Chapel Park. A couple of points from her well-reasoned and even-handed account of the meeting (posted elsewhere, as well-reasoned and even-handed commentary have no place on this filthy "web-log") struck us as particularly telling:

Many of the people who had a lot to say about this (masquerading as questions) are part of the over 60 crowd. Many of them have been in Reston since the 1960s. They’ve enjoyed the benefit of all of the amenities that they would now deny the younger folks. Our standards for recreation have changed over time, and to refuse to even listen to other people shows that one has become an embittered oldster rather than a helpful member of the community. If the purpose of the meeting was enlightenment for those who came for information, the attacks and zealotry clearly stifled productive discourse.

While we've made plenty of hay about of the utter lack of transparency involved in this process, this is something we've actually been mulling for some time. Be prepared for a touching and heartfelt post on this sometime soon. At the same time, though, something else hasn't changed:

I thought some of the RA respondents were a bit patronizing. Yes, you’re under attack, but RA’s lack of transparency has led to this adversarial relationship. Seize the moral high ground and don’t be patronizing or rude. On the other hand, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you telling someone their comment is ‘counterproductive’ or ‘just plain rude’. Let’s be grown-ups about this.

Also from Monday's meeting: USTA and US Swimming are now backing the need for indoor swimming facilities, and someone suggested a new proposal which is so crazy, It Just Might Work:

One semi-great suggestion came up in regards to the rezoning of the area that parallels the toll road. It was that the additional parking deck could be multi-tasked to provide the requested indoor facilities and parking for them... if you build a huge facility at Brown’s Chapel to accomodate USTA and US Swimming’s desires for a venue for their events, you’re asking all that traffic to go up Wiehle Ave or Reston Parkway to get there. If people can just hop off the toll road and park, it’s a much better idea.

And maybe one of the private developers in that same area can just open an Orange Julius franchise next to the Metro station, eliminating the need for the juice bar! An Orange Julius would fit right in with the station's rad '80s artwork, after all.

The next "community input" meeting is scheduled for 7 pm next Tuesday, June 30, in the Armstrong Elementary School cafeteria. Given that's the North Reston meeting, we'd say that the meeting's host, RA rep Frank Lynch, will likely have his hands full.

The other other other Reston: Road to Nowhere

On the heels of last week's exploration of Reston's Scottish doppelgänger, "Rick from Longwood Grove" sent us this exciting photographic proof that this twee home to hell-spawned freaks of nature really does exist. Here's what he says:

Thought you might enjoy this photo of the sign for the other Reston (Scotland) that I took several years ago when my family was driving on the A1 highway in Scotland. It's not the best quality since (a) this was a while ago, so the camera was not up today's standards, (b) it was, as usual, cloudy and rainy outside, and (c) we didn't slow down for the photo.

All roads may lead to Reston, but most folks zip right on by.

Reston Association Headquarters: Here We Go Again

Following an uneventful referendum process that ultimately failed to provide a quorum allowing the Reston Association to buy a fancy new headquarters building with lots of gilded filing cabinets and a cable modem and maybe one of those newfangled "water-coolers" around which employees could discuss the previous evening's television fare, the RA Board of Directors has established a "special committee" to explore its options -- which apparently, once again, include the buying vs. leasing options.

The Reston Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homeowners (ARCH) has issued a statement (not yet available on its "web-site," but check here to see if they ever get around to posting it), basically asking the RA not to make the same mistakes again:

ARCH views the Special Committee as an opportunity to bring the RA membership together around the common goals ARCH and others have emphasized during the ongoing headquarters discussion.

Below are the five key indicators that will, in our view, provide the best chance of producing an outcome on this important initiative that has wide community support. These indicators will guide ARCH as it assesses whatever recommendations emanate from the Special Committee:

The space requirements should be consistent with current Federal General Services Administration (GSA) standards, which are based on a comprehensive survey of both public and private office space. Where RA’s requirements depart from these standards (which may be required, e.g., with regard to conference or meeting space) then such departures must be based on demonstrable need and be fully explained and justified. Under separate cover, an ARCH analysis of RA’s existing space projections will be provided. 


In addition to leasing, build and buy options should be fully explored (given the continuing authority provided under the 2005 headquarters referendum). In light of current market conditions and the ability to customize space to fit RA’s needs, building or buying may be more attractive alternatives.


RA is an important part of Reston’s fabric. If a new RA headquarters could be located where it contributes to neighborhood revitalization (e.g., at Lake Anne), then we think this consideration should be given special weight. We contend that is much more important to Reston than ensuring individual offices (instead of cubicle space) for the majority of RA employees or obtaining condominium space in a steel/glass building in the RCIG.


The Special Committee’s deliberations should at all times be open and transparent. Executive session and the assertion of a need for confidentiality should be used only in the narrow circumstances permitted under Virginia’s Property Owners’ Association Act (POAA). 


During its research and deliberations, the Special Committee should actively seek the input of the RA membership and should regularly update the members on the progress of the Committee’s work.

We're especially happy that ARCH makes reference to Bob Simon's plan to relocate the headquarters to Lake Anne, which to date has received only the most tepid of support from the RA and RCRC. After badly botching plans for its other big shiny building project, the RA has shown signs of being more transparent of late. Let's hope that extends to this process as well.

It's Official: "Road Diet" To Turn Lawyers Road Into Spandex-Mandatory Velodrome

Hurry and cancel your plane tickets to France, as the international heart of the cycling circuit will relocate to Reston when VDOT transforms Lawyers Road into a spandex-required velodrome as part of its RA-approved "road diet," which VDOT made official late last week:

A section of Lawyers Road is going on a “road diet” to lose two of its four thru lanes. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said the unusual plan will reduce crashes, improve safety and enhance mobility for motorists and bicyclists alike.

When Lawyers Road was scheduled for routine repaving this summer, VDOT traffic engineers seized the opportunity to also improve its safety by reconfiguring the four travel lanes between Reston Parkway and Myrtle Lane. Instead of two travel lanes in each direction, road lines will be re-painted to accommodate a continuous, two-way, left-turn lane down the center of the road, as well as a travel lane and a five-foot bike lane in each direction.

“VDOT has identified a no-cost approach to reduce vehicle crashes and improve safety on Lawyers Road, while also giving cyclists additional travel options,” said Supervisor Cathy Hudgins. “It’s a win-win for all.”

Crashes are expected to drop by at least 20 percent once the road is re-striped. Over the past three years, there were 56 crashes on this section of Lawyers Road and VDOT engineers estimate that 15 of those could have been avoided. Several vehicles have been rear-ended while stopped in the left lane waiting to turn left. The two-way continuous turn-lane will help prevent rear-end crashes. Some vehicles have drifted across the centerline and hit oncoming traffic. A buffer between the travel directions will help prevent head-on crashes. Other benefits of the road diet include improved sight distance for motorists on side streets and mainline left-turners, and a reduction in excessive speeds because passing will be eliminated.

The transformation will take place in August, as a larger stretch of Lawyers Road is repaved. And the Washington Post says we'll all just get used to it:

When drivers first see such redesigns, "win-win" is not the first thing on their minds. It's more like, "Where did my road go?" And they often say that the narrower road looks more dangerous to them. That's what happened on Arcola Avenue and on the uppermost portion of Connecticut Avenue just after Montgomery County slimmed down the roads to improve safety.

Drivers get used to it. The technique of road narrowing has been used thousands of times across the country in various ways to protect drivers from each other or to protect pedestrians from drivers.

Sweet! We'd say the only losers in this "win-win" will be the treacherous French, when they see Lance Armstrong end 30 days of cycling not on the Champs Elysses, but in the parking lot of the Fox Mill Giant. Vive la difference!

This Week in Crime: Tip Leads to Arrests in Reston Robberies

Three men involved with a May robbery of the 7-11 on Sunset Hills Road, a robbery attempt on Colts Neck Road, and a burglary in Centreville have been arrested following an anonymous tip:

In late May a tipster identified the suspects in several outstanding cases to include robberies and a burglary. Detectives followed up on the tip and determined the information was accurate.

In late May and June the suspects were charged in the following cases:

* A commercial robbery on Monday, May 4 at the 7-Eleven store located at 11714 Sunset Hills Road in the Reston area.

* The robbery of a person on Saturday, May 16 in the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road in the Reston area.

* A burglary on Sunday, May 24 at a home in the 14400 block of Woodmere Court in the Centreville area.

Police are continuing to investigate their involvement in other recent robberies.

Flashback Monday: Issac Newton Square, Before the Filing Cabinets and Toxic Airborne Diseases

Here was the heart of what early Reston pioneers and industrial landsalesmen called "Industrial Reston" -- the awesome Isaac Newton Square.

At the time of this 1967-era brochure, its only tenants were Hazleton Laboratories Inc. (#4 on the map), Bowser Inc. (#5), General Kinetics Inc. (#6) and Air Survey Corporation (#7). But Motorola Inc. had just built a fancy complex across the road (#12 on the map), where maybe they started working on those "cell-phone" things that would become all the rage a few decades later. Or maybe they just tested ways to, you know, strap bombs on dolphins instead.

Of course, Hazleton Labs would later make Building 4 a monkey house, which become famous for a trivial outbreak of Ebola Reston that led to, among other things, a best-selling tome and a bunch of pigs in the Philippines that would be very put out if it wasn't for the fact they'd all been culled. Yay Industrial Reston! Leading the Way! Now Building 4 has been rebuilt and houses a daycare center. We doubt the "Fightin' Pathogens" is their mascot, but it should be.

Also, the Reston Association Headquarters had yet to move into the building in the center of the map to begin amassing a wide range of documents that would later necessitate a massive series of filing cabinets. Instead, the "central core" was "planned to service all tenants of the Center with a branch bank, meeting room, cafeteria, recreation area, and stationary-supply store."

But these are not the most shocking truths about Industrial Reston. Consider this devastating photo:

Even then, the RA was encouraging the wanton and indiscriminate slaughter of trees! And these innocent victims appear to be nowhere near a streambed!

RA and Twitter: Like Peas and Carrots... Mauve Carrots

Okay, so here's the Reston Association, better known to the Tweetstas as "RA1930," contributing to the public discourse on the Twitters. For God's sake, someone please make them stop before someone gets hurt.

Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 41: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

• For once, the potty-mouthed executives at Sallie Mae have something to be happy about. After realizing they weren't going to be able to continue to "offer" college students "loans" at 29 percent interest rates, they won a fancy five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Education to manage and service some of those socialist gubmint-backed loans, which presumably aren't quite as usurious (cough cough nanny state!)
  
  
• Reston-based Greater Atlantic, which was told by the Feds to go sell itself under the threat of being forced to accept large stacks of gubmint bailout money against their will, was acquired by some company called MidAtlantic Bancorp Inc., which it turns out is backed by Comstock Partners LC. Along with now running a bank and handing out toasters to Christmas Club members and whatnot, Comstock also oversees a series of low-profile and insignificant building projects in partnership with local governments. What could possibly go wrong?
  
  
• Remember how the Fairfax Times got bought by a company owned by the Washington Post? Well, it turns out the new owners, who are apparently "experienced journalists," may actually add staff and bring back the Reston Times and the other local editions that were curtailed last fall. That's good, because an "experienced journalist" could probably find a thing or two to write about in Reston these days.
  

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Save the Date

Hey, remember that time the RA wanted to build a giant rec center / velodrome at Brown's Chapel Park in North Reston and, by way of proving it would be financially viable, commissioned a report which included financial projections for a fancy "juice bar"? Yeah, that was awesome. Well, the first of the so-called "community input" meetings will be held from 7-9 pm Monday for the Hunters Woods/Dogwood district, at Hunters Woods Elementary School, hosted by District Director Cheryl Beamer. Be sure to attend, if only to tell the RA folks if you prefer strawberry or mango smoothies, the end.

Meanwhile, in the Other Other Other Anti-Reston: Mutant Guinea Pig Terrorizes Tens

Until now, we knew of Reston's other other other evil twin as a bucolic hamlet in the United Kingdom where horses fall into septic tanks at random intervals. But our intrepid correspondent, the Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, unearthed a terrifying fact about the Reston in Scotland:

Seeking to recover his wits, if not necessarily his wit, after a particularly harrowing week at work, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston kicked back this past Friday evening to take a meandering trip to nowhere through that series of tubes the young un's call "the Internet" and see where chance would bring him.  To his great surprise The Peasant ended up, virtually speaking, in a wee Scottish village named of all things...Reston.

Just as in that famous Star Trek episode of the mirror universe with a goateed Mr. Spock, it appears that our beloved northern Virginia planned community has not only a satanic twin across the Potomac in Howard County but also a kinder, gentler alter ego across the Atlantic.  Our Gaelic twin with a population of less than 1,000 lies in the Scottish Borders region just above England near the North Sea.  A Google view from space reveals bucolic Scottish countryside, much as we imagine northern Virginia looked before the invasion of particleboard McMansions.  As an ad for a local vacation cottage rental put it:
 
"The peaceful village of Reston quietly sits amidst the beautiful Scottish Borders, close to the beautiful Lammermuir Hills and just 11 miles from the historic town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Boasting a village pub and a number of great golf courses in the surrounding area, this lovely village is also ideally situated just 5 miles from the east coast with its range of stunning, sandy beaches and exciting marine life. The surrounding countryside is perfect for walking, fishing and horse riding, whilst the picturesque harbour at nearby St. Abbs is not to be missed! With Eyemouth, Duns, Alnwick and the Capital City of Edinburgh all within easy reach, this fantastic location has something for everyone!"

We are so intrigued we want to consider moving there and escaping forever the RA, DRB regulations, and the Macaroni Grill.  As we explore further we discover, moreover, that unlike our fair 'burb, real estate values in our Scottish counterpart appear to be quite reasonable.  An 1848 four bedroom stone-built detached house on a half-acre is listed for 375,000 pounds, or $615,000, a price that couldn't even buy a doublewide trailer in North Reston.

But, like that alternate universe in Star Trek, our Scottish counterpart harbors a dark side as well.  The local newspaper, The Berwickshire News, reports on June 10 that a mysterious creature it calls "The Beast of Berwickshire" has been spotted running across the A-1 motorway near Reston.  "Around three feet tall with a canine-ish head and a long straight tail, this Berwickshire beast as yet remains unidentified," the paper breathlessly notes.  (An aside: if such a beast existed in our Reston and was dumb enough to dash across Lawyers Road, we're certain he'd be run over in no time flat by a spandexed Lance Armstrong wanna-be zooming down VDOT's planned bike lane at 50 mph).   In any event, we are not at all reassured by the following comment:
 
"George Caldow of the Scottish Agricultural College's vetinary centre at St Boswells said: 'We have heard nothing about a Beast of Berwickshire but we would only be involved if a dead one had been found.'"

Further down in the article, we pick up even more equally disturbing news: "But these recent sightings are just the latest in a history of unexplained animals in the region. In 2006 a motorist was startled to pass what looked like a giant guinea pig sitting in the middle of the A1, just south of Eyemouth.  Mark Pentecost, of Reston, was driving home from Berwick when he spotted the creature, which was about two feet tall, sitting on its haunches in the middle of the road."
 
The thought of living next to a mutant guinea pig who has apparently overdosed on steroids does make us reconsider the desirability of that 1848 house.  But the final nail in the coffin of our real estate dreams comes when we discover who else would be a neighbor in our twin across the Atlantic.  It turns out that our Gaelic counterpart is home to that renowned institution of higher learning, none other than the Scottish School of Colonic Hydrotherapy.  Now even on the best of days The Peasant struggles to be a mature adult, so we will not dignify the snickers with which you, dear readers, are greeting this news -- but after reading the glowing testimonials from the school's alumni about their degree in Wazoo-ology and new-found knowledge of stool analysis and colon pathology, there is only one logical conclusion to reach:
 
Macaroni Grill, streambed restoration, Wreck Center, Smudgins, and DRB notwithstanding, our mauve-colored New Town ain't so bad after all!

And if that isn't convincing enough, you must know that our UK doppelgänger has its own "North Reston," where they're also debating the merits of recreation activities. Only there, it's not swimmers vs. baseball players, but sheepdogs vs.... well, sheep.

This and That: A Random Jaunt Through Reston News

• Some Internets company called QinetiQ signed a 121,000 square foot lease in a fancy office building called "Reston EastPointe" on Sunset Hills Road (the extra "e" in "Pointe" is worth at least an extra $10 a square foot)! So relax, the economic downturn is officially over and we can go back to watching our earth-toned housing appreciate 20 percent each year.
  
  
• Hey there, a bunch of gangstas "tagged" some trees and dirt in one of the reaches in the Glade. Maybe they should try making a rad video instead.
  
  
• Remember how we were going to get a fancy Metro station festooned with awesome 80s art and whatnot? Well, the Tysons Corner tunnel folks have teamed up with the Sierra Club to file a lawsuit against the Silver Line project, presumably to demand that a tunnel be built under the pristine wilderness of Tysons Corner, all the better to preserve the endangered herds of Krystal Koonses who gambol on the unspoiled tundra near the Bed Bath 'N Beyond.
  
  
• Muslims and Jews have started praying together during an interfaith service held at the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation in Reston. And there hasn't been a peep out of the Middle East ever since!
  
  
• Northrup Grumman Corp. is among three contractors to receive a $1.6 billion contract from the Air Force that involves, we don't know, strapping bombs to dolphins, or maybe strapping dolphins to A-10 Thunderbolt II jets.
  
  
• Those waiters you saw sprinting around the Reston Town Center the other weekend weren't trying to chase down dine-n-dashers. They all placed a bottle of colored water and two clementines on their trays and raced against each other to win... a $100 gift certificate to the Reston Town Center! No word, though, on whether the second place prize was a $150 gift certificate to the Reston Town Center.
  

Reston's Vibrant Waterways (and the junk people throw into them)

This past weekend, a bunch of environmentally minded Restonians took part in a cleanup of Lake Audobon. A laudable effort, which also gives us the perfect excuse to run this list of items retrieved from Reston's varied and increasingly exfoliated waterways during the massive, eight-site Potomac Watershed Cleanup earlier this spring:

• hub caps
  
• basketball shorts sized XXXXXL
  
• hula hoop
  
• glass plates
  
• a doll leg
  
• 4 shopping carts
  
• rubber boots
  
• a gutter
  
• mattresses and box springs
  
• car parts
  
• sunglasses
  
• cell phones
  
• CD player
  
• trash can lid
  
• 3 paint cans
  
• smashed tennis racket
  
• real estate signs
  
• wheel barrow
  
• Book of Mormon
  
• bag of empty prescription bottles
  
• a ball from the McDonald’s play pit.

Wow. We wonder if the Book of Mormon belonged to the guy (or gal) wearing the XXXXXL basketball shorts.

Anyhoo, more than 140 volunteers collected 180 bags of trash during the earlier cleanup. In case you're wondering about your brand-conscious neighbors, the top three brands found among the muck and debris were McDonald's, Safeway and Budweiser. Stay classy, Reston!

Be Our Facebook BFFs!

So along with wasting time with all those Iranian punk kids on the Twitters, we recently signed up on the "book of Faces," or whatever the cool kidz are calling the MySpaces these days. So if you get a free minute between playing Mafia Wars and taking the "What Kind of Kitchen Appliance Are You?" quiz, come join the rad Restonian Facebook group, the end.

JBG Sends Postcards, Holds Meetings About Proposed Fairway Apartments Complex

If you live within the range of where shadows will fall from the two 10-story buildings The JBG Companies are proposing to build as part of a mixed-use complex on the site of the current Fairway Apartments near Lake Anne, you probably got a "post-card" in the mail informing you about two community meetings JBG is holding about the project. The first of these was held last week, and here is an account from an anonymous attendee:

There were about 20 - 25 neighbors who were not happy with the plan. They were disbelieving that 940 units would not impact the traffic on North Shore. (That's about 1,500 additional people and their cars). Some people were upset that 1.6 parking spaces [planned for each residential unit] were inadequate.

That's okay -- people can just park their second car (or really, just their 0.4 of a second car) at the elementary school across the street! Other folks complained about the lack of tot lots and whatnot in the site plans, as well as the view from their own homes.

The people next door didn't want to look out their townhouse windows and see a parking garage and they did not want the light from that parking garage shining in their windows in the night. One man wanted them to say there would be no net loss of open space. They couldn't respond to that because most of the open space will be under cement or asphalt. They had not done an analysis of traffic impact along Fairview Drive.

There will be two 10 story towers in the west half of the development, 8,000 sq ft of retail you can see from North Shore Drive.

They repeated over and over that they were only in the preliminary stages of planning.

They showed more illustrations of the plan than at the P&Z meeting. On the west side the three story townhouse units right next to North Shore were quite modern and I thought very attractive. There are only about 32 of those; however. The East part of the development is very "urban" and heavy, old-fashioned, 1940s architecture. One member of the audience absolutely hated it and was very vocal about it.

When JBG presented the project to the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee earlier this month, it claimed that their fancypants "traffic studies" (maybe some guy named Elmer stting in a folding beach chair at a traffic light, counting cars) showed the complex, with its 940 units, would have no impact on traffic, with only 141 to 264 new "peak hour trips." That's plausible, assuming the financial meltdown sluggish economy continues and none of the residents of the proposed 940 units have jobs or anything more pressing to do than drive to the 7-11 for Super Big Gulps during non-peak hours, we guess. Some 12 percent of the new units will be affordable housing, which is less than the current 200 apartment units.

P&Z members asked JBG to come back in September with a less "intense" plan for the site; they also have a date with the Design Review Board sometime this week. JBG's next community meeting will be at 7pm on June 30 at the Lake Anne Community Center. The company actually has a decent track record at listening to community concerns, so it'll be interesting to see what comes of all this input. Maybe they should just try to build a fun and not-at-all controversial rec center/juice bar on the site instead and be done with it, the end.

On the YouTubes: Forget East Coast vs. West Coast -- the Real Gangsta Rivalry is in the D.C. Suburbs

With two humble videos found on the YouTubes, the whole East Coast / West Coast rivalry is officially yesterday's news. Instead, it's Arlington and Reston that are "keeping it real," or whatever the cool kidz say when they listen to their phat O.D.B. tunez about oppression and the ghetto thug life on their $350 iPod Touches. Represent!

This awesome video about the mean streets of Arlington has been posted just about everywhere by this point -- even the Washington Post used it as another opportunity to count multiple Starbuckseses. But a couple of kidz from Reston Herndon did the whole faux gangsta schtick first:



Watching both videos prompts some interesting questions. The Arlington one has better production values and doesn't sound like a badly dubbed 8-track, but which one is more legitimately "gangsta"?

Whole Foods vs. the McTacoHut? No contest there -- Reston for the win!

Road Rules: RA Backs Lawyers Road 'Road Diet' / Cyclotron

During its last meeting, the Reston Association board endorsed the Virginia Department of Transportation plan to transform Lawyers Road into a slimmed-down, bike friendly roadway, with cyclists completely protected from commuters approaching Mach 2 on their way to the Vienna Metro by fancy painted dotted lines on the asphalt.

The Reston Association voted to support a plan to reduce the number of lanes and add a bike lane to a stretch of Lawyers Road. In a vote of 8-1, the board said it favored the restriping project, set to begin later this summer.

The planned resurfacing and restriping will reduce the 4-lane section of Lawyers Road between Reston Parkway and Myrtle to three lanes for cars and create two bicycle lanes. The center lane will be used as a turning lane.

According to Virginia Department of Transportation, the lane changes would make the road safer. VDOT statistics indicate there were 15 preventable crashes along this stretch of Lawyers Road between 2005 and 2007.

Because they can't leave well enough alone, the RA also recommended that the speed limit be reduced from 45 to 35 miles an hour. Nanny state! Too bad the average speed of many commuters will probably remain 20 miles higher, and that's in the fancy center "turn lane" planned for the restriping.

VDOT apparently plans to make a final decision on the project in the next week.

The Germans are Coming! The Germans are Coming!

While those of us who live in Reston have long known what the Washington Post just discovered -- that not everyone who lives here is Morton's Steakhouse rich -- did you know that mixed in with all those undesirable poors are also uniformed troops from a foreign land?

No, really. Our favorite correspondent, the Peasant From Less Sought-After South Reston, weighs in with this harrowing eyewitness account:

Swapping his Indiana Jones fedora for Paul Revere’s colonial tri-corner, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston is raising the alarm for his fellow Restonites: Die Deutschen kommen! Die Deutschen kommen! The Germans are coming! The Germans Are Coming! Having recently revealed the secret truth of how the Cold War really ended, The Peasant now has uncovered yet another sinister, history-changing government cover-up from an even earlier era: World War II is actually not over yet, at least not here in the Reston Theater of Operations.

The Peasant came to this earth-shattering realization as he trudged through the yet to be napalmed, er, “restored” woods of the Glade Valley one dreary, rainy morning this week en route to work. He was shocked -- shocked -- to come across…a German Bundeswehr soldier in camouflage standing guard on one of the paths. Walking further, The Peasant soon encountered a German mechanized unit – well, not exactly a Panzer tank division, but rather another member of the Bundeswehr on a bicycle. We were then told at the bus stop by Confidential Informant Sy that German military planes have been observed sporadically at Dulles Airport. All in all, a very disturbing series of observations that cannot possibly be mere coincidence.

So…we suspect at least one dark chapter of World War II has remained hidden until this very day. Our working theory is that sometime around 1943 a German U-boat secretly made its way up Chesapeake Bay to insert on the western shore of the Potomac a special commando contingent whose orders were to establish the Wehrmacht’s Northern Virginia front. That unit has remained carefully hidden ever since in Targetville, unaware of the war’s end on V-E Day and emerging only sporadically to conduct training exercises in the Reston woods under the guise of an annual run.

With the Luftwaffe at Dulles and the Wehrmacht in Glade, a military operation seems imminent but we can only speculate about the ultimate target. Perhaps one clue can be found in the directional signs with arrows that this commando unit has scattered throughout the woods, all ultimately pointing towards Reston Town Center. We fear, alas, that a precision surgical strike indeed is in the works to take out the Macaroni Grill, thereby destroying citizen morale in our beloved New Town and forcing the white flag of surrender to be hoisted at 1830 Isaac Newton Square.


It’s the plot for a future Clive Cussler best-seller if ever there was one!

If you see a group of uniformed German troops milling about in the woods, don't panic. Just resist the urge to tell them that the radio was hidden in the coffeepot all along.

Breaking News: Washington Post Discovers Reston is Not Entirely Populated by Rich People, Despite Presence of Mortons and Starbucks

Fresh off discovering that Reston is "divided" and fraught with "trepidation," the crack investigative reporters at the Washington Post have unearthed an even more shocking fact, one bigger than that trivial "Water-gate" thing they came up with to sell papers back in the 70s. Read on, but be warned: this is going to blow the lid off our beloved earth-toned community:

Everybody in Reston is rich, right?

That's what I always thought, anyway. I mean, Reston's got a Morton's Steakhouse and four Starbucks. And it's in Fairfax County, which regularly tops the list of the wealthiest counties in America. The streets may not be paved with gold in Reston, but surely the curbs are made of silver.

Ha ha ha FAIL, as the Internet cool kids are wont to say. Everyone knows Reston's curbs are painted one of four (4) acceptable earth tones, not silver! But let's read on, as columnist John Kelly makes his predecessor, the pathetically needy Bob Levy, look like Edward R. Murrow:

"Please understand, there are some rich people who live here," LaShawn Timmons told me. "But the people we serve here are not that group."

Do you think John Kelly ran into the Post newsroom, holding his fedora on his head, and screamed in shock, "I found someone with an ethnic sounding name! In Reston!" Never mind that creating a place where people of all socioeconomic backgrounds would live side by side was the entire freaking goal of our beloved planned community; this makes for exciting copy, at least in the mind of an editor who rarely ventures far from their home in Bethesda or Kensington.

It just gets worse. Really.

LaShawn is youth director of Reston's Southgate Community Center. The Restonians she serves are a diverse group, families from Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, El Salvador, Mexico, Iran, Pakistan -- "the list goes on and on," LaShawn said. "We also have the typical American kid, too."

Turns out this is all a come-on for the Post's annual charity fundraiser for some summer camp. But at this point, Kelly is ready to trot out the relatables, to prove that he actually came to "Reston" and spoke to this "LaShawn":

There are plenty of deer in Reston -- as there are in every suburb in Washington -- but to see deer bound through the woods at Camp Moss Hollow is different from seeing them dodge cars on Hunter Mill Road.

NII Holdings of Reston is sponsoring a one-night trip to this camp for the Southgate kids -- which is truly laudable. Patronizing crap like this? Less so, but we're not one of those "experienced journalists," so maybe we're missing something here.

South Lakes High School: We're #558!

South Lakes High School, which was at the epicenter of a completely uneventful and unemotional redistricting process a year or so back, was ranked the 558th best high school in the country in Newsweek's annual rankings. All of Fairfax's high schools made the list, with South Lakes ranking higher than Edison (771st) and lower than Hayfield (499th). Oakton ranked 155th and Herndon High School ranked 164th.

The "challenge index" rankings have been the subject of considerable debate in education circles -- and some local connoisseurs of academic quality prefer looking at the "Bratz index" instead -- but it's worth noting that even the school at the bottom of the 1,478 schools across the country ranked by Newsweek is still among the top six percent of all high schools in the country. Living in an affluent county which puts considerable resources towards its schools tends to shift one's perspective a bit.

The shocker? Untouchable Langley wasn't at the top of the list. W.T. Woodson High School ranked 71st, while the (Anglo) Saxons ranked 100th. No word, though, on the quality of their band programs.

Rock the Votezzzzzzz

Here was the scene of utter pandemonium and mayhem at one of Reston's jam-packed voting centers earlier this afternoon, as Restonians flocked to the polls by the twos to vote for the whazzit, Democratic candidate for "governor," who is this dude who apparently gets to spend money on recreation centers and office space and whatnot all over Virginia, kind of like it's a really big homeowner's association, only without the earth tones or the ultimate executive power of a DRB, the end.

Flashback Monday: Land Before Pizza

A reader sent us an undated copy of The Reston Industrial Landsales Newsletter, which is apparently what people kicked off their earth-toned loafers to read once they came back to their lovely Reston homes after a long day of industrial landsales. And what did we see but this signature landmark? But don't take our word for it -- read just how cutting-edge the Reston of the 1970s really was:

According to Pizza Hut management, the second highest grossing Pizza Hut in Northern Virginia is located in Reston. This statistic is even more impressive considering the fact that the fast food outlet just opened in April and their sign didn't go up until the end of the summer.

First of all, what took so long with the sign? We're guessing the folks at Pizza Hut ran afoul of DRB regulations, which is a shame, because no one could possibly recognize the completely generic shape of the building. Second, did you know they once called the area today's Restonians call McTacoHut the "fast food park?" It conjures up images of non-obese trees and twittering birds with healthy blood sugar levels, instead of the endless line of cars waiting to turn right off of Wiehle Avenue during lunchtime.

Reston Real Estate: The High-Low Game, pt. 11

It's time once again to play the home edition of everyone's favorite earth-toned game of real estate wheeling and dealing, the Reston High-Low Game! So grab your favorite Realtor and get ready to hit the road in search of bargains!

For a mere $1,290,000, you could own this well-camoflaged house on Birdfoot Lane, just off the new bike expressway Lawyers Road.

Unique 5 BR/4BA home designed to accommodate wide variety of lifestyles, comfortable family living and/or gracious entertaining. Idyllic setting on 1.84 wooded acres backing to parkland. Hickory kit. cab., Subzero,Jennaire, Corian. Mstr. BR retreat-skylit Jacuzzi tub for 2, separate shower. Orig. owners. One year warranty, 6,000+ sq/ft. fin. Tax Records inaccuarate.

That's good, because we do enjoy a wide variety of lifestyles and/or gracious entertaining. Sometimes both! Also, we'd like a little more "elbow room," and this deck appears to be bigger than our entire house:

Just always remember and never forget: the tax records are inaccurate. Those lying bastards.

On the other end of the price spectrum is this charmer on Emerald Heights Court, which could be yours for a mere $150,000 -- less than the cost of two rec center market studies!

Townhome in the heart of Reston. Hardwoods on the main level with updated kitchen, three bedrooms on upper level and finished rec room. Deck and fenced rear. Property strictly sold "as-is", no exceptions. Lister to hold EMD. Buyer to pay termites and home warranty. PRE-APPROVAL LETTER, COPY OF EMD AND (PROOF OF FUNDS REQUIRED IF CASH OFFER).

Well, lots of stuff is being sold "as is" these days, and most of us are now keeping our extra $100,000 bills stuffed in the mattress, so no worries about that whole "proof of funds" thing. And who wouldn't want to come home to this awesome color scheme?

We bet with a little sweet-talking, you'll be able to get the hula hoop to convey. But "buyer to pay termites?" What, do you need to bring bundles of small bills to "convince" them to pack up and start chewing on the subfloor of the unit next door?

This and That: A Random Stroll Through Reston News

• Some good news, for a change: Reston's annual Relay for Life, which was held at South Lakes High School during the last weekend in May, raised more than $260,000 in the fight against cancer. Apparently there was a pie-eating contest, too.
  
  
• A grand jury indicted a 31-year-old Reston man on charges of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and maiming as a result of driving while intoxicated in the wake of a Feb. 1 crash near Manassas in Prince William County that killed Brian Piepergerdes, 27, also of Reston, and injured one other Reston man. According to court documents, he had a BAC of .225 at the time of the accident.
  
  
• While Reston is creating a shrine to rad '80s art at the Wiehle Avenue Metro Station, the folks in Herndon are in a bit of disarray about their proposed station, including learning that a parking garage is currently slated for the opposite side of the Toll Road of the existing, vaguely crumbling, Herndon-Monroe Kiss and Ride garage. Who needs to learn how to read a map, anyway?
  
  
• Alfredo R. Prieto, who was convicted of the 1988 rape and murder of Rachel Raver and the murder of her boyfriend, Warren Fulton III, in Reston, is appealing his sentencing because of what his attorney calls unconstitutional verdict forms. Prieto is already on death row in California for raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl, so we're guessing the eventual ruling will be somewhat moot.
  
  
• Reston's free clinic has seen the number of patients who want such frivolous things as "medical care" increase by 40 percent in the past 10 months.
  
  
• The Obamas came to some hippie "100 days" party held by a couple of Restonians, to celebrate the advent of socialism and whatnot. Oh, wait -- it was just their cardboard cutouts. Never mind.
  
  
• The Reston Community Players are soliciting new scripts for future productions (third item). We're guessing ones with gratuitous nudity will have a leg up, so to speak.
  
  
• When most people think romance, they think Paris, Venice, maybe the South Pacific. But one wacky Ashburn couple, apparently in a stupor from breathing off-gassing carpet fumes in their particleboard home, decided to hold a flash wedding at the Reston Town Center. David Obbie and Lori Chambers tied the knot last weekend at noon:

  Participants were instructed to wear pink or orange, mill about the Town Center and then converge on the fountain at noon. The bride, groom and their family walked down from the stairs and the short ceremony began.
  
  "We have no idea who they are," Obbie said of his wedding guests. "That's the beauty of the whole thing." People signed up to attend from all over the Northern Virginia area and some even signed up from Washington state, Obbie said. "My best guess is they were going to be vacationing in this area at that time and planned to stop by," he said.

  They also said that Reston Town Center management signed off on the idea because it would "draw in a lot of people." But was the reception at the Macaroni Grill?

Breaking: Body Found in Reston Town Center Condo

Fairfax Police are investigating an apparent suicide that took place early Thursday morning in a Reston Town Center condo:

Officers responded to the 12000 block of Taliesin Place in Reston at about 6 a.m. on Thursday, June 4 for an apparent suicide.

Officers found Zachary Jordan, 33, deceased on the balcony. Surrounding neighbors were notified of the incident in order to keep children away from the windows.

Homicide and Crime Scene detectives continue to investigate.

Awesome $90 Million Garage Approved for Rad '80s Artwork Display, and Possibly Metro Station

It's official: During its meeting June 1, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to give Reston-based Comstock Partners LC development rights for the Wiehle Avenue Metro station site, which will be home to a $90 million garage, mixed-use residential/ office space, and what will perhaps be the nation's finest showcase of rad '80s artwork.

Fairfax County has signed a deal with Comstock Partners LC that gives the Reston-based development group rights to develop the Wiehle Avenue Metro station site, beginning with construction of a parking garage.

Comstock will build a 2,300-space garage, including 40 kiss-and-ride spaces and multiple commuter bus bays. Comstock’s long-term development rights are expected to include office, residential and retail built atop the new Metro parking garage.

According to the lengthy board materials (PDF), the vote "will begin a lengthy process for rezoning the property and commencement of preliminary design, both of which must be completed by July 1, 2010, in order for construction of the public garage to proceed so that it can be completed in time for the projected start of Metrorail operations in the 4th quarter of 2013."

Whew! That's a mouthful. Hopefully the additional development will include additional public art along the lines of the tubular stuff planned for the Metro station itself. We humbly suggest that the following banner be hung from the top of the garage to welcome passersby:



Update: Thanks to an alert commenter who managed to read an even more long-winded PDF about the project, here's an artist's conception of what the finished development might look like, minus the awesome '80s art:

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: An "Experienced Journalist" Weighs In, Plus Another "Web Log" Post From the RA

So an actual "experienced journalist" has finally weighed in after Monday's awesome unveiling of the feasibility study on whether it makes sense to have an idea that might someday lead to the construction of an awesome $65 million rec center / juicery at Brown's Chapel Park in North Reston. His account shockingly omitted the juice bar revelations in the report -- an error known to "experienced journalists" as "burying the lede" -- but did reveal a few bits of new information:

• Carol Ann Bradley, chair of the RCC Board of Governors, assured the crowd that the project would only go forward with the consent of the community and if it could be done without raising the tax rate in Small Tax District 5, which supports the RCC. RCC plans to issue a survey in the fall that will touch on whether people want a juice bar recreation center, plus where it should go.
  
  
• Former RA President Rick Beyer is now co-chair of the grassroots group Save Brown’s Chapel. The group has now retained legal counsel and said Monday it would take action if the RA and RCC tried to build the center without putting it to a referendum.
  
  
• We haven't heard much from the pro-rec center crowds, which don't have a nifty "Web site" or anything, but they did speak at Monday's meeting, and even wore nifty stickers saying "Yes! Support the rec center."
  
  Reston Masters Swim Team President Gordon Gerson said his group — and the community — badly needed more indoor swimming. "A most excellent planned community should have a most excellent recreation center," he said. Gerson said the community center at Hunters Woods was not designed for athletics and the pool was too small. If half of the 118 members of his team showed up for practice, he said, they would be swimming 10 to a lane. Meanwhile, practices could not be split up because too few available hours existed. He said there were too few lanes for individual swimmers to use for exercise and nowhere for Reston children to swim during the winter.
  
  "We’re not against anything," Gerson said. "The only thing we’re against is not doing anything."
  
  Evan Bass, chair of the RA Tennis Advisory Committee, said Reston needed to fight the growing problem of childhood obesity by providing a place to exercise during winter and in bad weather.

Let's hope that juice bar offers low-calorie drinks then.

You can also see lots of video action from Monday's meeting on the YouTubes, all collected here, if you're into such unspeakable filth.

Meanwhile, RA President Robin Smyers Administrator Account has updated her "Web-blog" with a "post" asking residents to envision Reston 40 years from now, only without the earth-toned cyborgs that will have enslaved us all by that point.

We love the natural areas, tennis courts, pools, pathways, camps, the diversity of housing and the ability to live, work and play. All of us want to preserve what we have come to expect.

But we also need to preserve and improve our facilities. Face it. Our newest pool is more than a decade old. We have incredible staff that maintains our pools, tennis courts and open areas. Covenant helps property owners keep their homes up to standards. But many of our properties are as old as Reston itself.

We have to be ready to accept and plan for our impending growth. Metro will bring people and despite the bleak economy now, there will eventually be an improvement. This will not only bring jobs to our beautiful community, but we will welcome more neighbors who will live and work here.

So, now is the time in look at ways to improve and re-invest in Reston. What amenities will we need to provide to the community in the next four decades? One option that people have indicated an interest in is year-round recreational facilities that would allow them access without having to travel. Over the years, we’ve discussed enclosing tennis courts, covering a pool to be able to accommodate year-round swimming, and tried to light baseball fields to meet various community needs and interests.

Now, we have an opportunity invest in the next 40 years and build something for the next generation.

The RA Board has not made any decisions about building an indoor facility or a potential location. There are plenty of ideas. The most important are those we will get from you. Please plan to attend one of the four community sessions scheduled for each of our districts. We want to hear from the entire community on your vision of Reston in the next 40 years. I hope you will have time to attend.

Something tells us the board will get its wish.

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Powerpoint Convincingly Proves Need for Rec Center to Serve the Old, the Rich, and Juice Lovers

During a very special meeting -- not to be confused with a "community input meeting" -- last night, the results of the long-awaited feasibility study on the proposed $65 million "idea" for a rec center / imaginarium at Brown's Chapel Park was unveiled. Here's the report, prepared by Brailsford and Dunlavey for the Reston Association and Reston Community Center. Be warned -- it's a bit of a slog, which is why B&D thoughtfully prepared this PowerPoint presentation, which at 54 pages, or "slides," is a bit of a slog itself.

Here's what we gleaned as we skimmed through the presentation while on the phone with a third party discussing an unrelated subject and attempting to eat lunch. While our ability to multitask in this way resembles that of an "experienced journalist," consider this a disclaimer that you are instead reading a filthy "web log" and therefore not gaining the benefits of their level of expert analysis:

• People who live in Reston are getting older! And richer! As a result, we need more facilities.
  
• While people lost interest in tennis for a while after Andre Aggassi was taken off the market by an overwrought singer, it's recently become one of the fastest-growing sports in the country -- especially for the riches and the olds (see point #1).
  
• There aren't many indoor tennis courts nearby.
  
• B&D prepared three scenarios for the rec center, but never fear: even the most austere option would have a "juice bar."
  
• Each of the three scenarios would cover between 74 and 80 percent of operating expenses. That translates into an annual deficit somewhere in the range of $3.9-$4.8 million, presumably depending on how many strawberry smoothies patrons buy.
  
• No matter where or what is built, it'll probably take 3-4 years.
  
• "Community input" is the next step in the process.
  

All joking aside, the report does prove what people have known all along -- that there is great demand for additional indoor facilities, and that building something might not be the worst idea in the world. The question that remains is where it should be built -- and who should foot the bill. Hopefully the RA and RCC will be listening to both questions as they hold their next round of meetings.

This Week in Crime: Stay Away from Tunnels and Gas Stations, and Especially Gas Stations Near Tunnels

Two 18-year-old Reston men were arrested in connection with a gas station robbery in Sterling.

Meanwhile closer to home, a 38-year-old man was jumped as he walked on one of South Reston's picturesque paths and liberated of his excess cash.

A 38-year-old man was robbed by a group of four men while walking in the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road on May 16. The man was walking through a tunnel at about 12:45 p.m. and as he exited the four men grabbed him.

One of them punched him and demanded money. The other subjects held the man, took and undisclosed amount of cash from him and the men fled. The man was taken to Reston Hospital Center with non life-threatening injuries.

The suspects were described as black and between 18 to 21 years old. One was about 6 feet tall and the others were abut 5 feet 10 inches tall. They were described as muscular, with brown eyes and short, black, curly hair. One wore a black T-shirt and jeans, another wore a white T-shirt and jeans, another wore a gray hooded-sweatshirt and the last was wearing a black hood. Call police at 703-691-2131 or Crime Solvers anonymously at 1-866-411-8477.

No word on whether he was drunk or knew his assailants.

Another Week, Another Tall Building

Boy, does the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee have a busy evening ahead of it! Along with the awesome mixed-use complex that the JBG Companies is proposing for the site of Fairway Apartments near Lake Anne, the board will also consider another proposal to demolish a two-story day care center near the Reston Town Center and replace it with a 15-story residential tower.

Applicant RAJ Development, LLC seeks approval of a plan to demolish the existing two story day care center known as Winwood located at 1841 Explorer Street on 1.6 acres of land and replace it with a 180 foot high 15 story building containing 375 residential units. The square footage of the existing building is 9100 square feet; the square footage of the proposed building would be 50,000 square feet.

Hello, Manhattan -- at least if you consider Manhattan to be a handful of tall buildings surrounded by low-rise suburbs, limited mass transit options, and a paucity of polyglot hot dog vendors. Seriously, at least this proposal is more or less in character with the buildings that surround it. And who wouldn't want to live in a complex within walking distance of the Macaroni Grill?

Flashback Monday: How Reston Won the Cold War

At incredible risk to life and limb, our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, brings us the following explosive discovery, from deep within the mouldering archives of the U.S. government:

Exchanging his coarse woolen sheepherder's cap for Indiana Jones’ snappy fedora, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston has made an extraordinary archeological find involving our beloved New Town that has the potential to rewrite world history as we understand it. Toiling of late in a non-descript government building in Washington to salvage historical material that will go to the National Archives (the country’s second largest repository of old records, dwarfed only by RA headquarters), The Peasant has spent countless hours in a dank, dusty sub-basement storage room similar to those confines where Jack Bauer is always brought for torture on “24”, or where the RA conducts enhanced interrogation techniques on hapless Reston homeowners who have dared to use red mulch.

It was on one such salvage expedition that The Peasant stumbled across a set of historical documents related to a traveling exhibition, “Architecture USA”, that Uncle Sam sent to Poland via the U.S. Information Agency in 1970 during the height of the Cold War. Exploring further, The Peasant discovered that one thematic issue covered by this exhibit was…new towns! And there, before his unbelieving eyes, were photos of our beloved 'burb.

One, showing the Lake Anne Village Center in 1963 and looking strikingly similar to the Lake Anne of 2009, described Reston as “a pleasant mixture of cultural facilities, shops, places of entertainment, and residential areas.” (And all this before the Macaroni Grill graced us with its presence!).

Another, showing two happy little nippers running in the driveway of their detached house with beer-bellied Pop looking on, notes that “a variety of housing is available at Reston…prices are very moderate to expensive.” The exhibit also included a photo of our town’s satanic twin in Howard County, Maryland, but we will not speak here of such evil.

According to USIA, the exhibit was seen by nearly 700,000 Poles during its four-month tour of Katowice, Wroclaw, Poznan, and Warsaw, and was “perhaps the most popular foreign exhibit ever shown in Poland.”

So…we now can definitively conclude that the rise of Solidarity a decade later in fact was not due to Red Army occupation, political repression, and food shortages in Poland. No! It is clearly evident that the Polish people ended one-party Communist rule and set in motion the chain of events leading to the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989 because they had seen the wonders of Reston and were inspired by this other-worldly vision. We are certain that high on the agenda of Solidarnost as it took power that year was streambed restoration of all 651 miles of the Vistula River, construction of a new seat of government with ample file storage capacity, restriping of the E-67 motorway from Tomaszow Mazowiecki to Piotrkow Trybunalski to create dedicated bike lanes, and building a new state-of-the-art recreation center so that Warsaw can compete head to head with Reston as the venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

There you have it. Historians, please note: Reston single-handedly brought down the Evil Empire and ended the Cold War.

This shocking development has the potential to completely rewrite history. A generation from now, students will no longer be misinformed that this movie won the Cold War: