News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, August 4, 2011

This and That: A Random Run of the Bases of Reston News

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  • Man oh man, we love us some schematic drawrings, and this new earth-toned hawtness represents the new $18 million Reston police station and governmental center, which is slated to rise from the parking lot behind the current, considerably blockier building. At a meeting Wednesday, architects explained that the police section of the building is the part that's solid and built into the ground, while the offices for the Hunter Mill District Supervisor and her staff are the glassy bits, symbolizing transparency in government or something awesome like that. The site is in the midst of prime property targeted for development, but there are no plans yet for the land that surround it. Who knows? Maybe they can move the hookah parlor and sex shop lingerie boutique next to the police station; they seem like what urban planners would call "complementary uses."

  • Our BFFs at Reston 2020 read a fancy study on Toll Road rate pricing commissioned by the airports authority and learned a "fun" fact, assuming you find hoarding quarters "fun": Rates could rise to $7 now -- and up to $12 in 2023 -- and revenue would still increase, as even with the fancy Silver Line, some folks will have no recourse but to take our favorite multilane slice of gridlock. Um, yay?

  • Following in the footsteps of an awesome report that solved all of the Lake Anne Village Center's problems forever, a meeting was held last week to discuss new ways to attract businesses and visitors. We'd say something about one new buisiness attracting some attention for the Plaza, but we already used that joke in the first item.

  • Colin Mills is the new president of the Reston Citizens Association. He's also involved in the Master Plan Task Force With An Interminably Long Acronym (MPTFWAILA), so it's good that the group that's been paying the most attention to the Task Force's work is well-represented. Meanwhile, given the slow speed of its work, John Lovaas wonders if the aforementioned Task Force is "trapped in a time warp," though presumably one bereft of good showtunes.

  • The Reston Association Board will allow a Buckthorn Lane resident to once again hunt deer on his property. Let the deerpocalypse begin!

  • Boeing has acquired Reston-based Solutions Made Simple, a cybersecurity contractor for the government involved in, we dunno, strapping encrypted files to dolphins.

  • Finally, some good news: After winning the state Little League championship, the Reston Nationals go to Georgia this weekend, where they will play South Carolina, Florida and West Virginia teams in hopes of making it to the national semifinals. Please to be enjoying this fancy video -- and wish the Nationals luck.


6 comments:

  1. John Lovaas wonders if the aforementioned Task Force is "trapped in a time warp,"

    LOL, if anyone's trapped in a time warp, it is him. He has been saying the same thing over and over for the past ten years at least. If he didn't have Robert Simon and Cathy Hudgins to grumble about every week, he'd have nothing to say at all.

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  2. The VA state champion Reston Little League team won their first game in the tournament being played down in GA! Go Reston!

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  3. a meeting was held last week to discuss new ways to attract businesses and visitors.

    I notice the "new ways" all involved "marketing" and "branding". Talk about lipstick on a pig! They seem to think people come to RTC because it has a great "brand", and people will come to LAP if it just has a better "brand". Bzzzt, wrong. People don't shop at RTC because of its great brand, they shop there because the stores are excellent. LAP can do all the branding and marketing in the world and it's a waste of time because the stores suck. That's why people don't shop there, it's not because of LAP's poor brand. Get better stores and THEN do some marketing. Until then you're wasting your time and money.

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  4. And now that G Sushi's lease was not renewed, I have one less reason to visit the Plaza. A pity.

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  5. G- Sushi will be missed. The owner of that space is 100% a-hole. We'll miss you G-sushi! Good luck in your next space!

    What do you think, should we roll out the bulldozers and plow that concrete poop hole under?

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  6. For the most part, I agree with Anon 6:21. Marketing is not an end-in-itself. You have to have something to market.

    Unfortunately, Anon 10:41 is absolutely correct about the owner of the G-Sushi space (and 3 other units). Until the LAP landlords get serious about the upkeep of these units, and realistic about the rent they are charging, there will continue to be a parade of first-time businesses that can't make it. G-Sushi had a good business and loyal customers -- he just couldn't put up with the crap from his slumlord. The man was paying RTC prices, and he didn't even have working AC.

    The Thai restaurant, the bank and the Pharmacy are the only reasons for me to go on the Plaza -- and the Pharmacy is up for sale.

    It's going to be a long, hard Winter on the Plaza. But then, there's always Santa's barge landing.

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