Tolls, Tolls, Everywhere Tolls: A New Fairfax County Toll Road?

Facing a $3 billion deficit in long-term transportation funding, Fairfax County is engaging in a "dialogue" with county residents about "transportation needs, priorities and revenue options." (One of the "dialogues" will be held Oct. 3 at the North County Government Center.)

We enjoy a good "rap session" about traffic flow and capacity utilization as much as the next hepcat web logger, but this bit under "revenue options" caught our eye: Along with considering changes to taxes to pay for the area's transportation needs, one item open for discussion is converting Fairfax County Parkway to a toll road. Those fancy new "Rt. 286" signs aren't going to pay for themselves, you know!

But there's no need to start filling a second sock of quarters to supplement the one you're already using for the Toll Road just yet -- the transition would require authorization from the General Assembly and considerable expense to add tolling equipment, loud bells that ring when the aforementioned equipment doesn't read your Smart Tag correctly, etc., etc. For now, it's just one idea on a long list of ideas. But once an idea's been put on the table, it's out there. As our BFFs at Reston2020 put it:

Simply put, Restonians would be taxed no matter what direction they head to leave Reston: East and West on the Dulles Toll Road and North and South on the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road. So in addition to the diversion of traffic from the Dulles Toll Road due to huge toll hikes, Restonians and those coming to Reston would divert from the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road to, yes, Reston Parkway. Having just seen a presentation by FCDOT that forecast four minute delays (actually, 241 seconds at Sunrise Valley Drive at the "peak of the peak" period) on Reston Parkway in 2030 due to local development alone--no consideration of tolling the Parkway, I don't even want to think about what tolls on the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road will add to local congestion, pollution, and diminished quality of life. (I won't even go into the absurdity of their calculation for the average household.)

On the plus side, they could just hang those coin-collection baskets from the impressive steel megalith already hanging over the parkway's intersection with Sunrise Valley Road. We're saving money already!

Some Day, You'll Tell Your Grandkids About The Great Macaroni Grill Blockade of Ought-12

Confidential Twitter Operative "Tom" sent us this SHOCKING cellular telephone photo of a barricade at Reston Spectrum, apparently erected to keep people away from the cheese-loaded goodness of the Macaroni Grill. Not since the Cuban Missile Crisis has a blockade made us so nervous. Or maybe that's just our cholesterol-laden bloodstream anticipating the carb withdrawal.

"Oh noes!" exclaimed Twitter Operative "Tom." There are no words -- except maybe those two.

Made in Reston: Our Most Famous Export Winds Up in China

Who says we don't make things in America any more? Reston's most famous export, the strain of Ebola virus so nice they named it after a planned community, has made it all the way from Isaac Newton Square to China!

First, it showed up in pigs in the Philippines. Now, Ebola Reston has shown up in "domestic pigs" in China. Epidemiologists, here's your fancy science talk:

Historically, Reston virus (RESTV) has been found to be associated with outbreaks of disease only in nonhuman primates. Its spread to domestic pigs was reported for the first time in 2008. In this study, we report the discovery, molecular detection, and phylogenetic analysis of Reston virus (RESTV) in domestic pigs in China. A total of 137 spleen specimens from pigs that died after showing typical clinical signs of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), and for which infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) was confirmed by RT-PCR, were collected from three farms in Shanghai from February to September 2011. Of these samples, 2.92 % (4/137) were found to be positive for RESTV. All of the positive piglets were under the age of 8 weeks and were co-infected with PRRSV. Sequences were found that shared 96.1 %-98.9 % sequence similarity with those of two RESTV variants that had been discovered previously in domestic pigs and cynomolgus macaques from the Philippines. We therefore conclude that RESTV was present in domestic pigs in Shanghai, China.

What they said.

Let's hear it for American Restonian can-do! Who wants bacon?

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: Saturday Rally to Dissuade Multinational Conglomerate

Hey, golf fans! Put next Saturday on your calendar, as it will be an excellent time to hit the links a parking lot across the street from Reston National Golf Course to protest plans to redevelop the property by a giant investment firm.

The biggest surprise about this rally is one of the speakers on the guest list: Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins. Given her pro-development reputation (and recent vote), it's encouraging to see her lend support to this group.

Here's the flyer for the rally:

Other speakers include representatives of the Reston Association and Reston Citizens Association, so it appears all the talk about a united front continues to hold true. Hopefully this kind of public activity will send a message, but we think that these groups were smart to get lawyered up as well.

Flashback Monday: Reston's First School

Please to be enjoying this halftoned ca. 1966-rendering of "the coming Reston elementary school," later known as Lake Anne. The sketch gives it that breezy, half Great Society, half Jetsons look that was in vogue at the time, but the price was apparently right. Here's the writeup from a 1966 newsletter:

Friday, May 13, brought good luck to Reston, for on that day it was learned that the Fairfax County School Board announced the award of the construction of the first Reston elementary school to Reston, Virginia, Inc., which will build the school without profit in addition to having donated the land. Construction will begin immediately so that the school will be ready for use by 1967.

This fall marked the end of a two-year renovation project at the school, which includes interactive whiteboards and stuff that would have seemed like science fiction when ground was first broken.

We actually took the photo above to the Restonian Photo Lab (actually a 1985 Commodore Amiga running a beta version of Photoshop 1.0), where at great expense, we colorized and restored it to its original 1966 splendor:

You're welcome.

Yet Another Storm Rains on Yet Another Parade

Behold, at least from a great distance, the scene of carnage after yet another microburst whipped through Lake Anne Plaza towards the end of Saturday's Reston Multicultural Festival. Our eyewitness writes:

A sudden downpour and violent winds abruptly ended a concert on Lake Anne Plaza. The sudden wind gusts caused a portion of the tent covering the stage to collapse onto the seating area as people ran screaming for cover. The concert was part of the 2012 Reston Multicultural Festival.

Oh, the humanity! When will they learn -- it always rains on the Reston Multicultural Festival.

The freaky weather just keeps getting freakier.

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: 'The Quiet Company' Behind Not-So-Quiet Golf Course Redevelopment Plans

Hey golf redevelopment fans! What's new on the links this week? Our BFFs at Rescue Reston held a press conference yesterday where they revealed that the shadowy force behind the proposal to redevelop Reston National Golf Course is none other than Northwestern Mutual Life -- better known as "the quiet company."

A land records search shows that the 2005 investor group that purchased the 166-acre golf course is is RN Golf Management, which is part of RestonOaks Golf LLC, which is part of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin, says Rescue Reston executive director John Pinkman.

"We feel it is important for our community to know who is calling the shots," Pinkman said at a news conference at Reston Association headquarters. "Northwestern Mutual is a huge company with many facets."

Pinkman said that Rescue Reston embarked on the records search because it seemed odd that RN Golf Management, a "thriving, profitable recreational enterprise, would then decide to build homes."

"It seemed to us that there were investors behind the golf course who were not specifically associated with the course," said Pinkman. "We wondered why that entity was hidden."

Let's state the obvious: this is not particularly good news -- a giant investment firm could care less about the merits of recreational facilities, green space, master plans, or the impact of redevelopment on a community. Which, in turn, means that the court of public opinion could amount to precisely squat, and that Rescue Reston and others were right to seek recourse in the courts of law from the get-go.

On the bright side, the Action McNews Team sent "Sky9," whatever that is, to capture some stunning aerial photos of Reston National Golf Course as part of their Action McNews Team on Your Side coverage, so you know this story has now officially become a Big Deal:


The best part? Representatives of the property owners "hung up on our reporter." We probably would have too!

Below is footage from the press conference itself.


Hum your own Warren Zevon tune if it helps.

A Long Day's Journey Into Night, As Consumers Line Up to Consume Another Consumer Product

By some accounts, more than 200 people consumers lined up at Reston Town Center this morning for the release of yet another life-changing magical device. As a shareholder of Apple -- whose stock has done slightly better of late than the much-anticipated IPO of Restonian Amalgated Web Logs and Extruded Pork Products Ltd. (NASDAQ: MAUVE) -- we salute you!

9 p.m. last night.
Haters gonna hate. Consumers gonna consume.

The scene at around 2 a.m., according to this Instagrammer. The low-fi Instagram filters give this the look of a Hopper painting; let's call it Nightgeeks.

Morning has broken. Wonder how many people lost their resolve and jumped out of line for breakfast at Clyde's.

Almost there!


Finally, the acolytes prepare to open the temple doors so the teeming masses can enter. Excelsior!

And here's what they've all been waiting for:


AWESOME.

Confirmed: Toll Road Rates Going Up, Sun to Continue Rising in the East

The airports authority has released its schedule for toll increases through 2015, and guess what? They're going up.

Effective January 1, 2013, tolls at the mainline plaza will be $1.75 (up from $1.50) and the ramps will be $1.00 (up from $0.75).

There are two options currently being presented by MWAA for toll prices from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014. The first would raise the cost at the mainline plaza to $2.50, with no increase on the ramps. The second would raise the mainline plaza to $2.25, and the ramps to $1.25.

There are two similar options for rates from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 2015. Option A calls for a mainline plaza raise to $2.75 and the ramps raised to $1.75. Option B would raise the mainline plaza to $3.00 and the ramps to $1.50.

Either way, in just a little over two years, we'll be paying $9 for a round-trip excursion to the wonders of Tysons Corner. The Greater Reston Chamber is in support of concentrating the toll increases at the mainline plaza to encourage shorter trips on the Toll Road where "transit is not an option." And the folks at AAA took some time away from printing Trip-Tiks for your family's road trip to Disneyworld to say they're opposed to the rapid toll hikes, adding in a snap unprecedented in auto-wrecker-dispatching-company correspondence:

It was a rotten formula at the start whose stench only gets worse with each passing year and the skyrocketing tolls that come with it. As the latest round of toll hikes for a round-trip on the Dulles Toll Road prove, they don’t call it the “Silver Line” for nothing, but we think it’s now more deserving of a new name: “Platinum Line.”

Our BFFs at Reston 2020 have also weighed in, arguing that the toll hikes will move 10,000 to 15,000 trips to Reston roads, especially after our stocks of extra coinage stuck behind the sofa cushions have been exhausted. They also predict the hikes will "slow the economic and tax revenue growth the construction of the Silver Line is meant to stimulate," arguing that the impact could undermine future county tax revenue from all that projected bollardy growth by 5 to 10 percent.

Where's the funny part, you ask? How about this comment from the public hearings about the toll hikes from a few weeks back, where people got to see this fancy Powerpoint:

The Airports Authority says public feedback will be taken seriously when establishing the new toll rates later this year.

Ha ha, that's a good one! Enjoy the veal and be sure to tip your waitress, folks. And now, tonight's featured act, Bobcat Goldthwait!


Be thankful we did NOT set this video to "autoplay."

Stuff Gettin' Smashed: Parc Reston Demolition in Full Force

This is what it looks like when an earth-toned dream dies.

A Confidential Restonian Operative sent us these exciting photos of demolition work at Parc Reston, where three of the midrise condo/apartment buildings are getting torn down to make way for two 14-story residential towers. (The remaining buildings will stand, although we think the ones in the picture above are next for the wood chipper, warily eying their ultimate fate with the blank, soulless eyes of the vacated rental unit.

Will the tree be saved? We just don't know.

With approved redevelopment projects across the street at the Reston Times building and just down North Shore at Fairway Apartments, it's going to be a busy couple of years for demolitioners, or whatever you call people with the awesome job of bustin' stuff up real good, in our neighborhood. They might want to consider getting a Frequent Eater card at the Macaroni Grill across the street, at least until the Spectrum Center, too, falls under the wrecking ball at some point in the future, the end.

Shadowood and the (State) Supreme Court: Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together

When two bureaucratic organizations go head to head, things can get ugly. It's safe to say that a longstanding feud between Fairfax County and the Shadowood Condominium Association involving the condo association's authority to levy fines against public housing units owned by the county got really ugly. Like highest-court-of-the-landstate ugly.

Fairfax County owns 16 units at Shadowood. In May, the county's Redevelopment and Housing Authority issued a resolution basically giving its own staff responsibility for day-to-day operation of its units. And following two years of litigation, the Virginia State Supreme Court ruled earlier this summer that the Shadowood association didn't have the authority to impose charges or suspend owners' rights.

In 2010, FCHRA filed suit against the Association claiming that the Association had improperly assessed more than $20,000 in fines against FCHRA, and had attempted to suspend its rights and privileges to use facilities and common elements because FCHRA had failed to pay the assessed charges. FCHRA argued that the master deed and bylaws only permitted the Association to levy assessments for maintenance of the property, and that the Association was prohibited from levying assessments for violations of the policies or rules and regulations of the Association.

A lower court judge had previously found the fines "more consistent with a punitive fine than then type of charges necessary for the operation of the Shadowood property." Similar stories have popped up in the past.

Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins is holding a community meeting with representatives from the county's Consumer Affairs Branch on Sept. 24 to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court decision. In a letter to Shadowood residents, she writes:

This decision marks the end of two years of litigation. When the process began we knew that all Shadowood Condominium Association owners would be required to fund the litigation, and as one of those owners, Fairfax County shared in these expenses. These expenses were necessary, however, to establish that the SCA's policy of imposing fines was both unwarranted and unauthorized. While not all Shadowood owners have been erroneously fined, I believe that many have been.

Government overreach or a principled attempt to defend property owners from another overreaching organization? We'll have to consult our Illustrated Ayn Rand Reader and get back to you on that one.

Flashback Monday: Reston: The Walking Tour Part II Electric Boogaloo

When we last left our walking tour of early Reston, we were admiring Lake Anne and trying to count its "30,000 bass and bluegill." But it's time to get off our duffs and press onward!

First, we glimpse across the lake at Waterview Cluster, which earlier marketing brochures likened to a "quaint French fishing village." Hold that Gallic thought for a moment, as we approach...

Let's compare the bridge to the Van Gogh painting in question:

Poor Van Gogh. His artistic legacy might have been completely different if he'd taken the time to paint some blocky modernist townhouses in the background. But onward, to...

You can't really see the pool from the path, but maybe if you climb up on the "pulpit," you'll be able to furtively check out 1960s Betty Draper sunning herself poolside. But there's no time for those kinds of shenanigans, because we're about to come face to face with a true jet-age marvel!

Chilled lake water used to air condition houses? Ha ha, that's the kind of crazy thinking that didn't make it out of the 1960s alive.

Oh, wait.

Not sure concrete bench-thingies really count as "furniture," but we'd imagine the whimsical sculptures probably did confound 1960s city-dwellers conditioned to consider underpasses dark, dangerous places. But once you emerge unscathed on the other side, DO NOT ENTER HICKORY CLUSTER. Here there be dragons actual Restonians, who are apparently not to be trifled with. Consider yourself warned, and turn yourself around.

The long walk back to our Dodge Swinger in the parking lot gives us plenty of time to "examine the totality of the Reston concept." But, we are cautioned by our guidebook Virgil, "to appreciate the real meaning of Reston you must live here."

Ain't that the truth.

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: Everyone Officially Lawyered Up

At a standing-room-only meeting last night, the Reston Association reiterated its opposition to any proposed redevelopment of Reston National Golf Course. More importantly, the RA put its our money where its mouth is, hiring legal counsel to fight a zoning appeal filed by the property's owners as what they've called "the next step in redevelopment".

The board, which called a special meeting on Aug. 22 to organize its position, announced it has hired Odin, Feldman, Pittleman PC to represent RA in the golf course matter.

The law firm will advise and provide counsel - and litigate if necessary - to the Board of Directors with respect to RN Golf Management appeal before the [Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals] and advocate on behalf of the RA and its Board of Directors in opposition to any proposed or suggested development or re-development of the golf course.

The board will also establish a special committee comprised of President Ken Knueven; Directors Donna Miller Rostant, Mike Sanio, Andy Sigle; and CEO Milton Matthews to work with staff and special counsel on the matter.

Good on them.

Rescue Reston also announced this week that it has retained its own legal counsel to fight the property owner's appeal before the BZA.

The organization has retained the land use law firm of Greehan, Taves, Pandak and Stoner, PLLC. Pinkman confirmed that the search contacted seven law firms who specialize in land use matters. Led by former land use attorney Dave Stroh and David Burns, Esq., the Rescue Reston internal legal committee conducted a thorough and detailed interview process.

Mr. Burns will continue to interface with the firm as Rescue Reston prepares to assist Fairfax County, Reston Association, and the Reston Community Association to prevent redevelopment of Reston National Golf Course into medium density housing (townhouses). The Board of Zoning Appeal will meet during day time business hours October 24 to consider an appeal from the owners of the Golf Course who “by right” believe they can redevelop the 166 acres of the golf course open space in Reston. The Fairfax County Zoning Administrator has ruled against the Golf Course owners, holding that any such redevelopment would require an amendment to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan.

Rescue Reston is also readying these awesome high-contrast lawn signs, although they "have been hung up in a size discussion with RA," the organization says. Oh, RA, you never fail to not surprise us!

Meanwhile, opponents of the redevelopment presumably did a little Google searching, discovered that RN Golf Management received a $6,700 fine from the EPA earlier this year as part of a consent decree involving an underground storage tank on the golf course property, and forwarded PDFs of the agreement to the media (and this web log). So, um, there's that.

So this is the part where you're expecting to see another hilarious clip from that classic land-use documentary, Caddyshack. Given all the lawyering up that's going on, somehow this seems more appropriate:


AWESOME.

(Full Restonian Action McNews i-Report Team On Your Side coverage here.)

It's Not Just a Job, It's Peering At Houses From Behind Bushes

The Reston Association is hiring a covenants advisor. Which is great -- we could make all kinds of jokes about folks crawling around in the woods to get a furtive glimpse of some verboten red mulch in the back yard, but we actually had good experiences with a sympathetic and thoughtful covenants advisor when we added the 25-foot-tall blinking neon WEB LOGS WE MAKE THE WORLD TAKES sign to Restonian World Headquarters had questions about some obscure external lighting rules. Having said that, though, maybe they shouldn't illustrate the job with a picture like this:

Fish, meet barrel. Write your own captions in the comments.

Okay, we'll start: "I can see a Russian-style bureaucracy from my house!"

Mauvescraper Now: Reston's Hellish High-Rise Future Begins

Not surprisingly, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to approve the 23-story mauvescraper proposed for the site of the Reston Times building on Reston Parkway, casting a deaf ear to the calls to reject it from the county's own planning staff and virtually every Reston-related citizens organization, including the Reston Association, Reston Citizens Association, and the Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homes (ARCH), which joined forces in a rare display of unity to oppose the project based on its height, lack of residential component, and distance from the future metro station.

The 23-story, 325-foot high-rise (including the penthouse) at 1760 Reston Parkway, proposed by RTC Partnership LLC, was a seemingly easy sell for the board, which supported it Tuesday in near unanimity. Supervisor Linda Smyth abstained “on the basis of ambivalence.”

There was lots of talk from the board about how classy the design was (which it kinda is). The reality, though, is that the decision was all but set in stone back in the 1970s, when an earlier county board approved redevelopment on the property with no height or density restrictions. Since the county may soon be entering a nasty ground war with another developer over "by right" development, maybe this board decided to save their gunpowder. At least that's the glass-half-full theory; the glass-half-empty theory would point to the vote and the long-delayed master plan process as evidence that the board wants development for development's sake and is only paying lip service to the idea of a sensible plan governing it. You know, you say "tomato," I say "we will not have to remain in the sameness of heights and density as a measure of world-class design." (Actually, Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said that.)

To be fair, if you're going to have tall buildings, and you're not going to build them near the Metro station, the Town Center footprint's probably the best place for them, as opposed to, say, an established residential neighborhood. That was the argument made by Bob Simon, who spoke in favor of the project:

"The question is 'is this is good location?' said Simon. "It is a perfect location. Town Center starts at Target and goes to Home Depot. This building will be right in the center and will be appropriate."

Besides, the building will have bike lockers and spots for buses and whatnot, so it's totally transit-friendly. Right?

[The developer] also said the walk from the future Metro station will be 14 minutes. Tammi Petrine, representing the Reston Citizens Association, told the Supervisors one could only walk that fast if they were "part cheetah and part marathoner."

Nice! If land-use law was governed by snaps, we'd all be living in one-story yurts right now.

We don't think this is necessarily the end of the world the Reston ideal, given that this is the start of replacing a giant field of overadorned big-box stores that were never intended for Reston with something more appropriate. But we'd like to see a little more backbone from county officials about the battles that will matter, which we've learned are coming sooner than we think.

Meanwhile, in the Anti-Reston: Herndon Apparently 'Pulsing on the Edge of Fairfax County'

It's been a while since we've checked in with our neighbors to the west, but it sounds like they've been busy developing a "brand initiative" for Herndon, which includes a description of the town as "pulsing on the edge of Fairfax County."

All together now: EWWWWWWW.

Here's the full "positioning statement" developed for the town council by consultants:

“A next generation small town pulses on the edge of Fairfax County. Turn off the highway and find yourself in a place that welcomes innovators, risk-takers, history seekers and family-keepers. This is where the roots of history help to grow the ideas of tomorrow."

And please to be enjoying the town's new logo "word mark":

Not bad. The line above the "on" in "Herndon" is meant to be reused in other ways, like "lunch is on" or "on point." It's the kind of thing would-be Don Drapers live for.

But here's where you can tell we're not in Reston anymore, Toto:

The main colors for the new logo will be gray and red—colors that struck a cord with Herndon residents, as red is the color of Herndon High and Middle Schools. Alternate colors that may be used in the “on” marketing include purple, fuchsia, blue, green, yellow and orange. (our emphasis)

Can we as Restonians stand by when such affronts to our DRB-approved color palette as "fuchsia" taunt us and our regimented way of life from across Fairfax County Parkway?

We think not.

Flashback Monday: Reston: The Walking Tour

Imagine driving your ginormous two-ton "sports coupe" into the New Towne of Reston sometime in the 1960s, eager to learn what they were smoking when they decided to build townhouses out in the middle of the nowhere about this whole New Urbanism thing. And your journey begins... in a parking lot!

That's right. Do NOT drive your car through Washington Plaza. Leave it in the parking lot instead. Already we can see how RESTRICTIVE the HOA lifestyle can be. But there's no turning back, as we venture on foot to gawk in stupor at...

Never knew those were originally intended to be private homes. It's actually pretty funny to think that the kids sculpture was supposed to distract people from gawking at families watching "I Love Lucy" on their massive 14" black-and-white TVs on their way out of the Safeway.

Now we're confronted by the architectural gems of Washington Plaza. We've often called the plaza's adornments examples of the brutalist style, but here Cold War-aware marketers cognizant of its Soviet Bloc implications opt to describe it as "contemporary Gothic."

Yes, we've often thought of the Heron House as Reston's Eiffel Tower, but considering that the only other structures that tall in the Virginia countryside at the time were grain silos, it must have baffled the locals nearly as much as the integrated, diverse community being built around them.

Wait a minute. It's a BOAT, but it's not in the water that's 10 feet away? And it's made out of concrete, so it doesn't even float? MIND. IS. BLOWN.

So that's what all the water the Sun Boat isn't floating in is called! Wonder how many descendants of those original 30,000 bass and bluegill still ply its waters.

At this point, we've been so bowled over by the wonders of this bejeweled community that we're going to need to take a breather. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this exciting walking tour in next week's Reston Flashback. In the meantime, please don't feed the geese or the residents.

Apparently That *Was* a Tornado That Hit Reston Today (Update: Or Not)

So says the Washington Post. The heaviest damage appears to have been in the area of Fairway Apartments and Vantage Hill. Updates from our Twitter feed below (scroll down to get to the stormy bits):

Tweets by @Restonian


Update: Fairfax County now says the damage appears to be the result of "straight-line winds."

Some ActionMcNews coverage, if you're into such things:

As Mauvescraper Vote Nears, Reston Groups Again Present a United Front

As the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors prepares for a Tuesday public hearing on the 23-story mauvescraper proposed for the current site of the Reston Times building on Reston Parkway, the three major groups representing Reston plan to present a united front in opposition. Reston Citizens Association President Colin Mills writes in a "web log" post:

We reached out to other community groups that had expressed opposition to the tower, specifically the Reston Association and the Association of Reston Clusters and Homeowners (ARCH). Last weekend, leaders from our three organizations met and agreed on a common position.

As with the proposed redevelopment of the Reston National Golf Course, it's encouraging to see all three groups working together. Just as importantly, all three organizations were planning to meet jointly with Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins for the first time.

When RCA, RA, and ARCH meet with Supervisor Hudgins to dicuss the tower, we will ask her to stand up for her staff. We will ask her to stand up for the vision of the Task Force she created. And we will ask her to stand with our organizations, which represent the opinions of a broad swath of Restonians. The tower makes for a pretty-looking rendering, but in order to do right by Reston, it needs to go back to the drawing board.

Hudgins gets a lot of criticism from commenters on this "web log" and elsewhere for being unresponsive to local concerns about development. She'll no longer be able to say she isn't hearing a clear message from her constituents.

The RA, RCA and ARCH had all previously -- and separately -- voiced opposition to the mauvescraper, criticizing its size and distance from the future Metro station, as well as the lack of a residential component. In June, the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted against county staff recommendations to recommend approval of the project (a lengthy analysis of the decision from our BFFs at Reston2020 is here), setting the stage for Tuesday's vote by the county supervisors. (One supporter of the proposal is none other than Bob Simon, who wrote a letter praising its "world-class appearance." Which, to be fair, it does have. Just check out that dramatic CGI sunset!)

We're still pleasantly surprised that all three groups, and especially the RA, are actually working together. So, it seems, are they:

This is a huge step forward for Reston: rather than fighting over turf, our organizations are joining together to support our shared vision of Reston's future. As ARCH President Jerry Volloy joked at our weekend gathering, "We've got to stop meeting like this. People will think we're a community."

Ha ha ha ha! Actually, given that the pace of development proposals -- some potentially good, some almost certainly terrible -- will only increase in the coming years, that might sort of be a good thing.

In Reston, Health News You Can Use

So Reston Hospital may have gotten a fancy robot machine that will lead to the enslavement of the human race help with back surgery, but another Reston healthcare facility has truly raised the bar for medical science, as well as for those of us who ride mass transit on hot summer days.

RESTON, VA: The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery is proud to introduce miraDry®, a revolutionary FDA-approved, non-invasive, lasting treatment for excessive underarm sweating. The results are immediate, dramatic, and for those individuals whose daily routines and social lives are affected by constant, extreme underarm sweating, can be nothing short of life-changing.

All together, now: EWWWWWWWWW.

(Important tip for would-be Junior "web loggers" out there: Add "armpit" to the list of terms to never do a Google Image Search for, the end.)

In North Reston, Lillypocalypse Now?

Ah, life is good in North Reston, where the grass is greener, the sky is bluer, the schools are named after astronauts, the golf courses are in no danger of being plowed under, etc., etc. But even in bucolic North Reston, there can be horrifying threats to our earth-toned way of life lurking right before our very eyes!

We're talking about the floating horror that is the common water lilly. And the RA's North Point Director, Mike Collins, wants to (maybe) do something about it.

"I've had many conversations on this subject with people who live around the lake," Collins said. "Some people dislike the aesthetics of the large patches, especially in the coves. Certainly, heavy concentrations can make boating or fishing difficult or impossible, so some people would like to see the lilies brought under control if not eliminated. Others love the lilies just as they are or don't think they are a problem that warrants expenditure staff time or money right now. "

The water lilly is one of Reston's verboten invasive species, but they can "provide good habitats for fish and can improve water quality." Or maybe "push out other species or create stagnant areas with low oxygen levels." We report, you decide.

The RA currently has no plans to treat the lillies, but one option would be to napalm treat the lake with a variety of herbicides -- either in a minimal way or by going Full Metal Jacket:

Full eradication (or close) with herbicide would cost around $5000 and will probably result in mats of decomposing lilies floating around the lake for a while.

Sounds pretty.

Meanwhile, Lake Newport also has the worst water quality of all of Reston's lakes, according to an annual survey (full report here, if you're into bar graphs measuring things like "conductivity"). We wouldn't use it to mix iced tea, but Lake Thoreau apparently has the best water quality.

You can take Mike Collins' survey on the water lilly scourge by following this link.

The Mean Streets Paths of Reston

A Confidential Restonian Operative sent us these SHOCKING photos of graffiti found along the paths near Lake Anne. We don't know about you, but we no longer feel safe and are considering graduating a move to the comforting climes of Loudoun County, where we will no longer live in fear of being accosted by random words of greeting and encouragement, the end.