Comments on Restonian: News blog from Reston, Virginia, the mauve-colored New Town (tm): Tysons Redevelopment: The Price is Gonna Wow Ya

500 million dollars in streetcars for Tysons Corne...

2009-12-15T12:40:58.227-05:00

500 million dollars in streetcars for Tysons Corner. Has Fairfax County called Krystal Koons yet?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Fairfax-to-seek-key-grant-on-Tysons-circulator-8651179-79098072.html

Take a couple of pictures of some of the old growt...

2009-11-03T10:05:50.796-05:00

Take a couple of pictures of some of the old growth forest out in Prince William forest. You can tell them that it's the really, really "old Reston".

Face it, folks. We're a suburb and we are just as guilty of sprawl and car-centric development of our skyline as well as our waistline as the rest of Northern Virginia.

I took my out-of-town guest to Lake Anne after we ...

2009-11-03T08:49:50.516-05:00

I took my out-of-town guest to Lake Anne after we spent an afternoon hiking through the Glade. (I always take my out-of-town guests to Lake Anne). We drove out Temporary Road and saw Town Center looming up in front of a beautiful pink and blue sunset. My guest said, "That's not Reston!"

Wait until all the redevelopment projects are all done along Sunrise Valley and Sunset Hills, the shopping centers are remade to look like Ballston Commons, and our older townhouse neighborhoods are replaced with high-rise, mixed use, and Lake Anne itself is redeveloped. We'll have to show our out-of-town guests "old Reston" from our family picture albums.

I had a good chuckle when BiCO said: "Surely if y...

2009-11-03T02:00:15.759-05:00

I had a good chuckle when BiCO said: "Surely if you're anything like me then you're embarrassed to show out-of-towners Tyson's Corner as the "premier downtown" of Fairfax County."

I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure your out-of-town guests came to see the sites of DC (and/or Arlington Cemetery or Mount Vernon). If they want to go shopping I'll bring them to Tysons or Reston Town Center. But I would never, never, never say "oh hey, I live near our nation's capital but don't you want to see this fake city we are building in my county?" No matter what happens to Tysons over the next 10-15 years I doubt it will be something my out of town guests would prefer to seeing the White House or the U.S. Capitol or the National Zoo (and so on).

the solution is to redirect the road signs at the ...

2009-11-02T23:24:34.961-05:00

the solution is to redirect the road signs at the entry to Virginia from West Virginia. that will reduce route 7 traffic by 50,000 cars.

obama is above the U.S. Constituition. obama is to...

2009-11-02T19:35:11.327-05:00

obama is above the U.S. Constituition. obama is too big to fail.

Bus service from Loudon will be paid for (less $3 ...

2009-11-02T18:55:22.727-05:00

Bus service from Loudon will be paid for (less $3 each way) by the tolls collected from the Dulles Toll Road users, thanks to the MWAA.

85% of the costs of the silver line will be paid by people in Herndon and Reston who use the toll road. 15% by those living in Tysons. Did you know that?

fascism is the only answer. go mcdonnell

2009-11-02T18:24:06.535-05:00

fascism is the only answer. go mcdonnell

socialism is the only answer. go obama

2009-11-02T17:45:22.797-05:00

socialism is the only answer. go obama

Umm...while you've all been busy screaming at each...

2009-11-02T16:57:04.998-05:00

Umm...while you've all been busy screaming at each other (this post is getting almost as good as those highly intelligent flame wars you can find on YouTube's comments section), you may have missed a link right here in Restonian to a relevant story in the Loudoun Independent. Our neighbors to the west plan to start bus service next year on Loudoun County Transit buses from Leesburg and Broadlands to Tysons.

To quote the great American philosoppher Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?" ;-)

losers

2009-11-02T16:24:18.239-05:00

losers

Damn Straight, Hick. We should switch to rationin...

2009-11-02T16:20:21.592-05:00

Damn Straight, Hick. We should switch to rationing. Everybody gets 12 gallons per week. If you can meet your needs on that in your SUV, have at it. If not then get yourself a good pair of cross-training shoes so that you can work some of the lard off of that parking lot you call a butt.

Anon 2:30 You certainly have a 'right' (actually d...

2009-11-02T16:12:59.533-05:00

Anon 2:30
You certainly have a 'right' (actually driving is a privilege or didn't you know that?) to buy whatever jaloppy you wish.

But your American self will be whining when gas prices spike again: "its sooo unfair! waaaaaaaaaa!" when you have to pay $4.00/ gallon to drive your 1968 GTO around town blaring Toby Keith.

And perhaps if it is legislated it will no longer be your right to drive around (privilege actually) a vehicle which consumes more gas than is your fair share and produced more pollution than is your alloted amount.

Oh, my! An intellectually challenged hobgoblin! ...

2009-11-02T14:57:37.644-05:00

Oh, my! An intellectually challenged hobgoblin! Picked up a thesaurus, did we?

And, no, I don't think anything I could say would make you any more mature, obviously. But I do think our friend BiCo seems like a decent enough fellow who is mature enough to be called to the carpet for mindlessly insulting a bunch of strangers.

And, by the by, I don't drive an SUV and my ass is heaven.

Being an American gives me the right to drive what...

2009-11-02T14:30:19.693-05:00

Being an American gives me the right to drive what ever size,color or mpg vehichle i want!

Get a life and stay out of mine-

Duly noted, and I apologize for my careless and in...

2009-11-02T14:04:22.274-05:00

Duly noted, and I apologize for my careless and insensitive remarks about the people of Loudoun County. Actually, I AM sick right now so "verbal diarrhea" isn't out of the question as one of the symptons of what ails me! LOL! While chronically long-winded I'm not usually quite so venomous. I think I just got "on a roll" earlier and let loose, not really caring whom I offended in the process. I sincerely apologize. That was out of character for me. I'm sure not everyone in Loudoun County has a hopelessly pro-suburban mindset. :-)

With that being said I still would LOVE one of the Loudoun County residents who is opposed to the Silver Line to please tell me what their alternative is to ease congestion on Route 7 besides just "make it 20 lanes" (crickets chirping).

Happy B'Day, BiCO! You win the rant of the week. ...

2009-11-02T13:54:23.658-05:00

Happy B'Day, BiCO! You win the rant of the week. Not only did you make some excellent points including about the poor bus service from Tyson's to points West during the mid-day but you also managed to piss off our collection of "The Loudoun County Prozac-doped soccer moms in SUVs". Keep up the good work.

If you drive an SUV just because you like looking over the tops of all of the rest of the cars, you should be ashamed of your fat, lazy, gas hog ass.

Hey, 1:09, why is it that you would think that NAM...

2009-11-02T13:48:53.674-05:00

Hey, 1:09, why is it that you would think that NAME-CALLING and SNARK are mutually exclusive ideas, you intellectually challenged hobgoblin? Do you think that calling me or BiCO immature and uneducated is going to make us anymore mature or educated? Or do you just like pointing out the obvious to people?

The reason not to give the drivers in the HOV lane a break on the toll would be that they already have a lane all to themselves. I would, however, extend the HOV lane all the way through the left-most lane at the main toll plaza, maybe even all the way to/from I-66. (It would make more sense though for the airport authority to allow the carpoolers to use the damn Access highway instead of allowing all of that empty pavement to go unused.)

Have to agree with 1:09PM. BiCO has an extreme cas...

2009-11-02T13:28:54.493-05:00

Have to agree with 1:09PM. BiCO has an extreme case of verbal diarrhea and turning a year older seems not to have helped much. Prozac-doped soccer moms in SUVs?!? This is not exactly Dave Barry stuff.

BiCO, I was with you until you made the comment ab...

2009-11-02T13:09:43.025-05:00

BiCO, I was with you until you made the comment about the "The Loudoun County Prozac-doped soccer mom in SUVs". Again, the name-calling is just immature and undermines your arguement.

I think carpooling is great, and it would make sense for the local government to encourage more of it. Why not give people using the HOV lane on the toll road a break on the tolls?

Cash for Clunkers has distorted the marketplace by...

2009-11-02T13:07:19.042-05:00

Cash for Clunkers has distorted the marketplace by incentivizing buyers to purchase smaller cars and depleting the inventory of used trucks and SUVs. Prices for the used trucks are up 25-30 percent. It's more economical to buy new trucks and SUVs which were the subject of the CFC stimulus.

To the 10:27 AM anonymous, it's hard to have much ...

2009-11-02T12:48:55.303-05:00

To the 10:27 AM anonymous, it's hard to have much sympathy for many people anymore. I thought the massive fuel price spike we all endured not too long ago would have begun to permanently change the way we, as a society, thought about the way we consumed natural resources, but sadly now that gas is under $3/gallon everyone has gone back to their old foolish habits. I read an article online recently from a newspaper in my native Pennsylvania in which car dealers said that SUVs were "flying off the lot" and that people had largely grown complacent again about the "pain at the pump." Sure, you may look stylish in your Hummer, Excursion, or Navigator as you wear your sunglasses on cloudy days, pretend to be yammering into your cell phones to your imaginary stock traders, and drive solo to get your nails done or to sit with your thumb up your rear-end all day at the office, but the more and more of you who continue to rush out and buy these things, the higher the pain at the pump wil be for all of us in the long-run.

What, exactly, are auto-centric places like Reston going to do if our supply of crude oil suddenly got disrupted and we RUN OUT of gas, even temporarily? Would mass panic ensue? Would people in Ashburn or South Riding start eating their offspring to stay alive? We don't have President Bush in office anymore, so the answer obviously won't be to just find another country to invade for our convenience.

There's an old adage: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME!" Those who bought gas-guzzling SUVs in the early-2000s might have been able to plead ignorance when the gas prices actually spiked a couple of years ago, but what will the excuses be for the people who are buying these things NOW when gas prices spike again, perhaps in 2012? Those of us who drive fuel-efficient vehicles will once again resent the fact that we have to pay a higher price for gas to make up for the others who WASTE it so flagrantly.

First off today is my birthday, and I'm exhausting...

2009-11-02T12:34:18.831-05:00

First off today is my birthday, and I'm exhausting my lunch today at work to read this fine "filthy web log" so please don't crucify me! LOL! :-)

With that vignette aside I would just like to say I HAVE investigated the prospect of living car-free in Reston, and it would be nearly impossible for me to do so without extreme hardship. I live in Charter Oak, so I'm an easy 10-minute stroll over to the Reston Town Center transit station (perhaps 15 minutes if the stupid light never changes at the busy Reston Pkwy. @ Temporary Rd. intersection where I feel like I'm playing a game of Frogger half the time when I cross).

First off is my commute to work in Tyson's Corner.

Let's assume I wake up at 4:15 AM in order to leave the house by 4:50 AM to catch the 5:10 AM Fairfax Connector (FC) 574 bus. I will get to the Westpark transit center at 5:42 AM and then have a 15-minute walk to my office building, putting me off the elevator and right at my office door to start work at 6 AM. Getting to work just took me over an hour (10 minutes to walk to the transit center in Reston, standing around to board the bus, taking the bus to Tyson's, and walking to my office building). Normally if I leave my home at 5:35 AM I can get to the office for 6 AM, which is a 25-minute commute. Can I live with spending an extra 45 minutes or so each morning to help save the planet? Yes. I would gladly do so.

Now let's take my ride home into consideration. Assuming I got in for 6 AM I'd be leaving at 2:30 PM then walking 15 minutes to the Westpark transit station. I'd stand around from 2:45 PM to 3:02 PM waiting for the bus to arrive and then ride that back to Reston for 4 PM, followed by another 10-minute walk home. It just took me an hour and forty minutes to get home after I left work. If I drove it would have been another 25-minute commute at that early afternoon hour. Could I stomach an extra hour and fifteen minutes to get home everyday to save the planet? Yes. I would be glad to.

What, then, is the problem? Would I be willing to spend an extra 2+ HOURS each day on my COMBINED commutes just to prove a point and "make a forward-thinking statement?" No. Sitting on the bus in the afternoon for an HOUR between Tyson's and Reston seems very silly to me when I could be home in less than half the time if I drove.

If you want more people to take the FC bus between Reston and Tyson's then try expanding service so buses run every 30 minutes instead of every HOUR and/or pave a dedicated "bus lane" for Route 7. If my commute each way takes me 25 minutes by car and possibly $1 worth of gasoline or over an hour by bus with a $1.25 SmarTrip fee, then do you think any NORMAL person would pay $0.50 more each day and waste two hours more each day just to "prove a point?" For God's sake I'm an annoying, sprawl-hating, environmentalism-oriented, tree-hugging, yuppyish hippie, and if I won't do it then how many others will? In the mean time I'm going to try to find a carpool group. I see Hugh "Mac" Cannon has the same commute I do, judging by the 10,000 flyers he mailed to me, but how many others from Reston typically go into work at 6 AM in Tyson's? The Loudoun County Prozac-doped soccer mom in SUVs brakelight Cha-Cha line on Route 7 starts backing up through Baron Cameron around 6:30 AM, so I'd have to find other like-minded folks who'd want to leave even EARLIER to avoid that. It would also be nice if SOME cul-de-sac buddies in Loudoun County would carpool as well. I mean, if they're going to oppose the Silver Line, then perhaps taking it upon themselves to CARPOOL could be part of their alternative solution? (Or do the anti-Silver Line people just not care about Tyson's commuters?)

I'm not advocating that everybody give up their ve...

2009-11-02T10:27:32.064-05:00

I'm not advocating that everybody give up their vehicles now. There are plenty of good reasons to have a car. In fact, I own two. But for many if not most people, they aren't even trying to find alternative transportation methods. Their attitudes seem to be that sacrifice is something that other people do so that I can maintain my standard of living.

To the person with severe arthritis. I understand your plight. I have an elderly parent with ambulation problems as well. I have no choice also when taking her to the doctor. It's either drive, order a cab or get an ambulance.

As for the lady with the 18 month twins, well, maybe you've got an exception as well. But in another few months, they'll certainly be able to get around well enough that you can use the bus.

I would point out that if you ride any of the local buses, you will see plenty of people bringing strollers on the bus and some of them have very young children too.

As you drive your fuelish Hummers around look around and ask yourself the question, "How many of these people could have walked, biked, car-pooled or rode the bus except for the fact that it was just inconvenient for them to do so?" Also ask yourself the question, did I consolidate this trip with other chores or is this trip even necessary?

While you're at it, ask yourself what you're going to do when Israel bombs the daylights out of Iran, pissing off the rest of the Arab world who decides to stop selling oil to Israel and the US. If you think traffic around here is already terrible, wait until you have to set in line at the gas station for several hours just so that you can tank up. I'll be the one walking past you thumbing her nose and laughing.

Chris, thanks for the link. Pretty thoughtful con...

2009-11-02T07:33:14.925-05:00

Chris, thanks for the link. Pretty thoughtful conversation going on in the comments on that article.

I think at some point people glaze over with all the numbers and statistics being thrown at us (at all levels of government) and just shudder, take a deep breath and ask, "can I afford to live here long enough for my kids to finish school and then where do I go because I certainly won't be able to afford to live here in retirement."