Caddyshackpocalypse Now: With New Golf-Friendly Charm Offensive, War Horse Proves It's a Two-Trick Pony

Hey, remember that time a friendly sounding company bought the Reston National Golf Course and immediately said that there was nothing that could be done but raze it because no one is playing golf any more, and then they became Very Concerned about the scourge of invasive plants, and then they hosted an open bar to propose a "conservancy" sort of green space that would be "reclaimed from golf course use," and when no one bit on any of these highly sincere gambits that had nothing to do with turning their $23 million investment into $200 million-plus worth of particleboard condominiums, they started arguing about by-right development, threatening to reduce the course to 9 holes and maybe build some brightly lit Top Golf-like mauvescraper to annoy their tormentors, and then later claiming that a mildewed 1966 zoning document allows them to build whatever they want on 14 acres of the golf course?

Yeah, that was awesome. But now, we're hearing that golf is BACK, baby! The developers' latest charm offensive, if by "charm offensive" you mean "posting a bunch of geotargeted ads on Facebook," is leaning heavily into golf, promising Restonians "golfing bliss" on 18 pristine holes, conveniently surrounded by new "much needed homes." Check it, as the kids haven't said in years:

"Teed off" is telling on their less-than-warm response from Restonians to date a little, but no matter! Bask in the vision for "Evolution 18," which was definitely not generated by AI slopbots working hard enough to drain nearby Lake Thoreau:

One part seems accurate, though. COMPUTER, ENHANCE:

Perhaps we're being cynical. Maybe their altruistic commitment to addressing the housing crisis is the real motivator:

That means some pretty dense development -- some 306 stacked townhomes, including between 18 and 34 workforce housing units, depending on who you ask. Enjoy these lovely before and after renderings from their website (circles are ours):

We like how the "after" image has been yassified, as the kids said as recently as two years ago. But no matter! In describing the changes, the developers are basically saying that they're doing golfers a favor, and the bolted-on housing should be our way of saying "thank you" for a new "Back 9 grill" between the 12th and 13th holes and a "short course," whatever that is. Give us some good golfing blockquote, BFFs at Fairfax Now:

According to [War Horse Cities founder and Reston National owner Scott Plank], the renovations will amount to “millions of dollars of work,” and allowing housing on a portion of the property will enable War Horse to fund the project without passing on the costs to players by increasing fees or fully privatizing the course.

SAY THANK YOU, PEONS.

All of this is teeing off (get it?) a September 23 planning commission meeting on the portion of the property War Horse says it has the right to develop anyway.  

Will all this work? Earlier this summer, the Reston Association asked residents if they wanted it to continue pushing back against development, with 91 percent urging the RA Board to continue its opposition. (No word if the remaining 9 percent rooted for Ted Knight's character in Caddyshack). But we worry that without continuing advocacy from those who oppose it, the constant shifting of the goalposts, the new promise to ostensibly give the complainers what they want and preserve the golf course, and, of course, the county's unquenchable desire for some sweeeeeeet sweeeeet tax revenue that isn't a data center are going to be, as the golfers say, quite the handicap when push comes to shove for the supervisors who don't have to live with this in their own back nine, the end.

With Trump Truth Post, Reston Has Finally Arrived

Maybe you thought it was that time Money Magazine ranked Reston the 7th best place to live in the country. Or that time they named a disease and an opera after our plastic fantastic planned community. Or that time we got our fancypants Wegmans before Manhattan (yes, that Manhattan). Or that time the Metro finally arrived and all of our homes one particular penthouse quintupled in value. 

But no. It was only yesterday, May 3, 2026, that Reston finally arrived. That's because that was the day we joined the ranks of Bruce Springsteen, various"low IQ" politicians, Greenland, the Superbowl halftime show, and covfefe. That's right, Reston was at long last the subject of a Trump tweet truth. Check it, as the kids haven't said since well before his first term:

Good to see Fannie Mae getting with the program! Let's check out that inspirational photo greeting employees as they head past the fake harvested timber to the elevator banks. COMPUTER, ENHANCE:

Resisting the urge to make obvious comparisons that would get us put on a list, so haha, good thing it's posted against a russet brown background or the DRB would be awfully sore, haha, the end.

Always Bet on Mauve: Casinopocalypse Bill Heads to Full Virginia House, Reston 'In Play' (Updated)

Happy Friday News Dump, to all those who celebrate! Our BFFs at the Reston Association opted to send an update on the state of legislative maneuvering around Fairfax County's largely unsolicited, definitely irresponsible plastic fantastic casino proposal at 4:51pm this Friday afternoon, and it's a doozy! To be fair, that probably has more to do with the General Assembly's sneaky maneuvering on this bill, which stripped it of a bunch of qualifications that would have made it harder to be foisted on an unwilling part of the county more difficult to build and moved it out of committee to the full House of Delegates this afternoon, which plans to vote on it "quickly," according to our RA BFFs. Give us some good legalese blockquote:

The Appropriations committee removed several key provisions that would have made a casino more difficult to build or less profitable for developers:

• Magisterial District Majority: The requirement for the casino to be approved by a majority of voters in the specific district where it would be located was removed. Only a countywide referendum is now required.
• Mandatory Labor Protections: Requirements for prevailing wages and union hiring contracts were removed.
• Enhanced Financials: The $150 million licensing fee and the 40% tax rate (which would have significantly benefited the county) were scaled back to align with current state law.

What REMAINS in the Bill:

• Flexible Location: There is no longer a requirement for the casino to be in Tysons. It could realistically be placed anywhere in Fairfax County that meets the square footage requirement.
• Development Size: Any gaming establishment must be part of a larger mixed-use development of at least 1.5 million square feet.
• Public Safety Proffer: A mandatory requirement for the developer to fund or dedicate land for a public safety facility (e.g., police or fire station) remains.
• Expiration Date: The authority to hold a referendum expires on July 1, 2029.

As this bill closely resembles the language passed in the Virginia Senate earlier this month, it means that Reston is once again in play as a possible location.

Hard to guess where there might be 1.5 million square feet of largely unclaimed euclidian office footage just sitting around in Reston, but we might consider giving our friendly state legislator a call or electronic message. You can find the RA's sample letter here, and a list of lawmakers here. And because the world hates irony, you apparently can't yet gamble online on whether a bill bringing gambling to the county will pass, with this fancy prediction market "web site" suggesting we spend our hard-earned Who's Your Baby Momma ad revenue on some far more trivial wagers:

That $30 minimum wage could buy a couple of watered down drinks at the blackmauvejack table, the end.

Update: The casino bill passed the Virginia House on March 4 and is expected to go to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who will ultimately decide its fate. Give us some good procedural blockquote, BFFs at the Reston Association:

This afternoon, SB 756, known as the Fairfax County Casino Bill, passed the Virginia House of Delegates by a 64-32 vote. The bill was then voted on in the Senate and was sent to Conference. This means that 3 members of the House and 3 members of the Senate will discuss the bill as a committee before it is expected to go to the Governor's office for signature or veto.

Today, Reston Association Board President Travis Johnson shared the following statement:

“Reston Association remains opposed to a casino in our community. Unlike any other Virginia jurisdiction targeted for a casino – our community has not asked for this, and the passage of SB 756 disregards local governance and land‑use planning as well as the wishes of the vast majority of our members. We will do everything we can to mobilize the people of Reston to oppose this legislation.”

If you share our views that you do not want a casino in our community, we encourage you to share those thoughts with the Governor’s office by contacting: Abigail.Spanberger@governor.virginia.gov. 

We need your advocacy now to help defeat this measure and protect our community. 

Sadly, you still can't bet on the bill's passage on any of the major prediction markets -- which are kind of like casinos, only they exist online, not on used car lots or collections of oddly shaped polygons, the end.

Will the American Dream (Way) Remain Reston's First Gated Community? We Don't Know, But It Gave Us The Chance to Use A Decade-Old Meme

 

Hey, remember that time when a developer was going to build a mixed-use townhouse community on the site of the former Fannie Mae campus on American Dream (heh) Way, and in the true spirt of that phrase they decided to make it a gated community, which was so antithetical to Reston's immaculate vibes that county planners recommended denying the entire project, but it was ultimately approved by the board of supervisors, in part because the developer said the gated access was needed to ensure the nine-story office building on the property would attract a tenant?

Yeah, that was awesome. Anyhoo, we've all watched the office building being slowly torn down over the past few months, and now the developer is requesting a rezoning application to build another 100 or so townhomes on the site.  Give us some good procedural zoning blockquote, BFFs at Fairfax Now:

The county board’s decision to allow residential development on the site came despite objections from some residents and county staff, who took issue with Wheelock’s insistence on retaining a secured gate limiting access to a portion of American Dream Way. At the time, the property owner said the gate was necessary to draw tenants to the office building, which it still hoped to lease out... According to the application, Wheelock spent over $10 million since 2020 to maintain the approximately 400,000-square-foot office building, even it had “no prospect for re-tenanting.”

Sure, demand for office space has shifted in recent years, and there are a ton of shiny new BASE-jumping launch points trophy-class office towers around town. But that means county officials will demand that Wheelock remove the gates from the community as a condition of approving this request, right? 

Right?

COMPUTER, EXECUTE TIRED_OLD_MEME.BAT:

Casinopocalypse Soon, Maybe: New Bill Could Move Casino Out of Tysons to Another Place With a Bunch of Boxy Buildings (Hint: Here)

Hey, remember that time there was a big push in the Virginia legislature to build a fancypants national security honeytrap casino in Fairfax County, with a lot of sketchy provisions that would really only allow it to be built in either Reston or Tysons, and then after a lot of hubbub, the bill was killed, and then after even more hubbub, it came back but the language was refined so said casino could literally only be built on the site of one used car lot in Tysons, which, you know, Tysons LOL, and then the bill was killed coldpilled, which sounds like a mid-tempo early oughts band and not a legitimate parliamentary maneuver, but we digress, and then it came back again and was killed by the state house?

Yeah, that was awesome. Well, this week, the bill re-emerged from the dead, and all that language about the Tysons used car lot was stripped out, meaning that the casino could be built anywhere in the county, including another Metro-adjacent area with fewer used car lots and more tall buildings, not all of which have sides that intersect at 90-degree angles, including ones owned by casino-curious companies which in the past have donated significant amounts of money to pro-casino state lawmakers and tried to outright buy local elections. Sound familiar?

The Reston Association board voted to oppose the changes in Senate Bill 756, saying:

Reston Association is disappointed at the news that SB 756, which would allow for a casino in Fairfax County, was amended to remove location-specific language in the bill and passed through the Senate Finance and Appropriations Resource Subcommittee yesterday morning. Reston Association maintains that a casino is detrimental to our community and goes against the careful planning that has been a part of Reston for more than six decades.

Reston Association has consistently and unequivocally opposed the idea of a casino in Reston. Our members have never expressed a desire or need for such a facility. Reston is a proven economic engine with a robust commercial tax base, world-class corporations, and innovative technology firms. Introducing a casino would jeopardize this success, as companies considering relocation have indicated such a development would make the corridor a “no-go zone” for future investment.

We don't know, though. One Action McNews story described the proposed casino as "classy," like "Wynn in Las Vegas," but that would be a total violation of contemporary Reston design cues. Just look at this thing:

While we appreciate the DRB-friendly choice of goldenrod as a colorway, that curvy building with those rounded edges simply don't fit in with this:

Get a carpenter's square and some woonerf and we'll talk, the end.

Hats Off for Cathy Hudgins

Sad news: Just days after Rep. Gerry Connolly passed away on May 21, former Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins passed away on Saturday. Among many other accomplishments, she was instrumental in bringing the Silver Line to Reston and beyond. Here's current Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn's tribute and a video honoring her service on the board from 2019:

Words to Live By

Good advice at all times, but especially now, when there's construction and the possibility of a fancy 97-story casino to ensnare all the GS-17s with honeypots to convince them to divulge critical national security secrets about how exactly we strap bombs to dolphins, and, wedunno, lame slot machines and traffic and midscale retail options in Fairfax County's Emerald City, or Paris, or whatever we're calling it these days, the end.

Finally, A Campaign Sign We Can All Agree With

 

Amid all the signs about open borders and cat ladies and whatnot, some random Next Door Neighbor Dot Com user posted this sign seen on the median of Baron Cameron Avenue. After hearing what sounds like a roll of quarters getting dropped into a leaf blower almost every night on the roads near Restonian World Headquarters, consider this a vote for a little peace and quiet, the end.

Let's Go Reston!

Based on this blurry cellular telephone photograph shared by a Confidential Restonian Operative this morning, our fellow Restonians are, as one might expect of residents of a community with covenants governing everything from trim color to decorative stone, big fans of jurisprudence. Either that, or there's a NASCAR race scheduled for the Toll Road this weekend (not that you'd notice the difference, the end). 

Kill Bill 3: The Casinopocalypse: Tysons Casino Opponents Seek to Stop, Not Just Delay, Proposal in General Assembly (Updated)

Not satisfied to squash our schoolgirl dreams of spending an hour or six playing the penny slots before getting on the Metro in Reston, or to delay until next year the possibility of building a fun, floating 96-story casino in an abandoned car lot in Tysons, Fairfax's Emerald City, opponents are now urging county residents to help put a Hattori Hanzo sword to the proposal once and for all. 

Give us some good five point palm exploding heart technique blockquote, BFFs at Coalition for a Planned Reston:

The casino bill will be on the agenda of the full Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, February 6. The Committee Chair will ask the full committee to vote to hold the bill over to the 2025 legislative session. Senator Boysko will offer an alternative proposal to kill the casino bill entirely.

It will help tremendously if there are many Fairfax County residents seated in the room to show support for her motion. This nonpartisan effort is open to all, whether you vote Independent, Republican, or Democrat. There is no better way to show our opposition than to show up in person on Tuesday. Senator Boysko will ask us all to stand to show our support for her motion.

There's a link to sign up to take a free bus to Richmond for Tuesday's hearing, so if you're into sitting in traffic on I-95, holding elected officials accountable to the will of the people, or just standing up when someone asks you to, have at it, the end.

Update: The bill wasn't killed, but it was coldpilled -- continued until the 2025 General Assembly session.

Casinopocalypse 2025: Bill Killed Until Next Year, Providing Respite for Compulsive Gamblers, Tysons Used Car Lots

Sad news for compulsive gamblers, national security threats, and Crystal Koons: The General Assembly bill that would have allowed a fun floating 97 story casino to be built on a used car lot in Tysons, but definitely not Reston, is dead—at least for now. Give us some good legislative blockquote, BFF Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn:

Senate Bill 675 authorizing a casino in Tysons is dead for this year and carried over to 2025, after a vote by the Senate Resource Subcommittee. I'm very happy that the subcommittee members listened to the community and the people elected to represent them. It is a big victory for everyone who cares about good government!

While this is a victory for those in Reston and elsewhere in Fairfax County who expressed opposition to the casino, it's definitely coming back. Give us some good I'll-be-back blockquote, BFFs at Reston FFX Now:

The postponement came despite apparent support for the proposal by Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-18), who chairs the Senate Finance & Appropriations resources subcommittee and quipped that she’s been called “the casino queen” during the meeting. 

 

Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35), who patroned the bill that would make Fairfax County — specifically Tysons — eligible for a casino, previously told FFXnow that he was hopeful it would pass, noting that Lucas, who also chairs the overall finance committee, “likes [the] bill.”

 Marsden says he’s “disappointed” by the outcome, noting that the vote still keeps the bill alive until 2025. “No one has any other ideas to give Fairfax County a brighter revenue future,” he told FFXnow.

The year delay gives the developer(s) behind the casino a year to replenish their own war chests and build support for the proposal. Given the more than $630,000 they've already sunk into supporting lawmakers who support the bill, this might be just the beginning, the end. 

Casinopocalyse Nearby: RA Declares Victory in Casino Shift To Tysons, Bill Opponents Slide Into Our DMs (Updated)

ZOMG, throw in a couple of floormats and an extended warranty, because as the bill that would create a fun floating casino atop an abandoned car lot in the county's Emerald City wends its way through Virginia's General Assembly, it appears that Reston is really, probably, maybe officially out of consideration. At least the Reston Association is declaring victory in terms of getting the casino out of our backyards:

Senate Bill 675 was officially introduced by Senator David Marsden, and that as a direct result of our advocacy, he intends to exclude Reston as a possible location for a future casino. This is due significantly to the outreach from RA and its membership, and we thank Senator Marsden for meeting with us, listening to the concerns of our community and taking act on that addresses those concerns. We are confident that Senator Marsden will continue to work with us to ensure Reston is not an option in the bill.

This comes as our BFFs at Patch quantify just how much Comstock has donated to our legislature's casino backers: $51,000 to the Senate subcommittee which will determine the bill's fate. That's cheaper than trying to buy a seat on the county board of supervisors, but not when you consider the $637,000 casino backers have contributed to date.

This bit of news did Not Amuse our county supervisor, Walter Acorn, who writes:

There has been some excellent coverage in the local media including the Patch story this morning disclosing various attempts to grease the skids in Richmond. Such news reinforces my opposition to a casino along the Silver Line. 

Meanwhile, we got this Hot Text on our cellular telephone:

When we were warned about people sliding into our DMs, as the kids might have said a few years ago, this is not what we had in mind! The link sends you to a petition site that lets you send a message to state and county lawmakers, all while you watch video of some sweeeeeeeeet gridlocked traffic crawl by in the background. Advocacy has never been more hypnotic! 

Although last week, we saw an even more Northern Virginia reason for opposing the casino:

**National Security Threat: **  

Fairfax County and surrounding areas have a high concentration of personnel employed by the intelligence community. Gambling debt is a key way that other countries could potentially compromise our national security.

Just keep your neighbor who says he works "for the government" away from the penny slots, the end.

Update: On Tuesday, a House subcommittee voted a 4-4 tie on the fun casino legislation, and the vote is going to the full committee on Wednesday. If you want to take a fun bus ride to Richmond, click here. 

Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn weighs in:

I know of at least one group of concerned residents that are meeting at the Hartke Office Building parking lot, 11890 Sunrise Valley Drive, 11 a.m. tomorrow (Jan. 24) to bus and carpool to Richmond on this topic (for more information contact conniehartke@gmail.com). It should also be possible to testify remotely tomorrow, see the senate virtual participation policy. Follow the instructions, including signing up at least a half hour before the committee meeting begins – likely early afternoon.

If you cannot attend personally or virtually, emails are also an option. Here is a link to the committee which lists all members – click on each member to get their email address. Here’s my letter I sent Senator Marsden and committee members earlier this evening. If you care about this issue like I do, please make your voice heard!

Update to the Update: After a 10-4 vote Wednesday, the bill is going to the full Senate finance committee, which could kill it or advance it to the full senate. If the bill passes, Fairfax county residents would get their own vote in a referendum before the fun floating casino could be built. 

Casinopocalypse Now, But Maybe Nearby: Casino Bill Appears to Strike Reston, Tysons Latest Victim

ZOMG, someone get Crystal Koons off the phone trying to upsell some Scotchguarding on that 1995 Camry and down to Richmond: the fun, 96-story casino first proposed by State Sen. Dave Marsden last year appears to no longer have the exotic, semi-occupied parallelograms of Reston in its sights. New legislation introduced by Marsden in this legislative session narrows the language of where the proposed casino could be placed to exactly one (1) spot: an abandoned car lot in the Paris of Fairfax County, Tysons Corner. Those are disappearing fast, but they still shouldn't have too much trouble finding one! Give us some good how-the-legislative-sausage-is-made blockquote, BFFs at ActionMcNews4!

“The eligible host locality described in subdivision A 6 shall be limited to a proposed site for a casino gaming establishment that is (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside of the Dulles airport flight path, (iv) within two miles of a major shopping destination containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (v) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway.”

On Wednesday, Marsden specified that the language actually only allows the casino on one particular parcel in Tysons, on the site of a "defunct auto dealership on Route 7 in Tysons,” he said.

It goes without saying the idea of a casino in Reston has proven... unpopular. The Reston Citizens Association, Rescue Reston, Reston Strong, Save Our Sunrise, and Reston 20/20 joined forces to create Citizens Opposed to Reston Casino (CORC). The Reston Association created a website and wrote a letter formally opposing the idea. They even made a fancy YouTube video:

In his weekly email message this afternoon, Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn said it isn't clear if the proposed car lot casino site is in his district or not, but if it is, "I want to reiterate that I am against a casino in Hunter Mill District and will continue to work to defeat any legislation that could lead to what I consider a bad outcome for our community." Our BFFs at Reston 2020 talked about the social impact of casinos, and pointed out the massive amount of lobbying Comstock has put into the... hospitality field:

So far, it has hired six lobbyists through its hospitality subsidiary and  created “Building a Remarkable Virginia” PAC that has contributed more than $500,000 to Virginia state political candidates (including $109K to Marsden and Sen. Surovell, another local casino proponent).  Virtually all the money is from Comstock executives or others closely associated with Comstock. 

The funny thing is that the ActionMcNews article describing the new bill spoke to an anonymous "interested developer," whose identity we can't possibly guess, except for following all those dollars lined up in a cartoon-like trail from Reston Station straight to Richmond:

An interested developer said on background that a casino alone isn’t their vision. This developer, who asked to remain anonymous given the early stages and competitiveness of such a large project, envisions a casino paired with a large convention center, hotels, restaurants, office space and residences. Some Fairfax County officials have previously opined their desire to have a convention center and/or entertainment venue.

Sounds perfect for Tysons, where as of late last year, you can stroll around the mall with a cocktail in your hand, just like that nearly as entertaining desert mecca in Nevada. And, in fact, there's a casino design that would work perfectly with that  Emerald City marketing concept that was unironically pitched for Tysons Corner a few years back:

Imagine walking out the front door of that glittering green mauvescraper and using your hard-won slots winnings at the Wal-Mart next door, the end.

All Bets Are Off: Farfetched Reston Casino Proposal Rears Its Ugly Head Once More, With Rumors Of Well-Heeled Support (Updated)

We're getting deja vu from another trivial land use case involving Reston, some supposedly underutilized property ripe for redevelopment, and throwing money into a pile and setting it on fire: When the idea of building a fun 97-story floating casino in our plastic fantastic planned community was first floated late in the General Assembly session earlier this year only to be unceremoniously killed, we rolled our eyes, hit "post," and went back to not "web logging" for, you know, six months or so. But, like that other bad idea that simply will not die, the casino is back, baby!

Ante up with some sweeet blockquote, BFFs at Patch:

Comstock Companies wants to build a casino at or near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, several local officials told Patch.

The possibility of a casino being built along Metro's Silver Line in Fairfax County first came to light during the final days before the end of the first half of the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session, when similar bills were introduced by Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart). 

Although Marsden and Williams' bills were both withdrawn, they did not disappear. Marsden told Patch on Thursday that he would likely reintroduce the bill if he's re-elected to the Virginia Senate in November.

What's changed? Apparently, the fact that no one wants to go to work strapping bombs to dolphins for federal contractors in soulless office buildings where people microwave leftover fish in the breakroom and Ted from accounting drops by your cubicle uninvited to ask you if you saw "the big game" while you're desperately trying to finish the TPS report so you can finally leave the office before 8pm for the first time this week hybrid work appears here to stay means that Comstock and others have a reason to explore alternate uses for all those wacky parallelograms they've been building that might otherwise sit vacant. Here's Marsden's nice-office-park-you-have-it-would-be-a-shame-if-a-pandemic-makes-it-marginally-less-valuable pitch to county officials:

"We've started down the road of a severe downturn in the commercial real estate business. People who needed 50,000 square feet of office space now need 5. It's going to devalue the market and there's going to be less taxes because there'll be a lot more in the way of vacancies."

Hey, even Restonian World Headquarters has more than 5 square feet of office space! But we digress. Any proposal would have to go to a referendum, and our local county supervisor, Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn, remains opposed to the whole idea, saying:

"They have not talked with me about it. I oppose putting a casino on the Silver Line and Comstock should be aware of my position on that, it has not changed since I first became aware of casino interest in the Dulles corridor late last year. The land around these stations is already valuable for so many other socially beneficial uses, and plopping a casino into these emerging transit oriented development communities during their formative years is a bad idea.”  

Of course, he'll soon be running for re-election, and given that Comstock was willing to ante up (get it?) $255 per vote in a failed attempt to buy the board seat during the last election, Alcorn may wind up with a horse's head in his bed, electorally speaking. And now, the company is holding a fundraiser for out-of-area state lawmakers at Reston Station, for what we're sure are coincidental reasons:

Perhaps to bolster its efforts to build a casino at or near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, Comstock scheduled fundraisers for two Democratic Party candidates who may be leading the Virginia General Assembly during the 2024 Session.

On Sept 19, Dwight Schar, a former owner of the Washington Commanders and founder of NVR, Inc., and his son-in-law Chris Clemente, who happens to be the CEO of Comstock, hosted a fundraiser for Virginia House Minority Leader Don Scott (D-Portsmouth). If the Democrats regain control of the House of Delegates in November, Scott would likely become the speaker of the house.

Schar and Clemente are also planning to host fundraiser on Oct. 16 for state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) and Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Alexandria) at 1901 Reston Metro Plaza, which is also at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station.

Your friendly neighborhood "web logger" reminds you that local elections matter, and they matter a lot to companies with stakes.

But again, we digress. Even with the highly specific language in the proposed legislation that would authorize a casino in basically only Reston and a handful of other spots in Fairfax County, there is a Silver Lin(ing)! You see, the county's so-called "Emerald City" already has a vacant hotel in the recently departed Tysons Sheraton, which is conveniently surrounded by a Wal-Mart and a (shrinking) sea of car dealership parking lots. Considering that Virginia's existing casinos are in Bristol, Portsmouth, and Danville, that location seems... let's just say a lot more familiar for casino patrons. Also, for those of us who were raised on bad 80s television, that means we could call our neighbor to the east Ty$ons, the end.

Update: There's now a petition opposing the casino, complete with rad stock imagery:

About Freaking Time: Groundbreaking for Fancy W&OD Trail Bridge Over Wiehle, Capping 11-Year Process (We Hope)

 

At long last, the first ceremonial shovels of dirt have been turned for the fancypants Wiehle Avenue overpass, which will allow W&OD cyclists to... continue not to stop as they streak over, not through, the intersection. Given that this project was approved way back in ought-twelve and was supposed to be completed by 2021, it's nice that they managed to break ground slightly after its 10th birthday.  Hopefully it'll be finished before it's old enough to drive!

In the past, we made some snarky comments about other large objects from around the world that managed to be built much more quickly than this relatively pedestrian pedestrian bridge. But we were just dumb web loggers who couldn't possibly understand the complexities of such an involved project in this day and age, and foolishly suggested that it was emblematic of how the county's efforts to improve infrastructure to accommodate growth dramatically lag the actual growth it was more than happy to approve. Silly rabbits! No word on why those large objects in the background somehow didn't take a decade to build, though, the end.

Always Bet on Russet Brown: Could Reston Get a Casino? (Updated)

V. v. exciting news for those with more money than basic working knowledge of probability: Apparently two Northern Virginia lawmakers snuck a last-minute proposal into the current General Assembly session that, if approved, would allow casinos in very specific parts of Northern Virginia. Give us some one-armed-bandit blockquote, BFFs at Reston Patch:

Virginia Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced legislation on Friday that could make casinos a reality along Metro's Silver Line in Reston. Language in Marsden's bill narrows the location of a "casino gaming establishment" to "within one quarter of a mile an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside the Dulles airport flight path, and (iv) outside the Interstate 495 Beltway."

Sounds like (v) Reston! And so, unfortunately, does this:

Marsden, who chairs the Senate finance subcommittee on economic development and natural resources, told the Business Journal that he was approached by developers with properties that would fit the type of development being proposed.  

Hmm. 

Anyhoo! Instead of wondering what dispiriting, open-space threatening proposals with sweeeeeeeet tax revenue to help sway otherwise open-space favoring local officials might be coming down the pike, let's think about what some exciting games of chance might look like in our plastic fantastic planned community. Fun!

Roulette: In keeping with DRB regulations, red and black numbers are replaced by Russet Brown and Harvest Gold. 

Mauvejack: Don't go over 21. Don't use white stone or red mulch. 

Baccarat: Sure it's confusing, but no more so than figuring out how to buy a pool pass.

Texas Hold 'Em: Beats the donuts of the same name.

Slots: Gotta do something with all that change now that the Toll Road is going cashless. But the minimum payment begins at $11 and will increase every few years.

Craps: For once, not what you get if you take a dip in one of Reston's lakes.

Sportsbook: Will your 4th grader's soccer team beat the spread? Maybe, if you hide the opposing team's halftime oranges and juice boxes! Ruthless? Sure, but we're guessing there won't be much local golf to bet on if this proposal goes through, if you get our drift and we think you do, the end.

Update: Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn apparently doesn't like to live dangerously. In his weekly newsletter, he said he was not particularly in favor of a fun floating riverboat casino on Lake Anne, or whatever. Give us some good blockquote:

Although this issue has not been discussed by the Board of Supervisors, the idea of using the most valuable commercial and residential real estate in the region on a casino strikes me as foolhardy. In my decades exploring and building plans and consensus on transit-oriented development in the Dulles corridor this was not the type of development or “community” anyone ever brought up. This is a bad idea on multiple levels (including the emerging concepts around equity in land use) but I am confident our excellent delegation in Richmond will do the right thing.

Update to the Update: The "excellent delegation in Richmond" did just that. Give us some legislative blockquote, BFFs at Reston Patch:

A last-minute bill submitted by State Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) that would've paved the way for casinos to be built within a mile of Silver Line Metro Stations in Fairfax County was killed in committee on Wednesday afternoon.

At Marsden's request, the General Laws and Technology Committee voted unanimously (15-0) to have the bill stricken... Marsden was approached by developers with properties that would fit the type of development being proposed. 

“It’s just too rushed, and so I’m probably going to have to talk to the individuals who approached me about it,” Marsden told Business Journal, declining to name them. 

It's a shame Silver Line gambling is now CANCELED, because we'd bet good money on who those individuals might have been, the end.

Silver Line Phase 2 Opens, Robbing Reston Of Its Presence On Metro Signage Announcing Elevator Outages Regionwide

It's official: Reston is no longer at the edge of the known world, at least if you're one of the Sleestaks wage slaves commuting to work on Metro every day. With the grand opening of Phase 2 of the Silver Line today, some weird place called "Ashburn" is now the end of the line, in more ways than one. We'll have to check it out one day! 

But we digress. Today's official grand opening celebration included ribbon cuttings, a couple of weird stories by area politicians, including Sen. Tim Kaine dreaming about flying trains and Loudoun County's one remaining county supervisor from a pivotal vote back in ought-twelve recalling how they almost blew it, on account of bloggers, and more! Our VIP invitation must have gotten lost in the mail, but the good news is our fellow YouTube viewers found all the pomp and circumstance quite riveting:

We haven't seen such a shocking lack of decorum since the last time we watched a DRB meeting online. But again, we digress. Show us the swag!

One day, you can show these to your grandchildren and tell them about the time the government provided a (semi-) functional service to its citizens. The way things are going for Metro, local governments, and the whole democratic experiment in general, that day may be... very soon.

Here's some exciting video of the first train leaving Dulles:

Metro operator: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural ride of the Silver Line to Ashburn” pic.twitter.com/dTKXGSYMm5

— Jordan Pascale🎙️ (@JWPascale) November 15, 2022

And more:

First train leaving @Dulles_Airport with event attendees toward Loudon Gateway. Look 👀 at that great @Dulles_Airport architecture. #wmata #ridesilver #yourmetro pic.twitter.com/vvxxEkKFkm

— Metro (@wmata) November 15, 2022

And still more!

Pulling into Reston Town Center station, the first stop on the new line. pic.twitter.com/83JP2LwMQh

— Matt Blitz (@WhyBlitz) November 15, 2022

And if you're really into this kind of thing, please to be enjoying this Instagram video of the entire new segment of the line, from Wiehle-Reston East to Ashburn.

View this post on Instagram

And yes, we plan on doing some investigative journalism, whatever that is, by recreating our historic ride on the Silver Line into DC in the other direction. If anyone has a contact with the Brambleton consulate and can help arrange a 24-hour visa for Loudoun County, that would be a big help, the end.

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: Alcorn Says Reston Isn't Biting on RNGC 'Vision,' So Developers May Return to an Older Tactic

Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn announced yesterday that he's heard from the neighborhoods around Reston National Golf Course, which despite being choked by invasive plants and lacking basic amenities such as saladaries and axe-throwing establishments apparently haven't bought into the new vision proposed by RNGC's owners, even with the grassroots study group open bars and whatnot. Ungrateful peasants! Give us a sweet pie chart/map combo and some good governing blockquote, Sup. Alcorn:

The numbers speak for themselves. Therefore, as with Hidden Creek, I do not support changing the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan’s current designation of this property as a golf course and consider this matter closed.

Alcorn's statement follows a similar rebuff on the other side of the Toll Road two years ago, when developer Wheelock attempted to sell its own neighboring clusters around Hidden Creek Golf Course on the vaporware notion of a "Grand Park" in exchange for a bunch of new development. 

This is also a great time to remind folks why a different developer and others were willing to invest $255 a vote for what would ordinarily be a nearly meaningless seat on a county board of supervisors, because of... reasons.

But all this isn't over, not by a long shot. Give us some sweet by-right blockquote, BFFs at Patch:

In an Aug. 30 Facebook Live interview with Patch, Steven Siegel, a partner with Weller Development, said the owners would pursue their existing zoning rights if they were unable to obtain Alcorn's support for a change to the comprehensive plan.

A portion of the golf course is zoned medium density residential and the golf course itself has by-right ancillary uses, according to Siegel.

"That could be anything from a hotel and conference center to support the golf use to a two-level golf experience range with food and beverage and entertainment options, where we can do a really special golf experience and keep a championship nine-hole course," he said.

The by-right argument is something RNGC's previous would-be developers tried to take all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court before backing off and finding a greater fool new buyer. But sticking to uses closer to the original land designation—in other words, a golf course—seems sort of like a different argument, at least to those of us who have passed the prestigious Grenada and Lower Antilles Bar exam. Could we see a 99-story "golf clubhouse" full of condos justified by a ground-floor storefront where some minimum wage flunkie hands out golf clubs? Would razing 9 holes of the golf course be okay so long as the new streets upon which 5-over-1s will be built have names like "Duffers Lane" and "Chip Shot Court"?  (We've already seen brutally honest street names for new builds across the Toll Road.) Or would a miniature golf course/axe throwing establishment surrounded by midscale chain retail and endless surface parking meet the by-right requirements?

No word on what all this means for South Reston's criminally low "walkability scores" and invasive plant crisis, but we're guessing we've heard about them for the last time, the end.