Restonian: News blog from Reston, Virginia, the mauve-colored New Town (tm)

South Lakes High School Ranked #308 in the Nation in Somewhat Arbitrary Yet Influential List

2012-05-23T15:47:00.001-04:00

Every year, the Washington Post and Newsweek come out with their fancy "challenge index" of national high schools, prompting much hand-wringing and arbitrary comparisons that, when combined with 25 cents, may or may not buy you a dropperful of artiseanal free trade coffee from your local barista. This year, Reston's South Lakes High School ranked 308th among the nation's top 1,900 schools, or 39th in the DC area. That's up from #558 a few years back, a data point selected by the all-important "last time we remembered to check on this arbitrary annual list, which wasn't last year" criteria. Herndon High School ranked 233rd, or 31st in the region. Given that there are more than 26,000 high schools in the country, that ain't bad. But of course, we in Fairfax County have come to expect champagne wishes and caviar dreams, even from our schools.

At 104th nationally, Oakton was the top-ranked Fairfax County high school (and 10th in the region), followed by McLean, James Madison, Langley (go Unredistrictable Anglo-Saxons!), W.T. Woodson, Lake Braddock, Chantilly, Herndon, and Robinson. Centreville, Westfield, West Springfield, South County, Marshall, Stuart, Falls Church, Hayfield, Edison, Lee, Annandale, all scored lower than SLHS. About one in three SLHS students qualify for free and reduced lunch, according to the survey.

So what does all this mean? As with any piece of data rounded to three decimal points, probably less than it seems. The index is based on the proportion of graduating seniors who take college-level AP and IB exams, not test scores that "say more about a school’s average family income than its efforts to raise the level of instruction for average students," as Post education maven Jay Matthews puts it. Critics of the index argue that the rankings don't say how well students do on those exams, and point to schools on the list with high dropout rates and wide achievement gaps among students of different races and income levels. But with "rigor" being the watchword in education circles right now, it's hard to argue with the idea that schools should push more kids into IB and AP classes so they ~~have a slight chance at not spending the next six decades as interchangeable and disposable wage slaves one minor misstep away from irrevocable financial ruin~~ can be "college and career ready."

More troubling is this:

Either they didn't get any data from SLHS, or we'd suggest checking the water fountains for lead.

In other words, it's all a bit of a wash. We'd frankly spend more time worrying about who the next South Lakes principal is going to be, or why kids there are getting in trouble for being on the Twitters, or what possessed someone to break into the school, the end.

Not-So-Breaking News: County Lost $2.4 Million on Reston Housing Complex, Several Years Ago

2012-05-22T10:32:00.001-04:00

Set the Wayback Machine to 2009, and in between listening to Nickelback and watching Lost on the teevee, you might have noticed that Fairfax County had gotten itself embroiled in the foreclosure proceedings of a Reston apartment complex. According to the Washington Times, the county lost $2.4 million in its investment in the Reston Glen apartment complex in South Reston -- an investment made to ~~ensure "web logs" make their quotas of angry comments about workforce housing~~ help ensure affordable housing in the county. Lay it on us, old-timey "news paper":

In January 2007, Fairfield Properties bought the 200-unit Reston Glen apartment complex for $30,375,000. The company subsequently sought financing through the county to keep a fifth of the apartments affordable based on a preset rateand to rehabilitate the property.

The county’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority facilitated $34 million in bond financing for the project, and also provided a $2.375 million loan from the county’s “Penny for Affordable Housing Fund,” which is funded by dedicating 1 cent of the value of the real estate tax rate.

In September 2009, Fairfield was unable to put up enough collateral after entering into an arrangement with Goldman Sachs, who bought the bonds, and so Goldman foreclosed on the property. In December 2009, Fairfield filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The $2.4 million was lost through the foreclosure, but the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) came to an agreement with the purchaser, Red Stone Partners IV LLC, to repay the note up to the full amount at 25 cents on the dollar. The catch, though, was that the money would only flow for every dollar the company got in excess of $34 million for a future sale of the property.

Our eyes started glazing over at the words "Goldman Sachs," but we're going to assume their involvement helped create value or something and move on. Right?

The property was sold in December 2010 for $28.5 million, however, so HCD wrote off the Penny Fund loan at the end of fiscal 2011. The affordability restrictions on the complex are still in place, it was rehabilitated, and the bonds were fully repaid.

Here's a Fun Fact we didn't know. According to the complex's website (which has its own web log), the different apartment models are named after fancy painters -- e.g., the Monet, the Van Gogh, and the Picasso (just don't check the walls on the latter unit with a T-square). Things appear to be going A-OK there now, and the affordable units that were the reason the county got involved with the complex in the first place are still there.

So bygones? Apparently not. Some county supervisors are peeved that they were only formally notified of the loss this year, and the Washington Times, never one to miss a story about "affordable housing" or "not putting the poor in workhouses," was On The Scene. The county investment was part of a pilot project that won't be repeated, the article says, but Fairfax is now attempting to market another Reston affordable housing complex it owns -- Crescent Apartments -- as part of the broader redevelopment of Lake Anne. Bids were supposed to come in on those redevelopment proposals at some point this spring, so who knows what will come of that?

Flashback Monday: Golf Course Island, Minus the Golf Course and the Island

2012-05-21T12:14:00.001-04:00

Salvaged by our BFFs at the Reston Historic Trust, please to be enjoying this photo of the still-under-constrction townhouses at Golf Course Island, which was a photographic clue for a Reston Museum contest which bears a passing resemblance to our ~~disastrous~~ much loved Guess the Mauve Bits (tm)(R) feature. Anyhoo, even in this construction photo, please to be enjoying the two signature features of swank Reston townhouse livin': 1) carports and 2) party walls, the end.

Study Shocker: Restonians Walk, Drive, Bike

2012-05-18T10:12:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't love a hawt Powerpoint slide? This fancy survey of travel habits (PDF) by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments gives them to us in spades, reminding us that "residents in densely developed communities with homes above or near stores, restaurants and offices are more likely to forgo driving to walk, ride a bike or take public transit," as our BFFs at the Washington Post put it.

This "web log" aside, we're not quite as dense as some of the other neighborhoods in D.C. and Maryland surveyed in the study, but 14 percent of Restonians' "daily trips" involve walking, which is above the regional average of 9 percent. When looking at commuting habits, though, nearly eight in 10 Reston residents drive to work alone, according to the study's preliminary findings. Way to go!

Of course, that will likely soon change:

Area developers and community planners have seen signs of such a trend for years, particularly among young adults and empty nesters who are moving to such places as Tysons Corner and the White Flint area of North Bethesda, which are morphing from sprawling suburbs into high-rise mini-cities focused around Metrorail stations.

Coincidentally, we're getting one of those.

Other fun facts? Around one in three Reston households are "cell phone only," meaning they don't have one of those old-timey contraptions bolted to the wall you have to jingle the hook to get Doris on the party line. Also, there are .83 bicycles per household, meaning... the average Reston resident is slightly more likely to have a two-wheeler than a unicycle? We had trouble with statistics in college. And the median length of residence in Reston is 11 years, meaning it's taking some folks a while to graduate, the end.

As the Silver Line Turns: Name-Calling, Slanted Surveys, and a Glimpse of Loudoun's Future

2012-05-17T13:35:00.001-04:00

As the prevarication over Phase 2 of Metro's Silver Line continues, the ~~unabashed stupid~~ careful consideration of relevant issues has spread from Loudoun's partisan, anti-labor obsessed Board of Supervisors to partisan, anti-labor obsessed Virginia lawmakers. Show them how it's done in the big leagues, Virginia lawmakers!

Virginia House Democratic Leader David J. Toscano (D-Charlottesville) responded to the state’s Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton calling legislators and their staff “idiots” in a debate over funds on Metro’s new Silver Line.

In a news release Friday, Toscano said... the “rhetoric used by members of the House of Delegates and now the Governor’s administration has crossed the line. Our state, once prized for its ability to be reasonable and measured in our debate, continues to have its reputation tarnished.”

Nonsense! Shooting down what may be one of the last major federally funded public works projects over a right-wing talking point won't tarnish Virginia's reputation. It's about par for the course.

~~Haters~~ critics are pointing to a survey that shows most Virginians aren't in favor of the Silver Line, though in reality those who oppose it tend to live in places where they don't cotton to frivolous modern necessities such as "mass transit" or "color TV."

In the Washington suburbs, including Fairfax and Arlington counties and Alexandria, 67 percent say the project is important, with 41 percent calling it extremely important. But in the remaining parts of the state it’s 25 percent.

Have you been south of Dumfries lately? Unleaded gasoline would only get a 25 percent favorable rating in most of the state.

In case you aren't already slamming your head into your desk over all the stupid, please to be enjoying this Action McNews Team video of the statesmen-like Loudoun Board of Supervisors stone cold talking about the Silver Line:

Here's a more recent genius comment from one of the Loudoun supervisors:

Supervisor Ken Reid (R-Leesburg) focused on the Lesser report finding that the county would grow regardless of Metro.

“You can have the growth with Metro or without,” he said, repeating Bogarad’s assertion.

Quite right. As a public service, here's what that growth would look like in both cases. First, with Metro:

Now, without:

Your call, Loudoun.

Meanwhile, with all the gas being expelled over this project, very little is still being said about the real issue, which is how many thousands of quarters Toll Road drivers will need to pay for the project even if it does go forward. As Reston Citizens Association President Colin Mills points out:

But in all the back and forth about PLAs and unions and MWAA's expenses and in all the political posturing, one thing seems to be getting ignored: the fact that the majority of Phase 2's costs are still projected to fall on the Toll Road users.

Ultimately, the debate over the PLA is not that important. It matters to construction unions and anti-union activists, but whether or not a PLA is imposed, it will not spell the success or failure of the project. While RCA hopes that Loudoun County will remain committed to the project and that Virginia will contribute the $150 million it has promised, we have not taken a position on the PLA issue.

Similarly, while the DOT's audit of MWAA will hopefully prompt the authority to clean up some of its hazier practices, unclear ethics policies and reimbursed trips are not going to break Phase 2. RCA also has taken no position on the DOT audit, apart from the section relating to CDM Smith's report.

Where we have taken a position, and where we are focusing our energy, is on the huge projected rise in tolls on the Toll Road, and what that means for the Silver Line project as a whole and for the traffic situation in and around Reston. The PLAs may mean a lot to some elected officials, but the tolls are what matter most to Reston citizens.

Reston 20/20 recently released a white paper demonstrating how the projected rise in tolls would affect Reston and the Silver Line. They ran the numbers, and found that if the tolls rise as CDM Smith forecasts, regular users of the Toll Road will see nearly half of their anticipated real income gains over the next 40 years wiped out by the tolls. Almost half! The toll cost for regular commuters will ultimately amount to over $8,000 a year, which is a pretty hefty chunk of change.

We love the name of the aforementioned white paper, which calls the soon-to-be-exorbitant Toll Road the "Highway of the One Percent." But nothing to see here folks! Move along, and keep an eye out for those pesky union goons!

In a call for bipartisan calm, we share this once more:

Keep clapping, kids, or we'll be forced to post this a third time!

Update: Commenter Mean Daddy D may have just won the Internet.

Spotted: The Next Sign of the Apocalypse, Self-Driving Cars

2012-05-16T10:37:00.001-04:00

Alert Confidential Restonian Operative "Andrew" shared this photo of one of Google's fancy self-driving cars on Spring Street in Herndon, guiding itself ominously towards Reston. (Actually, "Andrew" reports that there was someone in the driver's seat, given that self-driving cars are currently only legal in Nevada.) All we know is that given the California plates, someone's errant Google Maps query for "Macaroni Grill near former site of nudist colony+earth tones" must have gone very wrong.

They're Baaack: Copperheads Resume Reign of Terror

2012-05-15T09:28:00.001-04:00

Ah, springtime on Reston's lovely network of paths and walkways: if the weirdos don't get you, the venomous snakes will.

A local veterinary clinic sent a message to its customers warning them of an "excessive amount of copperheads" on Reston paths and trails.

It has been brought to our attention that Reston has an excessive amount of copperheads seen on the local paths and trails. In North Reston a resident was on a morning walk with her Golden Retriever and came across the snake as it was sunning itself on the path; the dog was bitten. If your pet is bitten please go straight to an emergency clinic as the anti-venom must be administered as soon as possible and we do not carry this drug.

Not to alarm anyone, but consider this Fun Fact about our beloved scaled neighbors:

The copperhead's initial threat display is to strike. It lashes out at an enemy as a warning. If the enemy is close enough, the fangs may penetrate the skin.

The "good" news is that unlike other snakes, when copperheads bite, it's a "threat display" rather than an attempt to kill, so they inject little venom. But people and pets alike still require immediate medical attention.

All of this, of course, is just an excuse for us to share the best example of edited-for-TV overdubbing in the history of cinema:

You're welcome.

Update: The Reston Association is reporting one copperhead sighting this year, on Lamplighter Way near the Bright Pond natural area. "No one was bitten and the snake did not offer to defend itself," the RA website says.

Flashback Monday: An Artifact From Reston's Salad Days, Assuming 'Cheap Liquor' is 'Salad'

2012-05-14T10:05:00.001-04:00

On the Twitter Machines, @jakehparrott shared this photo of a rare artifact of what was once Reston's main export, which dates back to the days of the drunken village of Wiehle. (Today Reston's main exports are PowerPoint presentations and processed starchy food transported home in the stomachs of Ashburnites who come to the Macaroni Grill or Uno's to "eat in the city.")

Park and Ride Closure First Sign of Metro Station Infrastructure? Well, Maybe

2012-05-11T11:24:00.001-04:00

Last week, about 45 spots in the occasionally soggy Reston North Park and Ride lot were closed to allow construction on Sunset Hills Road. More specifically, Sunset Hills is being widened to create dedicated left-turn lanes at its intersections with Wiehle Avenue and Isaac Newton Square. While both of those spots have long needed left-turn lanes, as anyone who's zipped up the hill towards the latter intersection a bit too fast knows all too well, does this mean that the county's actually preparing for the crush of traffic when the 2,300-space garage at the Wiehle Avenue Metro station opens in less than two years? What other improvements are in store? Some awesome blinking lights for the entryway to the civic plaza? An Easter Island-like progression of fanciful concrete bollards? Heaven forfend, a traffic circle? A drive-through lane for a frozen yogurt shop to be built in the median of Wiehle Avenue? A flyover ramp that deposits people directly in front of the Michael's in Plaza America? The mind boggles.

On the YouTubes: We Watch the Reston Association Videos So You Don't Have To

2012-05-10T13:11:00.001-04:00

Andy Sigle's dulcet tones introduce this, the May edition of RA Today. And we get right into the action, with some sweeet B-roll footage of new RA President Ken Knueven strolling through Lake Anne Plaza, apparently unmolested by performance artists. Saying he wants to see Lake Anne revitalized "for generations to come," he kicks into his priorities for the next year. Sustainability and economic viability top his list, particularly investing in existing infrastructure to make sure "we have a solid foundation on which to build our future."

"As new people and new development arrive in Reston, they may have different needs. And RA will have the opportunity to make these new neighbors feel that they can be part of the community if we've taken the time now to keep Reston viable," he explains.

With that, we're off to the courts -- the mini "Quickstart" tennis courts for the 10-and-under crowd, which is described as T-ball for tennis, or something like that. Beyond combat hang gliding, we were never much into sports.

Finally, Andy introduces us to Reston U.S.E., a "time bank barter system" that is one of Reston's oldest organizations, allowing Restonians to trade time spent ~~web logging~~ babysitting for handyman services, for example. Maybe the neighborhood captains can be tasked with ensuring that everyone involved works from each according to his ability to each according to his need.

And with that, the end music rolls, providing the usual poignant reminder that another 5 minutes and 20 seconds have passed through the hourglass, where no bartering system can retrieve them as we march inexorably into our ever-narrowing futures. Happy Thursday!

More Than a Hobby, a Way of Life: Fancy New Skate Park Coming to Lake Fairfax

2012-05-09T09:29:00.001-04:00

Over there on the Twitter machine, @AMcVeighConnect shared this sick schematic design of the rad skate park proposed for Lake Fairfax Park, assuming those gnarly county supervisors don't get all bogus and reject the proposal. It's been a while since we've taken the old longboard out of the closet, but we'll dig out one of our old Ocean Pacific tees and try to catch some air. Dudes!

Okay, the secret's out: The guy in the second scene of this video who launches off the stairs and into the middle of a four-lane highway? That's totally us.

Yet Another Stupid Silver Line Post: Loudoun Looking a $25 Billion Gift Horse in the Mouth

2012-05-08T09:47:00.001-04:00

Next time you get a 24-hour visa to visit Wegmans or the particleboard home of a friend who "graduated" to Loudoun County, be sure to ask the local citzenry what keeps them up at night. "Well, the value of our particleboard home has fallen at least 30 percent since the peak of the housing boom, and traffic to DC is terrible and my husband might be losing his job ~~strapping bombs to dolphins~~ with a government contractor because of budget cuts, which will lead to foreclosure proceedings against said particleboard home, just like the other 12 identical particleboard homes for sale by lenders in our neighborhood, but what really upsets me is that a Project Labor Agreement will provide an undue scoring advantage during a competitive bidding process for a public works project that will give one massive construction firm an unfair advantage over another massive construction firm, and that's why we elected our local board of supervisors to focus on a national policy issue promulgated by right-wing think tanks instead of local needs" will be the invariable answer. But now that all parties involved in the Silver Line fiasco have been taken to the woodshed and this issue is likely to be taken off the table, what other excuses will Loudoun's leadership have to turn down a project that will bring $25 billion in benefits to their county?

The cost of Metrorail’s extension into Loudoun County in relation to the payoff are minuscule, and no one is making a defensible argument for the benefit not being there, Dr. Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, said in an interview Monday.

Fuller, an economist and author of more than 500 articles, papers and reports in the field of urban and regional economic development, released “The Impact of Metrorail on Loudoun County’s Economic Future,” a 14-page report that concludes the county will miss out on $25.6 billion in gross product by 2040 if Metrorail service isn’t extended to the Dulles Airport, Route 772 and Route 606.

“The opportunity cost of not extending Metrorail into Loudoun County can be measured in billions of dollars not earned, a perpetually weaker economic base, lower salaries and higher tax burdens for Loudoun County residents,” Fuller states in his report.

Phase 2 of the Metrorail Silver Line extension should be a “no-brainer,” Fuller said during the interview.

Yeah, but has he heard the things that Loudoun lawmakers have been saying?

But Board Vice Chairman Janet S. Clarke (R-Blue Ridge), who hasn’t made up her mind about the Silver Line, worries that the rewards will come too slowly.

“My point is, can we afford to front the money, and for how long will we have to do so before we start to receive the income from the economic development,” Clarke said.

"No-brainer" doesn't quite cover it. Keep clapping, kids!

Flashback Monday: More on Reston's Homicidal Nudist Colony, Part 2: To Combat the Nudists, Virginia Plans an Erection

2012-05-07T09:57:00.001-04:00

Our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, continues his tale of the ~~homicidal nudists~~ Green Forest Club, a wholesome group that set up camp near what would someday become the South Reston Park & Ride Lot.

Last week's Flashback told the tale of the Green Forest Club -- not a bunch of eco-zealots, but a nudist colony established in 1933 off of Lawyers Road "to provide members with facilities for obtaining benefits of sunlight, fresh air, water, and exercise," according to George Rossman, one of the buffs quoted by the Washington Post. In addition, today's Restonians will be morally uplifted to know that these distant ancestors of theirs would not, according to Rossman, "countenance exhibitionism, indecent exposure, obscenity, or immorality." Glad we got that straightened out!

End of story? Butt no!

According to a breathless headline in the Washington Post "news-paper" of November 2, 1933, "State to Build 100-Foot Tower Near Fairfax Nudist Colony; It's for Fire Use, But Open to Everybody Zealous for Forest Safety"

The Post reports: "The Virginia State Forest Service is going to erect a 100-foot tower. That's not all. The tower will be within a mile of the nudist camp in Fairfax County."

"And what's more, the tower will be open to the public. It is rumored that several county residents have applied for a binocular concession -- to view the countryside, of course."

"Constructed of steel, the fire tower will stand near Pender, Va, on the Lee-Jackson highway. So far, prying eyes near the nudist camp have not been tolerated. But prying eyes 100 feet in the air are something different."

And who else would this particular fire tower's mascot be other than -- wait for it -- Smokey the Bare! Rib-splitter!

It is unclear if the observation tower was in fact ever built. But if it were, we can only imagine the dialogue between the vigilant forest rangers on duty when danger was spotted:

"Look, Jedidiah, I see smoke up there to the north near Lawyers Road!"

"Where, Moses?"

"Over there! See those twin peaks? Look past them and just before that valley you'll see...a burning bush!"

Bazinga!

On the Twitter Machine: Bout That Life, Way Too Much TMI, and Tragedy at Safeway

2012-05-04T12:22:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since we looked at the Twitter Machine churning away next to the boiler in the basement of Restonian World Headquarters. So after we changed the air filter and added a quart of freon, we used it to, as always, sample the zeitgeist of our beloved earth-toned community:

The ruse is up. Guess we should etch over our "BORN TO AUDIT" tattoo.

Yet another business model SHATTERED.

TMI TMI TMI TMI TMI

Again, TMI. Also, we think she means Ashburn.

Haterz gonna hate.

Well, Home Depot does have a pretty bitchin' garden section.

Now that you mention it, it did seem like they went a bit light on the grenadine in our last Shirley Temple.

Don't we all?

We love a story with a happy ending.

The opening sentence of the next Great ~~American~~ Restonian Novel.

Quite true. Just don't look for the traffic circle.

We couldn't agree more.

Hey! Wha'happened?

There are no words.

From the Action McNews Team: Once More Into the Metro Woodshed

2012-05-03T11:21:00.001-04:00

Some sweet aerial shots of partially constructed Silver Line tracks from the Action McNews Team Chopper can mean only one thing: Exciting play by play coverage of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood taking Fairfax and Loudoun county leaders, the airport authority and Virginia officials into the woodshed to try to save Phase 2 of the Metro Silver Line extension!

Was there a complex discussion of funding formulas, the economic imperative driving the project, and the fact that Toll Road drivers will have to start bringing sockfuls of quarters with them just to get to Tysons? Haha, no, it was all about trying to get Loudoun County to commit to its $200 million share of the project, which is being held up by anti-union rhetoric -- which is exactly what a county's board of supervisors gets elected to worry about.

As our BFFs at Reston2020 point out:

What was apparently not a topic is the 75% burden for Phase 2 construction costs that will be absorbed by Dulles Toll Road users in the current "funding partners" agreement, the most inequitable and unfair aspect of the current spending plan. That puts $17 billion in rail financing and toll road O&M costs over four decades (& probably longer) on the 100K-200K users of the toll road, and especially those who use the toll road to commute. That multi-billion dollar estimate apparently does not include needed capital investments (such as electronic tolling).

With tolls set to double next year and triple within six years according to MWAA's estimates (others put the numbers higher), the agreement among MWAA, Loudoun, & Fairfax is not only unfair and inequitable, it is likely to stifle the very economic growth that Metrorail is supposed to stimulate.

Nothing to see here, kids -- move along. But keep clapping while you do!

Meanwhile, in the Anti-Reston: The Times, They Are A Changin' (Sort Of)

2012-05-02T10:55:00.001-04:00

They may not cotton to our fancy big city ideas of stacking tall polygons near mass transit and have a sense of entitlement about the name of a Metro station that isn't even in their town, but things appear to be changing in our neighbor to the west, and we don't just mean about the townfolk becoming less obscene.

How much have things changed? The guy who said this didn't get elected mayor.

Security: Yes - and more in some neighborhoods than others. Convincing those who would prey on our residents and businesses to leave will remain tied as my number one issue. We have an excellent police force, an excellent zoning department, and citizens who care. We are a TEAM and together we need to maintain pressure on 'bad performers'.

Six years ago, this subtle rhetoric might have lead to a landslide of Reagan-beats-Mondale-plus-Dukakis-plus-Jimmy-Carter-at-the-same-time-with-one-hand-tied-behind-his-back proportions. So that and some fun letters to the editor about "sanctuary cities" notwithstanding, things appear to be changing for the better next door.

On the other hand, though, Herndon's first (and only) gay bar has apparently shut down. Two steps forward, one step back, etc., etc., the end.

Game of Drones: Doubts on the Future of Silver Line Phase 2 Now Revolving Completely, Not Just Partially, Around Partisan Issues

2012-05-01T12:52:00.001-04:00

Fancy "news papers" have started to get wind of the idea that Phase 2 of the Metro Silver Line, the E ticket ride from Wiehle Avenue to Dulles Airport and the particleboard nirvana beyond it, is now in serious trouble.

After more than 10 years of planning to add 23 miles of Metro rail line in Northern Virginia, the second part of the Silver Line project could be dead before a spade of dirt is turned.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Virginia, and Loudoun and Fairfax counties are at a stalemate over pro-union labor deals, concerns about costs and an inspector general’s investigation of the authority.

Actually, it's now mostly Loudoun County that is at a stalemate, but it won't take much to tip over this whole cinderblock Jenga game. Even if there's a wonderful kumbaya moment and the Loudoun board of supervisors agrees to approve the project by July 4, construction on Phase 2 will have already been delayed. If they don't, it could be all over except the finger-pointing.

“This project will die if the stakeholders cannot get together and resolve their differences,” said Leo J. Schefer, head of the Washington Airports Task Force, a group of business leaders that supports the Silver Line.

“Underlying all of this is party political extremes that are being put ahead of public purpose,” Schefer said. “It’s become an emotional issue.”

That the future of this project hangs largely on objections crafted by national right-wing anti-union organizations speaks volumes about the state of politics in local government, as the Loudoun board is arguing/posturing that the labor agreement is a "deal breaker," as Loudoun Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles District)], put it. If we're going to have a controversy, can't it at least be about the names of the stations?

Former Governor and U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Kaine came to the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce last week to urge that the project go forward.

Just a few hundred yards from the Metro station where the $5.6 billion Dulles rail line would end if the project’s second phase falls through, U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D) told business leaders Friday that the Silver Line must reach the airport for the sake of the region, the state and the nation.

Kaine, the former governor who helped push the project through along with a bipartisan team of Virginia congressmen, took few partisan shots as he made his case.

Kaine credited the Bush administration, particularly the former transportation secretary, Mary Peters, for its role in awarding more than $900 million in federal aid for the project’s first phase. He even complimented his opponent in this year’s hotly contested Senate race, Republican George Allen, for his support of the project when he was in the Senate.

“That’s bipartisanship,” Kaine told a gathering of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce. “As challenging as that was, we made it happen, and there’s no reason we can’t make sure Phase Two happens too.”

Even Reston2020, which has been a longstanding critic of the funding and oversight of the project, is calling for a solution to the impasse that allows the project to go forward.

Reston 2020 neither wants toll road users to be stuck with three-quarters of the bill nor a Metrorail line that ends at Wiehle station in Reston. It has offered a number of alternative financing ideas for Phase 2 and encourages its prompt construction as soon as those alternatives are in place. We all need rail to Dulles and we need those who will benefit most to carry the load.

Exactly. Keep clapping, kids!

Update: The Northern Virginia Chamber Partnership, a coalition of business interests that are not exactly big fans of unions, is now calling on the airport authority to drop the labor agreement language. Which is great, because there are totally no other problems with the project that need to be hammered out for it to move forward.

Flashback Monday: More on Reston's Homicidal Nudist Colony, Part 1: The Snakeden of Iniquity

2012-04-30T10:17:00.001-04:00

You may recall the shocking discovery that Reston's predecessors were not just whiskey makers in a drunken village, but honest-to-goodness homicidal nudists. Our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, has uncovered more details about the infamous Green Forest Club, whose camp was located not far from the modern day South Reston Park and Ride Lot. Here is his exhaustive report:

The sordid tale of Reston's origins in the misty dawn of pre-history can now be told: our earth-toned paradise was once a Snakeden of Iniquity where exhibitionists pranced about and cavorted au natural amidst our hard-working dairy farmers!

Exciting historical research made possible by articles uncovered in the old-timey Washington Post "news-paper" reveals that, as this mighty nation struggled through the Great Depression in the autumn of 1933, 25 to 30 godless heathens from the Twin Sin Cities of Washington and Alexandria infiltrated our righteous county and established an 83-acre nudist colony called the Green Forest Club off of Lawyers Road.

We are reassured, however, by an October 13, 1933, article in the Post that such moral turpitude did not go unchallenged:

"A three-week old nudist colony has drawn fire from the American Anti-Nudity League and the attention of Fairfax County authorities. A letter of protest, signed by Dr. Jane B. Coates of Washington, executive director of the anti-nudity association, was sent to Governor Pollard. The governor took the matter under advisement, and jokingly said he wanted to get all the 'bare' facts in the case." Knee-slapper!

In her letter, Dr. Coates declared, "Virginia, of all states, has stood on its purity, nobility, and cleanness of principles." Yay for the Old Dominion!

It is then reported that the unfortunately named Deputy Sheriff Vernon Cockrell of Herndon "planned to visit the camp to see 'what is going on'. Arrests will be made, he said, if anyone is found 'walking around naked'." We wonder: would that be a summons for "naked as a jaybird jaywalking"?

In the next day's Post, however, Governor Pollard is reported to have adopted a 'hands-off policy' toward the nudist colony: "The Governor said he was unable to recall any law under which the State could eject any cult where there was no infringement on the rights of others." Sounds like the Guv was channeling his inner Ron Paul there!

We can only imagine the gut-busting humor all this hoopla must have created down at the nearby Herndon Grange on Saturday evenings:

"Say, Jethro, if that nood-ist colony had an Iraqi and an Irishman in it, what would be its name?'
"I don't know, Zeke, what?"
"Saddam and Begorra!"

In next week's Flashback: To Combat the Nudists, Virginia Plans an Erection. SRSLY.

Shocker: Bus Service Apparently Available to Reston, According to Dated Sign

2012-04-27T11:07:00.001-04:00

Our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, made a shocking discovery at the West Falls Church Metro station, where this sign points out an amazing fact: bus service is available to Reston. Who knew?

The sign doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the quality of service we'll soon be able to expect on the Silver Line. As the Peasant notes:

Perhaps it is another example of Metro's managerial prowess that only 16 years later this totally outdated sign informs the hoi polloi that for a mere 25 cents they too can take a trip to our earth-toned Disneyland. Such a bargain! Please to notice on the sign other evidence of quaint antiquity, such as the phone number with no area code listed, or the now-legendary bus route designations such as "5A", "5B", etc.

RA Opposes Town Center Mauvescraper, Profiles It In Its Magazine

2012-04-26T08:35:00.001-04:00

The Reston Association has joined the growing ranks of critics of the 23-story mauvescraper proposed for the site of the Reston Times building on Reston Parkway, arguing in a letter to the Fairfax County Planning Commission that although "redevelopment of the property in question is inevitable, RA also believes that the project as currently proposed does not conform to and is incompatible with the existing and planned development in the vicinity of the site." Specifically, the RA says the building is too tall and should include a residential component.

RA joins the ranks of Fairfax County's planning staff, which last month recommended denial of the project in its own report (PDF), which is 85 pages chock full of hilarious cross-sections like this one:

County planning staff argue the building is too tall and too far from public transit. As proof, they shared this elevation drawing, with the proposed building in a shockingly DRB-unapproved shade of violet:

Actually, that doesn't look so bad. But then look at it from the north:

Okay, so maybe it's a bit on the tall side, especially with the Macaroni Grill-razing Spectrum redevelopment, itself not exactly designed in the spirit of a 1960s rancher, wrapping around it like a hot dog bun. Although for us the biggest takeaway is just how ridiculous the Harris Teeter/Office Depot building, which is not included in the Spectrum redevelopment, is going to look with all the other non big box stuff around it. Also, where will people park?

Reston2020 and ARCH have also both gone on record opposing the proposal, with R2020 going so far as to call it "the wrong building in the wrong place." The county planning commission is supposed to consider the project tonight, so we'll see what happens -- though we were under impression that the development plan was actually approved back in 1978, with no height or intensity restrictions.

While the RA has now gone on record opposing the project, it also devoted three pages to it in the summer issue of Reston: The Magazine. Here it is, front and center in the magazine's table of "content," which called it "a model project for partnering with Reston Association's Design Review Board." (Which, to be fair, has already approved the proposal, as has the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee.)

And here's the story. If you have a 13" monochrome monitor like the one at Restonian World Headquarters, you might have to squint a bit to read the text:

Apparently the RA Board has a shorter lead time than its magazine. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Update: The Fairfax County Planning Commission has deferred the project until May 17.

'Neighborhood Captain' Program Will Make Reston Sustainable, Or Else

2012-04-25T08:14:00.001-04:00

As part of its ~~five-year plan~~ goal to have 12 percent of Reston households sign a pledge to make "simple changes" in lifestyle, transportation, environment, and buying locally, The Reston Sustainability Forum is looking for a few eager "neighborhood captains" to urge their ~~comrades~~ neighbors to recycle and maybe buy a nice recumbent bike to ride along the shoulder of the Toll Road to get to that job ~~strapping bombs to dolphins~~ developing biodegradable munitions and stuff.

Neighborhood Captains would lead the drive to obtain Pledges in their individual cluster, apartment building, or, in the case of single family homes, local neighborhoods. The Reston Association, Reston Town Center Association, ARCH (the Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homeowners), and WATCH (the Working Alliance of Town Center Homeowners) have volunteered to distribute Captain’s Kits throughout their e-mail lists in an effort to support the Forum’s goals.

Nice try, Ivan. You can rummage through my compost pile when you pry my Whole Foods-procured earth turner from my cold dead hands!

Actually, the pledge doesn't sound so draconian. The fancy "captain's kit" (PDF) shares a list of 12 easy things to do to be sustainable, including turning stuff off when you're done with them, recycling, carpooling, monitoring your car's tire pressure, planting a native tree, visiting the ole' farmers market, and, of course, everyone's favorite, installing a rain barrel (so long as you don't fall afoul of the DRB guidelines, of course). You don't even have to wear a cardigan, as Jimmy Carter once urged us to do. And besides, who's going to check and make sure you're not boiling seal blubber as an appertif, so long as those tins of I Can't Believe It's Not Ocelot(tm) wind up in the recycling bin?

So let's all be captains and ~~inform on~~ encourage each other to be more sustainable! Or at least go sign the pledge here before there's a knock on the door ~~in the dead of night~~ from a friendly neighbor.

Actually, the pledge is not necessarily a bad idea, but it's so... Reston-y. We have ways.. of making you recycle.

Bummer: SLHS Principal Retiring

2012-04-24T11:12:00.001-04:00

Sad news: South Lakes High School Principal Bruce Butler is retiring at the end of the school year.

He announced his decision in a letter to parents and students on Monday.

Butler began his career in education as an earth science teacher at Herndon High in 1981. He was named assistant principal at Herndon High in 1993, then moved to South Lakes as an assistant principal in 1998. He was named principal of South Lakes in June 2005.

By all accounts, Butler changed the climate at South Lakes, which had, at times, been less than stellar before he became principal. He also saw the school through a contentious redistricting process that, among other things, generated the most incontrovertible argument ever about the evils of redistricting, in convenient toy form, largely by setting an example for students and faculty that enabled them to ignore some pretty unbelievable attacks on the school by ~~entitled Oakton parents~~ future Seahawks. He even managed to get windows for the school, which was built without them for some reason known only to school architects of that era.

Fairfax County will soon hold a community meeting to garner feedback on Butler's replacement. We'd encourage county school officials to find someone committed to the mission statement in the fancy image above.

Angry Nerds: RA Board Gets Fancy iPads

2012-04-20T10:33:00.001-04:00

As befits a homeowners association in the "Dulles Technology Corridor," the Reston Association Board is moving into the 21st century, ~~spending our annual assessments~~ creating a paperless, Internet-friendly governance model by using fancy new iPads on which board members will electronically review DRB violations and other fun things, and maybe only just occasionally project manic-depressive avians towards unprocessed pork products. Um, huzzah?

RA will be giving iPads to members of the board of directors. It will cost the organization more than $10,000, but will save money in the end, RA spokeswoman Amelia Townsend says.

Though the price tag for the Pads is $10,333, the annual cost to deliver materials to board members drops to $4,726 – an annual savings of $8,964, Townsend says.

“iPads are a versatile tool that allows Board members to review minutes and materials, communicate with members of the community and be more efficient and prepared for doing the work of the Association,” she said, pointing out that saving money and better using technology is in keeping with several of RA's 2012-2016 Strategic Plan goals.

Will the board members have to wait in line for hours to get their iPads?

To be fair, all kinds of organizations have switched from giant paper binders to iPads as a cost-saving measure that actually wound up saving money. And since Reston is the "city of trees," we should all be happy that fewer of them will be sacrificed for the codification of all our fancy regulations. But we can still imagine how the unique technological features of the iPad will be put to use "doing the work of the Association":

Of course, the joke will be on us when DRB Something becomes the best-selling iPad app of all time, the end.

As the Potential Silver Line Phase 2 Funding Meltdown Continues in Slow Motion, Don't Worry, Keep Clapping

2012-04-19T15:41:00.001-04:00

Good morning! Does anyone have an extra $300 million lying around they could kick in the can for the folks building the Silver Line?

Actually, not to worry. Virginia lawmakers' decision not to pony up the extra $300 million for Metro doesn't mean that Phase 2 of the Silver Line won't be built. It means that Phase 2 of the Silver Line will be built, and the difference will be made up by even higher tolls on the Toll Road. It's a win-win, at least if you don't have a car or hate quarters.

Now Loudoun County is a different story. Loudoun supervisors' dithering about funding their share of the Silver Line has already delayed preliminary bids for the project, and they could derail it altogether. This isn't exactly confidence inspiring:

“Everything is so iffy,” said Patrick A. Nowakowski, executive director of the Dulles rail project at MWAA. “If Loudoun pulls out, we’re back to the drawing board. The funding agreement falls apart.”

We're guessing that brilliant last-minute suggestions like this one won't help break this logjam.

There's been a lot of gnashing and wailing of teeth about the much-touted economic benefits of Metro, especially given the economy and trends in office development. However, a "virtual rail-ty tour" (get it?) sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce suggests that even given the sluggish economy, developers are starting to make real moves towards growth around both the planned and the potential Reston stations:

Several commercial real estate and development firms gave an overview Tuesday of projects planned in conjunction with the debut of Silver Line Phase 1—which will run from Tysons Corner to Reston's Wiehle Avenue beginning late 2013. They said there will likely be a development boom in residential, rather than office space.

• JBG office buildings Summit I and II (288,000 square feet of office space) at Sunrise Valley Drive and Edmund Halley Drive, will undergo a $15 million renovation.

• An application to develop a parcel adjacent to Reston Station (where the Reston Mini Storage is now located) is currently under review, said Mark Looney, land use attorney with Cooley.

The proposed mixed-use development near the Wiehle Station (and the planned 1.5 million-square-foot, mixed-use development at Reston Station) will have 175,000 square feet of office space, as well as retail and residential.

• Reston Station will soon break ground on its luxury rental residences, to be called The BLVD.

• Boston Properties is at work on Block 16 (also called "The Avant at Reston Town Center"), a 15-story, 359-unit residential building (with 27,000 square feet of retail) at Reston Town Center (across the park from Vapianos). The project is expected to be completed next year and will feature a rooftop pool and dog area.

Boston Properties also has plans for Reston Gateway, a 22-acre site between the Reston Town Center and the Reston Parkway (Phase 2) Metro station.

"We anticipate a very vibrant, mixed-use development," said Pete Otteni, Boston Properties' vice president of development, "We are not necessarily recreating the Town Center, but connecting Reston Town Center to the Metro."

So the first parallelograms to rise along the Toll Road will be residential, which has got to please the folks who have argued that a larger mix of residential properties among the new development will help with traffic issues. And of course, there's the whole thing about what happens to traffic in Reston if the Silver Line ends at Wiehle Avenue, which, as we've said before, would ~~bring traffic to an utter standstill as Loudoun cut-through commuters vie Mad Max-style for the last spot in the Reston Station parking garage~~ not be good. So we have a vested reason for hoping that the folks in Loudoun see reason. Keep clapping, kids!

But not to worry, because pro-rail folks in Loudoun made this fancy faux-viral YouTubes video, thereby all but ensuring swift and speedy approval of any and all money needed for the project. It's interesting, but maybe not for the reasons its makers intended.

Note that every scene is shot in some hellish mega strip-mall that makes Reston Spectrum look quaint and homey by comparison -- including one particularly horrific shot of a parking lot that appears to be the size of a modest inland sea. This particleboard nirvana is what Loudoun is so worried about preserving?

(Counterpoint: Wegmans!)

Update: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is now taking the involved parties to the woodshed, which actually sort of worked the last time thing things were looking a bit iffy for the project. Also, it turns out that Phase 1 of the Silver Line will come in $150 million over budget -- or 600,000,000 quarters short, in the parlance of Toll Road fees. But hey, who's counting?

On the YouTubes: The Action McNews Team Wishes Bob Simon a Happy 98th

2012-04-18T11:05:00.001-04:00

Please to be enjoying this exciting video from one of the Action McNews Teams, who shouted at Bob Simon all the way from their fancy studios downtown as part of the coverage of his 98th birthday and Founder's Day. We especially enjoyed Simon's dis of the "huge, mausoleum-type houses" that have been built elsewhere cough cough Loudoun County, though we think the ActionMcNews anchor should be summarily flogged for the use of the hokey phrase "98 years young," eccch, the end.