Five Minutes with Robert E. Simon, Reston Patch, September 28, 2010

Please read Karen Goff's excellent Q&A interview of Bob Simon in the Reston Patch.  He gives some good personal views on where Reston has been, where it is, and where it's going, including the good and the bad. 

The article is here. 

Here's an excerpt: 
  

Q:  How do you think the community is doing today? So many changes are coming.

A:   I get asked this question not infrequently. Do you want the bad first or the good first? The No. 1 bad is New Dominion Parkway. New Dominion is a giant wall that cuts the Town Center in half. Town Center goes from Target to Home Depot. New Dominion cuts it. Everything that side of New Dominion is not town centerish. Garages  are designed so you can never put anything on the ground level.

No. 2 - the village centers, as well as the town center. There is only one village center. This one (Lake Anne). The other so-called village centers, they are shopping centers. . . .

Q:  So what is good about Reston in 2010?
A:   The good is actually the marvelous. I will start with the pathways. We have 55 miles of paths. My successors finished the building of the paths and underpasses, continued the recreation facilities and continue to take care of it.

Second most wonderful thing, the Reston Community Center in Hunters Woods, with that wonderful theater and it is used so well.

And Fountain Square [at Reston Town Center]. Fountain Square is an ideal plaza. I think it is just about perfect.  It is a gathering place, as a plaza is supposed to be. Mixed use, of course. it's got places to sit outside, places to go inside, a skating rink, a movie theatre.

Also good: the recreational facilities and the Walker Nature Education Center.