Happy 3rd Birthday, Reston 2020 Blog!

Three years ago last week, Reston Citizens Association's (RCA's) Reston 2020 Committee created a blog called Reston 20/20:  Citizens Envisioning Reston’s Future on Google’s blogger.  The goal was to keep the community informed and engaged in the then-new effort to renew Reston’s community master plan and other local planning and development efforts.  Since then, the more than 1,200 blog entries and nearly 300 documents posted on the blog have been visited by more than 150,000 times by readers, about one-quarter of them from abroad. The blog also features a calendar of Reston planning events and links to key local planning and other news sources. 

The blog has covered many topics related to various aspects of planning Reston’s development:  density and mix, open space and recreation, transportation (including traffic, tolls, and Metrorail), the environment, walkability, placemaking, and many others.  It has recorded RCA’s and Reston 2020’s participation in ongoing debates about tolls, jobs-housing balance, toll road forecasts, economic growth prospects, and more.  It has shared links to just about every source on Reston-related developments and issues, including local and national video, radio, and print media, studies by government agencies and contractors, and research by academics and think tanks on dozens of community planning topics.  And, maybe most importantly, it has become a repository for research performed by Reston citizen volunteers on the future course of Reston development in the areas around the coming Metrorail stations. 

A diversity of posts and documents have attracted attention and comments ranging from straightforward fact sheets on planned toll increases on the Dulles Toll Road to letters from Restonians on planning and toll road issues to commentaries on a variety of development issues.  The table below captures the most frequently viewed blog entries.

Most Viewed Blog Entries
Entry	Views
Dulles Toll Road Fact Sheet #1: Excessive Toll In... Mar 7, 2012	3,535
Letter: Inequity in Financing Metrorail Construct... Dec 8, 2011, 5 comments	561
Reston Master Plan Study Community Forum on Feb. 2... Feb 17, 2010	353
Commentary: Accenture’s Departure: Harbinger of ... Sep 20, 2011, 2 comments	280
RCA Reston 2020 Comment on Town Center Office Buil... Feb 23, 2012, 1 comment	220
Letter to MWAA re Eliminating PLA Preferences for ... Mar 2, 2012	201
MWAA Board Approves Underground Metrorail Station ... Apr 6, 2011	200

Documents on the blog or linked from the blog are stored in a Scribd.com, an online digital archive.  These are primarily items produced by RCA Reston 2020, but also include other key documents that may not be easily retrieved from their original source.   Although RCA’s analysis of the toll forecasts by Wilbur Smith Associates has be view more than 1,900 times, many of the Reston 2020 working group papers produced for  the Reston Task Force have been among the top reads on the blog.  Also in this list are the presentation by Ian Lockwood, AECOM, on urban street network design and the County’s urban parks policy.  Overall, archive statistics indicate the average read time for each document was nearly five minutes.

Most Read Documents in Reston 2020 Digital Archive
Document	Views
RCA Study--Wilbur Smith Traffic & Revenue Forecasts--012712	2,464
"Reston Transportation: Meeting the Needs of a 21st Century Planned Community," Transportation Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, June 1, 2010	1,606
"A Strawman Proposal for the Wiehle Transit Metro Station Area," Bill Penniman with Residential, Urban Design, & Livability Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee	1,507
”Environmental Planning Principles for Reston,” Environmental Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee	1,291
"Parks, Recreation, & Public Facilities: Needs for a New Master Planned Reston," Parks, Recreation, & Public Facilities Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, June 1, 2010	1,251
”Proposals for Parks in North Town Center,” Guy Rando & Kathy Kaplan, with Residential, Urban Design, & Livability Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, June 1, 2010	1,208
Street Network Design Ian Lockwood Aecom	1,207
"Sunrise Valley Nature Park: A Suburban Wetlands Park," Environmental Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, June 1, 2010	1,155
Fairfax County Urban Parks Framework	1,139
"Vision for Herndon-Monroe Station Area," Residential, Urban Design, & Livability Work Group, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, June 2010	1,036

 

Readers reach the blog in many ways, including outreach to potentially interested readers.  Reston 2020 has used Twitter and Facebook social media more than 1,000 times in the last two years to alert more than 200 followers/friends, virtually all local, about the latest blog postings and other Reston planning developments, including links to specific posts.  

Search engines, however, play a dominant role in connecting readers to the blog although local websites—notably Reston Patch, the Restonian, and Reston Paths.  The Fairfax County government is also among the leaders in using the blog as well; we expect simply to keep updated on new entries. 

Top Referring Websites
Entry	Referrals
www.google.com	10,219
reston.patch.com	1,446
www.restonian.org	812
www.bing.com	502
www.facebook.com	415
www.restonpaths.com	275
www.reston2020.blogspot.com	233
www.fairfaxcounty.gov	226
search.yahoo.com	178

The blog also offers an e-mail update service that gives readers a once-a-day look at the new without having to go to the blog.  Some have even subscribed to the blog, receiving each new post as it is published.  And “buttons” at the bottom of each post enable readers to share it with their friends through their preferred social media. 

The effort to keep Restonians apprised about developments in local planning and thinking about community design will continue at least as long as the Reston Task Force continues.  It has clearly proven to be an important source of information for people interested in Reston’s future.  We look forward to keeping the community and other informed.