Letter: RA Letter to the County Encouraging Reston Bus Service Restoration, April 5, 2010

Please take the time to sign the "Save Our Buses" petition here. The Board of Supervisors will be having hearings on the budget over the next couple of days, and this may be your last chance to have an impact on their Reston bus routes decision.


RA Ltr Re FC Reston Bus Route Cuts--040510

Draft Agenda: Reston Town Center Committee Meeting, April 6, 2010

The meeting is scheduled from 8-9:30 AM, Tuesday morning, April 6, 2010, at West Market Clubhouse, 1901 Logan Manor Drive, Reston, VA.

I. Organizational Issues (20 minutes)

a. FOIA: do we need minutes? A pre-meeting agenda? Anything else?

b. What is it that we as a committee want to produce: just text for the Comp Plan or some kind of map (ala Sasaki or amended Master Conceptual Plan)? If latter, how do we do that resource wise?

c. Set future meeting schedule so it can be published

II. Discussion on residential density issue (45 minutes)

a. Essential issue: TC is subject to the 13 people per acre Reston PRC cap, which yields a total population cap for the PRC at +/- 83,000. Current estimates suggest Reston is at about 65,000, which includes about +/- 5,000 TC residents. It is conceivable that the remaining +/- 20,000 residential density slots could all end up in Town Center, resulting in a total TC residential population of +/- 25,000. Questions:

i. Do we care?

ii. Should it be less (i.e., should there essentially be a TC cap within the overall cap)?

iii. Should it be more (i.e., should TC even remain subject to the 13 people per acre cap)?

III. Begin discussion on goals for the North County lot (25 minutes)

a. Heidi to present overview of current County thinking on police station move and related issues

Reston Town Center Committee Mission Statement

Reston Town Center Committee Mission Statement

RMAG Analysis of Traffic Near Reston's Metro Stations, Vanasse, Hangen, Brustlin, April 15, 2008

This document is the second chapter of the consultant's report for the Reston Metrorail Access Group, a group focused on developing safe and rapid access to Reston's new Metrorail stations. As reflected in this analysis, traffic congestion will be much worse in 2030 even if "robust" road improvements are made.

RMAG Consultant Traffic Analysis (Ch.2)

Photos: Wetlands at Sunrise Valley Park

Reston 2020 has begun building an archive of Reston images related to the prospective urbanization of Reston under a revised Comprehensive Plan. These are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/reston2020/collections/.

One of the collections already well-developed is a set of photos of the Wetlands at Sunrise Valley Park. Development threatens these wetlands because they are within a 1/2 mile radius of the future Herndon-Monroe Metrorail station, an area deemed appropriate for high density, high-rise, multi-use development under the County's Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Guidelines. Efforts are underway to give these wetlands permanent protected status, but the road to that end is uncertain, winding, and very much uphill.


For more photographs of these wetlands, click here.

If you are interested in working to protect Reston's environment in the ongoing review of Reston planning, please contact Diane Blust (dblust@comcast.net), Chairman, Reston 2020 Environmental Working Group.

Letter: Transportation Work Group Letter to Chairman Bulova and Supervisor Hudgins re Reston Bus Service Cuts, April 2, 2010

TWG Reston Bus Service Cuts Letter

To sign the petition to "Save Our Buses," please click here.

Letter: Negative Impact Of Bus Cuts, Diane Blust, Reston Connection, March 24, 2010

To the Editor:

I want to thank our local newspaper for its attention to the impending demolition by our elected and appointed officials of public transportation within Reston [“Reston Buses Grind to a Halt,” by Mike DiCicco, Reston Connection, March 17-23.]

At a time when Tysons Corner is being presented with a free circulator bus so that the people in Tysons can get used to the idea of public transit in advance of the construction of four metro stations in Tysons, Reston commuters and local folks who depend on existing public transit to get to work, go to the doctor, run errands, etc., are being told to jump back into their cars and clog our roads in Reston. That is, if they have a car. People who previously walked from their home to the local bus stop to catch a bus to West Falls Church will have to drive to the Reston East Park and Ride at Wiehle (future site of the one — at least for several years — metro stop in Reston) to catch the new bus from Wiehle to the metro at West Falls Church. But wait, the Park and Ride is already seriously overcrowded. Where will all those people who currently take the bus park the cars they will now have to drive to the Park and Ride? On the street, in nearby neighborhoods, in nearby business park parking lots? Or, perhaps they will take a cab to Park and Ride, or have a friend or family member drop them off at the Park and Ride? The resulting additional traffic will clog Reston’s streets, which already suffer from too much traffic at certain times of the day.

Think of the impact on our environment of the increased traffic: hundreds more cars idling in traffic jams throughout Reston. Think of the impact on the health and welfare of our working residents who will be forced to add additional time to their already long commutes. Think of the people who have no cars and, therefore, depend on the bus entirely for their transportation needs. Residents of Reston better think of these things, because, apparently, no one at the county or commonwealth level is taking our needs and concerns into consideration when planning things like public infrastructure.

Once again, the unincorporated area of Reston is powerless against the bureaucrats at the county, state and federal level who can grant or deny services to us whenever they so choose.


Diane Blust
Reston

To sign the "Save Our Buses" petition, click here.