Display Boards at Reston Master Plan, Phase 2, Open House, June 6, 2014

   Display Boards from the Reston Master Plan, Phase 2, Open House

ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT TO VOTE IN THE RCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION!

The clock is ticking; now is your chance to vote in the RCA elections!  Don't delay; the polls close Sunday, June 22 at midnight.

The following seats are up for election: At-Large, North Point, Lake Anne/Town Center/Tall Oaks, South Lakes, and Hunters Woods/Dogwood. Each seat carries a three-year term. Anyone who (a) is 16 years or older and (b) lives anywhere in Reston (defined as Reston Small Tax District #5) is eligible to vote.

To read RCA President Colin Mills' explanation of how and why to vote, click here.

To learn how to vote, view the eligibility requirements, learn about the candidates, or to cast your ballot, click the link in the sidebar to the left, or the one below:

Click Here to VOTE

Something different: On word that the Silver Line may be coming . . .

At some point, you just have to let it go!

"Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!"

Millennials consider leaving Washington as the city becomes more costly, Washington Post, June 16, 2014

WaPo reporter Robert Samuels writes:

The young couple had mastered the morning choreography of their tiny Columbia Heights kitchen. John Van Zandt squeezed into one corner and toasted an English muffin. In another, his wife, Florencia Fuensalida, brewed coffee.

For years, renting a one-bedroom near bars and bus routes was a suitable trade-off for the wonders of the new Washington. But Van Zandt is 35 now; Fuensalida is 31. And kitchen space seemed a little tighter each day Fuensalida’s baby bump grew.

Maneuvering past the fridge, Fuensalida repeated a tired refrain: “We’re going to need a bigger place.” But where?

They were once a part of the free-spending group of young people who jolted Washington’s economy. Now older and with more financial strains, they are trying to find a new place in it.

Amid the talk of young newcomers and their fondness for social leagues and artisanal-coffee shops, another reality exists: Many are struggling to keep pace with the city’s rising cost of housing. And as new millennials move into the District, older members of that generation — loosely defined as ranging from 18 to 34 years old — are heading out.

There you have it:  The reality  of high rents and babies will drive the younger generation (now "Millennials') out of pint-sized apartments and condos in the city and close-in suburbs (such as Arlington) and into the suburbs---places like Reston--or maybe beyond.  And it's not just about the added living space at a lower price, it's about schools and a hundred other advantages the suburbs offer for growing families. 

For more than four years, Reston resident members of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force tried to make that point, but the developer-dominated task force would not listen and so they are now allowed to build more 20,000-plus small apartments and condos around Reston's Metro stations. It was all about housing the Millenials who, it turns out, are leaving their high-priced mini-abodes!

Yet the Reston developers are not planning on inexpensive units (except for the mandated share of workforce housing units).  Just look at rental and condo prices in Reston Town Center.  It's housing for six-figure incomes or better. 

To the extent these singles and couples work in the District, they will also have to add to their monthly tab a huge transit cost that will only grow as WMATA faces more than $20 BILLION in still unfunded investments in the coming decades.

Does this make sense???

Click here for the rest of the WaPo article. 

RCA Reston 2020 Statement on Reston RECenter Proposal at RCC Annual Hearing, June 16, 2014

   Reston 2020 Statement on Proposed Recreation Center at the RCC 2014 Public Hearing--FINAL--print

Testimony to the FCPL Board of Trustees, John Hanley, June 11, 2014

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My name is John Hanley and I live in South Reston.

Looking at the Ad Hoc Communications and Evaluation Committee, two over-arching elements stand out.

The first element is money. That the Fairfax County Library System staff is dedicated to providing the best services they can goes without saying. They all work extremely hard. But good people cannot do a good job without good resources. Our system presently ranks only 14^th out of 19 systems in the DC metro area, according to the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service. Other ratings draw similar conclusions. So I believe that a prime objective of your Committee should be to request as a priority to the Board of Supervisors that the Library budget be brought back to the levels of several years previously, over a five year period.

The second element is trust. A huge amount of trust in the library has been squandered over the last year or more. Among all stakeholders, there is anxiety and incomprehension about where the system is going and why the budget keeps getting cut year after year. You trustees need to work to regain that trust.

Four suggestions on how to start to bring this about.

1. Contract with a professional entity to carry out the proposed survey, independently of the library administration.  

2. Appoint two more Trustees to the Committee, to ensure that full information is always available for public review and discussion by all stakeholders.

3. Appoint at least three members of the public to the Committee. They are the prime constituents that you represent. 

4. Appoint at least three retired library professionals to the Committee.

Once you take actions like these, you will immediately re-engender just the feelings of trust and confidence that I fear you have recently lost. Everyone involved in the activities, from administrators to users and from staff to you yourselves will benefit from this open, cooperative approach. Confidence and enthusiasm will be re-established.

Don’t forget what you are. Trustees. Please live up to the obligation that this title implies.

John Hanley is a member of the RCA Board of Directors and the Coordinating Committee of RCA's Reston 2020 Committee.  

Column: Library Board and Masters Need to Rebuild Citizen Trust, John Lovaas, Reston Connection, June 11, 2014

. . . last fall the Supervisors awoke and put the Beta plan on hold, and directed the Library Board to plan a future direction for our libraries based on needs of and input from stakeholders. As part of this process, a public meeting was convened on June 3 by the Library Board’s Committee on Communication and Evaluation. It drew an overflow crowd of stakeholders. It did not go well.

The focus of the Library Administration was how to construct and carry out a broad survey of the community. One official mused about the merits of hiring a consultant to design and execute the survey, or having a joint effort of consultant and Library Administration staff, or just having the staff do it since funds are scarce. There was no mention of including users, stakeholders in survey design or execution. Nor was there a clear concept of what data was needed.

One could sense seething in the audience. When stakeholders finally were given the opportunity to speak, the message was clear. To rebuild the trust lost by the Beta experience, stakeholders wanted to be at the table from now on through survey design, implementation, data analysis and interpretation. . . .

Click here for the rest of this important commentary on our public libraries.