Reston Citizen

Republican leadership throughout America, from the obstructionist general assembly in Richmond, to the stubbornness of President Bush has created a polarized climate. Cahterine Hudgins, a Democrat on the other hand has presented a well managed form of leadership. She listens to the community’s concerns and has Reston’s best interests in mind.

After Bob Dix, the former supervisor for the Hunter Mill district, lost in an election to Hudgins, she reigned in development as promised, and has continued to control it. She has also stuck by the master plan of Reston, which is still endorsed by Restons founder, Robert Simon.

Marie Huhtala on the other hand proposes a halt to Reston’s planned residential growth, which would create a worker/resident imbalance and as seen in Tysons Corner creates horrible traffic. Huhtala has also shown some rough spots, claiming that South Lakes was overcrowded (it is actually 800 students short of capacity), and claimed this due to “unbridled development.”

Huhtala also totes her experience with the State Department, but as shown by the recent Blackwater Controversy, the Department is anything but diplomatic. Meanwhile Hudgins was a community servant long before she ran for political office. Hudgins has also represented the homeless, the working poor, and those with disabilities by various initiatives on the County Board.

A politician that bows to the demands of every moment and citizen creates an unstable government. But a politician must also listen to the needs of their constituents, and Caterhine Hudgins has done a good job of both.

Stay with The Reston Citizen, as we will update you on the results of the Virginia and Reston/Hunter Mill elections.

Gary Baise was the first EPA Chief of Staff. He has worked on many cases concerning the environment. And now he (a Republican) is running for Fairfax County chairman in a heavily Democratic jurisdiction. Most of his views are anti-liberal, from his stance that the County needs an “Ironclad immigration lock-down,” to his views that “Education spending should be second or third priority.”

But the one issue he “agrees” with Democrats on is the environment. This may come as a shock, but in reality he’s toting the party line. The GOP views the EPA’s goal as “Restoring the balance between the environment and America.” By that they mean allowing oil drilling from the Everglades to Alaskan wildlife preserves, allowing companies to use dangerous pesticides, and a myriad of other offenses.
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Sprint Nextel has a sprawling complex of property, from Reston Parkway to Fairfax County Parkway. But I want to concentrate on the core part of their property, the section bordering Reston Parkway and the Dulles Toll Road.

This part of the corridor is ripe for development. Firstly has wide open space, and any new development would not result in lost of open space except for the ugly and sprawling surface parking. The Reston Parkway metro stop will be right across from them, and would be great spot for a Reston Town Center like development to occur. There aren’t many singe family homes that might feel disturbed either. In other words it is perfect.

But Sprint appears to continue building it’s ugly and inefficient 5 story office buildings. They could be building ten story office and residential buildings with ground level retail, and the ground retail aspect would work well as the land is relatively flat there. But even if Sprint did not follow the Fairfax Counties newly implemented Transit Oriented Development (building walkable communities near transit stations) standards, there still is hope. Older and even uglier one and two story buildings have been demolished on their property.

This is also an important issue county wide. With property already seeing increases around proposed metro stations, many developers have started building in this prime real estate. For instance the property near the Reston International Center has recently gone more dense and walkable. But it seems the new buildings will lack ground level retail (think Reston Town Center, or Lake Anne). The county needs to implement special areas that not only encourage, but require developers to follow TOD standards.

Do you think Sprint should diversify development on it’s property? Or should it remain of surface parking lots and copy and paste architecture?

I use to support Reston becoming a town to further define it’s since of place. But then other pros and cons crossed my mind.

Many of the large companies headquarters in Reston currently do not contribute to any road maintenance, because they are not taxed. As a town Reston could tax them. We could also get rid of the autocratic Reston Association, although that would prove difficult as the founding charter for the organization prohibits them from selling or donating their land. Lastly it would create a since of place and make sure Reston residents didn’t get cheated by things such as the Small District 5 boundary issue.

But on the other hand I wonder how much a town council and mayor would continue Reston’s goals. For instance Reston was supposed to have a mix of housing prices, which it does, but would a council of an affluent town such as Reston block future affordable housing? Would they continue to keep Reston growing, and not bow to the wishes of every NIMBY? What would taxes/services be like?

Of course if Robert Simon were mayor then perhaps some aspects of Reston that have never been fully realized would be implemented.