Reston: Let there be (some) light

So the mighty RA won the battle against all the RVs and boats and trailers and whatnot, and saw that it was Good. Now Reston is turning its attention to the another horrible scourge: the dark.

“People say Reston is dark, which is a good thing in some respects and not in others,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Catherine Hudgins said at the meeting.

Whoa -- too much information! Could someone break this down for me?

“Most lights are currently in the northern end of Reston,” added Milton Matthews, CEO of the Reston Association. “The southern community has very few lights – Glade Drive, for example, is very dark."

Something tells us these folks would probably agree.

Anyhoo! No worries about that, because apparently Reston will soon be bathed by lighting so awesome and powerful, it'll be visible from outer space (or at least Dranesville).

On May 5, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to more than triple the limit of streetlights in the Reston project from 76 to 350.

An original task force was created in 1983, which five years later led to the “Reston Streetlight Demonstration Project,” a pilot program that Hudgins last week said “has probably outlasted its time.” Last Thursday, Hudgins hosted a community meeting on outdoor lighting to gain direction from her constituents for the placement of additional outdoor lighting in Reston, including areas that have developed since the project's implementation in 1988.

Awesome! A community meeting! That'll bring out the reasoned discourse of sensible community members!

“It just isn't true,” boomed Reston resident Chris Walker, a member of the International Dark Sky Association. “Reston has the worst of all possible policies and they are not working,” he said as he stood up at the meeting.

Okay... well, maybe it'll bring up some true believers in the Reston ethos:

“We appreciate the trees and the woods and the spirit of Reston,” answered Sarah Fershee of the Marco Cluster off Glade Drive. “But there is lots of movement at night by people who do not live in our cluster. We are concerned for our safety.”

What? Why worry?