This and That: A Random Stagger Through Reston News

The awesome Metro Silver Line, which will bring track fires, development and magical unicorns to Reston, is in trouble with the airports authority for overcharging for rail cars.

Officials building a subway line to Dulles International Airport say Metro is overcharging them for new rail cars, a budget-busting cost that they predict could delay the opening of the extension and force higher fees for Dulles Toll Road commuters.

Unless Metro agrees to eliminate a $75 million increase on 64 rail cars it is preparing to buy for the new Silver Line, the regional airports authority won't agree to the deal, the officials said.

To be fair, the airports authority need the money for their awesome Particleboard Beltway.

New RA President Kathleen Driscoll McKee has written her first web log.

I find myself turning to Robert Simon’s “Seven Goals for Reston” for guidance. After all, these are the foundation for our community and have served us well for going on 46 years. If you take a look at the second and third goals, they speak to the importance of being part of a community and the preservation of the dignity of each individual.

Don’t you believe maintaining those ideals are extremely important? I know I do, especially in our community of 62,000 people, where schedules overwhelm and information moves at the speed of a heartbeat. It is often easy for any of us to think only of our own “to do” list.

So, how do we as a board and a community accomplish those ideals?

I believe we have to be willing to offer and expect from one another an open exchange of ideas, thoughtful discussion, civil debate, mutual respect, personal accountability and an active concern for making our community successful for at least another five decades.

The current Fairfax County budget proposal could shut down an 24-hour emergency mental health services and an adult day mental health program in Reston. though several supervisors were planning to restore funding for at least the emergency programs.

The annual Best of Reston event raised $295,000 for Interfaith. Winners included:

Wetlands Studies and Solutions Inc., represented by its president Michael Rolband; Holly Norris, director of environmental services Reston Hospital; Laurel Learning Center volunteer Emily Ward; Dr. Thomas Schuler and the Virginia Spine Institute; the Sheraton Reston and Westin Reston Heights hotels, represented by general manager Sami Zeitoun; the Reston Historic Trust, represented by Lynn Lilienthal and Vicky Wingert; and Imam Mohammed Magid, of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, and Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk, of the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation. Also honored were Fairfax County 2009 First Responder Officers of the Year, Police Officer Eric R. Glueckert and Firemen Ronald A. McNew and Craig S. Furneisen Jr.

Well-known civic activist Charles "Chuck" Veatch, a resident of Reston since 1968 and former Best of Reston honoree, was presented with the second Robert E. Simon Lifetime Achievement Award, which is announced at the gala.

Good on them.

Bob Simon: Restaurant reviewer.

Fairfax finally managed to convict one of the three people arrested for a series of jewelry burglaries last summer.

You read it here first a week ago, but here's more info for the medically inclined: Reston Hospital is expanding.

An Eagle scout was named the 2009 Reston Association Volunteer of the Year.

In the summer of 2009 Ian Rappaport, the winner of the Reston Association 2009 Volunteer of the Year Award donated 180 hours of free labor to the environmental resource field crew.

Then, to earn his Eagle Scout badge, Rappaport decided to help the Reston Association environmental staff again. This time, the project was to restore a natural surface trail, which is widely used by commuters, dog walkers and residents in the Glade Stream Valley. Three other Boy Scouts working on their Eagle Scout projects were nominated for the award — Daniel Albamonte, Stephen Emerick and Allen Millman.

Accents by Design and The Thai Tennis Organization in America won the RA's corporate business sponsor award.

Talk about bad luck.

Just weeks after Case Design and Remodeling completed Elizabeth McBride's dream kitchen, a freak electrical fire burned it and the rest of her Reston home to the ground.

"One of my neighbors said the house went up in flames like paper," said McBride, who was away on vacation with her family at the time.
Case kitchen designer April Underwood was horrified and called McBride to offer condolences. "She had designed a fabulous kitchen," McBride said. "I asked her if she could replicate it."

Blending elements of French Country with modern touches, such as chrome and stainless steel fixtures and appliances, Underwood re-created McBride's beloved kitchen -- adding in a few extras to give it timeless appeal.

Tragic. The French Country style, we mean.