Flashbacks:
The RNGC Caddyshackpocalypse
Bollards!
RTC Partnership, LLC has filed a Planned Residential Community (PRC) Plan to remove the current office building known as the “Town Center Office Building” at 1760 Reston Parkway, and redevelop a 23 story, Class A mixed use office and retail building. The building will consist of approximately 413,700 square feet of office uses and approximately 5,200 square feet retail and restaurant use, with a Floor Area Ratio of 4.08.The above-ground component of that "structured parking" will include 1,084 spaces hidden behind that "context sensitive facade treatment," plus another 24 surface spaces. Gone is the earlier reference to a "green roof top park," although the building would be built to LEED Silver specs.
Parking for the proposed building will feature both below and above grade parking spaces. The above ground portion of the parking garage will sit atop retail uses and will be screened with a context sensitive façade treatment that will be harmoniously [sic] in the office structure.
The project sits in the middle of -- but remains separate from -- the much larger, Macaroni Grill-destroying Spectrum redevelopment project, which is itself making its way through the approval process. Approval to redevelop this particular building with no height restrictions was given all the way back in 1978, when the tallest structure in Reston was still the International Center across the Toll Road. Hopefully planners will ensure both projects mesh nicely with each other, so this 23-story building doesn't stick out like a sore thumb -- or another, less fortunate digit.
Hmmm... what the hell happened here that all tall buildings had to be done in the North? What happened to the South? Are we close to a Reston Civil War?
ReplyDeleteConsider yourself lucky that it's an office and retail tower and not some Cabrini Muave style housing complex that they usually reserve for The Gulag.
ReplyDelete"Approval to redevelop this particular building with no height restrictions was given all the way back in 1978"
ReplyDeleteMight that have been back in the days when developers bought their zoning from the county supervisors?
Anon 9:22 - "Back in the days?" Crossing supervisors' palms with silver has stopped?
ReplyDeleteI for one am going to write-in Rod Koozmin against our unopposed supervisor.
Vote for Rod!
Scubadiver:
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was thinking of doing the same thing about writing in Rod, especially since he didn't make it onto the RCC board.
So Rod Koozmin, if by some chance, you did get more votes than Hudgins, would you accept the job? I hear she gets $85,000 a year and the job comes with lots of perks. For one, it's only a part time job. You have Goldie and a full staff to do all the work.
ReplyDeleteAt the last election for Hunter Mill supervisor, Spike Williams and Marie Huhtala got more votes than Hudgins. Lots of folks would like to vote for someone besides Hudgins. I think you might have a shot as a write-in candidate.
So what is your legal name so I know what to put on the ballot?
Anon 10:43pm
ReplyDeleteI call bullshit.
Hudgins got 13,451 votes
Huhtala got 5,259 votes
Williams got 3,856
Hudgins got 4,336 more votes than the other two combined, or roughly a 59% to 41% win. It was a landslide.
If Hudgins is so unpopular, then why is she running unopposed?
Let's see how wildly popular Hudgins is when people find out just how many neighborhoods she wants to redevelop in order to urbanize Reston.
ReplyDeleteThe Community Task Force meeting November 16, 2011 will be at 7 pm South Lakes High School Cafeteria to discuss plans for redeveloping the village centers and the residential areas.
One could get very cynical that this meeting comes after the election.
One could get anonymously very cynical. One could rail against change anonymously. One could complain anonymously about the road diets of Lawyers and Soapstone. One could anonymously blame every problem with Metro on Hudgins. One could anonymously claim all sorts of BS about the urbanization of the neighborhoods of Reston. Or one could grow a pair and actually run against Hudgins. But that would require one to give up their anonymity. No one did. No one actually thought they could win against her, because if they did, they would have run. No amount of whining and crying will change that. She is in for four more years. Because no one ran against her. She is so wildly unpopular, no one stepped up. Hudgins. Unopposed. The Metro is coming. Everyone knows. Hudgins is unopposed. Task Force meetings have been going on and on. Reston is going to change. Hudgins is so wildly unpopular, say it with me now, she is unopposed.
ReplyDeleteOkay anonymous 6:40:
ReplyDeleteHudgins run unopposed.
Reston is the poorer for it.
Democracy does not function without dialogue.
You know, Assnonymous, I seriously considered running against her. But then I realized that, while the job listing is supposed to be part-time, it pretty much is a full-time job. So, I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, giving up a little less than $40k/year of salary just to keep Reston from suffering from 4 more years of Hudgins wasn't necessarily the best use of my time.
ReplyDeleteBut, then, like you are probably foolish enough to believe that doubling the density of Reston is going to somehow improve the quality of life around here.
Convict called me Assnonymous! He is so very clever. That is so much better use of his time then putting his money where his mouth is and actually doing something, like putting his ass on the line and running for office. No, much, much better to put assnonymous posts complaining about everything. Whine, whine, whine. What an assnonymous.
ReplyDeletep.s. If doubling the density of Reston drives you out, then that would be a huge improvement to the quality of life in Reston.
A vote for Hudgins is a vote for more section 8 housing at the taxpayer dime. Haven't you seen it? What's next for her? Buy all big condo complexes in Reston?
ReplyDeleteCertainly, Assnon, because America has far too many suburbs and not enough urbs, right? But, in the end, your post is just an attack on me and my writing style while not addressing the content of my post. I suppose that, from your peabrained point of view, it's better to smear the messenger than to refute the message.
ReplyDeleteThe only redeeming part of Hudgins is that she's not a Teabagger. (Well, at least not politically, anyways.)
*Shakes Fist in the Air*
ReplyDeleteHUUUUUUUDGIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!!!!
Ha! Convict you are nothing if not predictable. Smear the messenger? What a hypocrite you are. To use your words, you have a peabrained point of view. But thanks for the moniker.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed you strongly tend to be a last word type of poster, as if you win by being the last poster. I dare you to prove me wrong by not posting a response. I doubt you will be able to because you are nothing if not predictable.
Reston is expected to double in population over the next 40 years. We went from 0 to mid 60k over the last 47 years. The forecast growth is a continuation of a long period of growth. Reston has never been static and has always been growing and changing. Using your (non) logic, Reston would have stopped changing the day it was founded.
But this is off my topic, which is to poke holes in the idea that Hudgins is wildly unpopular. Is there any other unopposed incumbent in the upcoming election? No one has stepped up because Hudgins is popular. You can't refute that message because Hudgins is running unopposed. If anyone is truly concerned that democracy is suffering from a lack of dialogue, then they would have stepped up.
Everyone knows about section 8 housing, it is spread throughout Reston. And still Hudgins runs unopposed. The only conclusion? The majority of the electorate of the Hunter Mill District supports it.
Really, Assnon. What does it matter whether I'm a first word or last word kind of guy? The way you have that set up, I can't win whether or not I reply. But what the heck. I don't need you to control whether or not I post or the frequency with which I post. So, in the end, this is just irrelevant and, more precisely, it is a red herring that you've thrown out there.
ReplyDeleteFrom where I'm sitting, it's really irrelevant how long it took us to get to 60K. It doesn't matter whether it's been 10 years or 47. And this is just another red herring from your side.
In fact, I'm not even going to dispute the inevitability of change. Change is going to happen. You, however, mistakenly assume that we are helpless to mold or even prevent certain kinds of change. We may not have a whole lot of say in the way our town changes -- that's mostly in the hands of the county and the developers. You treat the arrival of 60K more as inevitable. Maybe it will happen and maybe it won't. The issue that you and people like you fail to address is whether doubling the population of Reston is a good thing or a bad thing. From where I'm sitting -- and from where several other people are sitting -- it's a bad thing. But as you say yourself, this is off-topic.
So, let's get back on-topic. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that just because nobody is running against Hudgins that this somehow makes her popular. Just from reading a couple of the blogs, there's some very real and vocal dissent about her as a politician.
But, you're right that this level of dissent has not risen to the level where somebody is prepared to do something about it. That could be for any one of a number of reasons. Maybe there's nobody more competent than she is who's willing to take on the job. Maybe people who disagree with her aren't willing to go to the hassle of fighting an incumbent. Maybe people just don't see running for BoS as an effective use of their time. Maybe people are just apathetic. (If you doubt that last statement, just check out the poll turnout statistics.)
So, if you're take away from an unopposed campaign is that Hudgins is wildly popular, then maybe you should take a second look a the situation. Or maybe you're a Hudgins ideologue who can't see anything other than Hudgins as a Gawdess. In the Charlie Sheen sense of the word, that is.
Anon 8:13:
ReplyDeleteI never said Hudgins was wildly unpopular. I said I doubted she would be wildly popular if most of the people in Reston knew the county's intentions for Reston.
This document, the prework raw data, is from a Reston Association board meeting June 2010. Here is the link:
http://www.reston.org/LinkClick.aspx?qenc=ShZJAGgkmIoOdLqHhjWi7Zddp%2FdgqkbWWHmFIzRiO5n0QRYgNreSyYre6NfTGwwBnXE%2BUhshfHg%3D&fqenc=HzT9ACzZbNs%3D
This meeting is about RAs response to redevelopment. The people speaking are not identified, but it gives you an idea of what kinds of things are being considered by the RA board.
This is from Page 4 and addresses your statement that redevelopment of neighborhoods is BS: "This proposed staff would help identify those areas that should be zoned in such a way as to be preserved. Other neighborhoods not included in the preservation list may wish to be redeveloped at some point."
All Reston neighborhoods are covered under the Deed of Dedication of Reston, not just those that find themselves included in a “preservation list.” The responsibility of the RA board to the homeowners is very clearly spelled out in the governing documents.
I do occasionally get complaints from people who know me in Reston. My lack of testicular appendages is not what they complain about. Some day if you choose to come out, you could say it to my face again and then you would get to know me much better.
Convict: Last word? Ha! BTW, I never said Hudgins was wildly popular, just that she won by a landslide in the last election and she is, say it with me, unopposed in this one (and popular). Also, regarding your point about blogs: anonymous postings on web sites carry very little real weight. Seriously, do you think anyone actually cares what you or I or anybody else writes on this filthy web blog? And even if they do, so what? It doesn't actually accomplish anything. I do it for the fun of poking holes in the logic of posts of bloviating know it alls. Do you do it because you really think posting "No growth is smart growth" over and over again does any good at all in stopping growth or in controlling growth in a manner that you approve of? You are sadly mistaken if you do. There has to be follow through into the political arena for it to be meaningful. And Hudgins is unopposed.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:43pm: You seem to be saying that redevelopment/additional density and urbanization are the same thing. I don't agree that it has to be, nor do I think that the people of Reston will support the urbanization of the neighborhoods. The planned redevelopment of Fairway, even with all its problems, is not urbanization. Nor was the redevelopment of Hunters Woods Shopping Center. There is certainly an argument to be made about whether or not either of those can be considered an improvement on what is/was there, but neither is urban.
Your last paragraph I don't understand at all, since you are posting anonymously. How could I say it to your face when I don't know who you are? Did you mean it to be threatening? Spell it out clearly if you are threatening me because I have a great response, but don't want to waste it if I am misinterpreting the post. Although it does beg the question, since your lack of balls is not what people complain about, what is? And, if your lack of balls is not a problem, why didn't you run against Hudgins? As I have said repeatedly, if someone, anyone, honestly thought they had a chance, they would have run against her. It seems to me that even if you don't think you had a chance, if you are really convinced you are right, why wouldn't you run just to have some control of the conversation about the future of Reston? You know, bully pulpit and all. Of course, the crushing defeat on election day would be humiliating. That is why you or anyone need the balls to run for any office: to put oneself at risk of a humiliating public loss. That takes balls. And Hudgins is unopposed.