Flashbacks:
The RNGC Caddyshackpocalypse
Bollards!Did you all have a good Thanksgiving? Maybe
News and notes from Reston (tm).
Monday, November 26, 2012
On the YouTubes: A Very Caddyshackpocalypse Thanksgiving
Did you all have a good Thanksgiving? Maybe
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sorry he's going to lose his golf course view, but that's not the worst thing that's happening around Reston. I guess, the "planners" of the "number one planned community in America" never envisioned that an insurance company would cash in on a long-term investment when the dollar signs started flashing before their eyes. Sorry, but that's what they do -- that's what they are in business for.
ReplyDeleteToo late now, and I honestly don't know what RR thinks that they are going to be able to do about it -- lobby to make it a National Park? But I guess that's what lawyers are for.
It's not too late. Tysons citizens just had a victory - see Tom Jackman's article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/fairfax-board-takes-big-step-in-removing-planned-road-through-tysons-corners-last-green-space/2012/11/27/1d3c51b0-3815-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_blog.html?hpid=z6
DeleteJust saving that little parcel for later. Probably the only thing saving it for now is the fact that it is in a flood plain. Don't worry, they WILL be back.
DeleteJohn, will you rent out your rear deck to me next summer so I can see those sunsets you're talking about. I don't have a fairway view of the su nset where I live in Reston. I am not one of the Fortunate Few with Fairway Views.I am also not a NIMBY, and I am willing to accept a quality residential development project. You should be working toward indentifying the proffers of infrastructure improvememnts and amenities that would inevitably accompany such a project.
ReplyDeleteBut you might get some new neighbors, that you might actually like, John! Your charming family would not be contaminated by newcomers, you know, and that kind of change is also a good change. And you just might be able to still see those sunsets, even with some new neighbors. Stop being a NIMBY.
@Anon, stop being a shill for development.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:14
ReplyDeleteAll the families who live on the golf course will see significant devaluation of their property values if the open space is filled with medium to high density residential redevelopment.
I guess that didn't dawn on you before you ran your mouth. But then you wouldn't care anyway: it's not your backyard.
I've seen a significant devaluation of my property values over the past 10 years. I also have a three-legged dog, a one-eyed cat and a bird with two beaks.
DeleteWhat proffers of infrastructure improvements and amenities? Developers will throw up their tenements without proffering squat.
ReplyDeleteWe the taxpayers will be stuck with infrastructure. Well, not even our taxes. They go to Richmond, never to return. I guess it'll take a special tax district to support 800 more Toyotas. Or maybe something creative like converting Reston Parkway into a toll road.
Lord, I hope I'm not being prophetic!
As sorry as I am to say it, The Convict's Posse is moving out. We've had enough of this foolishness, bewteen doubling the size of Reston, converting the GC to another concrete nightmare and the ever increasing DTR tolls. It's time to search for greener pastures, like maybe Bumbleton.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone. The herd and I are also looking to move -- perhaps Hooterville.
DeleteMake that three. The Peasant admits that at times he also thinks about hitching up the ox cart and decamping for someplace else as Bob Simon's once promising vision of a planned community turns into yet another overbuilt, over-congested nightmare.
DeletePinkman's self-serving Thanksgiving video aside, he probably is just the kind of person who could use some new neigbors. So sorry that his personal Field of Dreams might get some new occupants. Speculative bourgeosie concerns of dimished property values aside ( there is no constitutional right to either scenic backyards or rising home values), Rescue Reston's pseudo-liberalism and fake environmentalism are compleltly self-serving.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
DeleteI confess to being completely baffled by the overwhelmingly negative response to Rescue Reston. They're NIMBYs, to be sure, but this is a pretty egregious case of development that should give everyone pause, less'n you're a developer or hoping one will knock on your door with a big smile and a bigger check.
ReplyDeleteNot a sermon, just a thought.
I'm baffled to think that Restonites sat around for 40+ years convincing themselves that something like this could never happen. The time to do something about it was 40 years ago. Without incorporation, Reston has always been, and will continue to be, at the mercy of the growth-mongers of Fairfax County Government. The chances of incorporation now -- 0%.
DeleteA huge parcel of land, just a stones-throw from a new Metro station, is a developers dream. And YOUR Supervisor is 110% behind big-time development.
This is private property. I am (thank God)not a lawyer, but I don't think there is anything illegal involved in selling it. If you know better, please enlighten me, and I will be the first to admit that I am wrong.
I think the negative reaction to "Rescue Reston" is that it seems to be more along the lines of "Rescue MY backyard view". There are plenty of people around who are losing more that their view to new development -- any concern for them?
Is it possible that the original concepts behind New Towns such as Reston or Columbis are simply outdated and no longer relevant? Both have succumbed to traditional suburban-type development, and both are looking at significant in-fill development proposals and increased commercial and residential density. The so-called "planned community" has long given way to Fair Lakes-type of large area development. Heck, just about everyone calls themselves a Planned Commmunity these days. The term has lost much of its meaning and has come to mean "just another "burb".
DeleteWatch out for the eventual revelopment of Reston's other golf course. Should there be no genuine business reason to continue operations, it shall be ripe for large scale commercial and resdiential projects.
If there is any doubt about what Fairfax County has in mind for Reston in the next 15 years, here is the current "master plan" for 2030.
Deletewww.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/projects/reston/documents_reference/11-13-2012_scenario_g_map_dev_jobs-housing.pdf
Anon 9:04--
ReplyDeleteIf your next door neighbor was planning a redevelopment scheme that would reduce the value of your home by 1/3, I suspect you would be making videos, hiring lawyers, collecting signatures on a petition, no?
Any diminuation of property valuations is purely speculative at this point.
DeleteMake all the videos you want, hire all the lawyers you want, submit those petitions, just don't sanctimoniusly insist that you are doing it for the good of all Reston. Some of us simply do not believe you.
"Any diminution of property valuations is purely speculative at this point."
DeleteYeah, that's why so many real estate ads say "With sweeping views of mid-rise condo developments and parking lots."
Get real. And be sure to add posting to this blog to the billable hours you're charging Northwestern and Lerner.
Not Anti-Rescue, but--
ReplyDeleteRescue Reston's tone is hardly sanctimonious. I recall similar backlash as yours and others in this thread at the time the park at Brown's Chapel was on the table and threatened with redevelopment. The people who lived in the Lake Newport area were branded "Republicans" and sneered at because it was assumed they had money.
Now, as then, it's the name calling and sneering I find offensive.
You think you and your neighborhood are safe from redevelopment? You think the county can't change the zoning in a way that impacts your property values?
Stay tuned. The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force will be turning its attention to rezoning the residential areas in Reston after the New Year.
Redeveloping the golf courses is only a small part of what the county intends for Reston. Our planned community is in their way. Our open space is in their way.
People who care about Reston should go sign the petition on the RescueReston.org website. It's not about Pinkman's view off his balcony. It's about our future as a planned community. Rescue Reston has pledged to protect all of Reston's open space.
Even though Brown's Chapel had some benefits in terms of additional rec facilities for the rest of Reston, it was a good thing it failed -- and not just for the Lake Newporters backing up to the park.
DeleteThe golf course is even worse -- if it's redeveloped, there's no public benefit to anyone except Northwestern Mutual and the developers, and things get worse for the rest of us in terms of traffic, etc., even if our homes don't back to open space.
Reston was planned with open space in mind. It needs to be preserved.
Where are they going to put the roads for these developments? All the residents of these new towers won't be walking to the new metro, they'll be driving their cars onto Sunrise Valley, Glade, Soapstone and ??
ReplyDeleteThis idea is crazy.
And the developer's could care the less, PUPP. It's not about the community; it's about their bottom line. After all, it's not as if they are going to have to live there.
DeleteThere are so many "Anonymous" postings here, it is hard to know who is who, and who means what!
ReplyDeleteI don't have sunset view from my back yard, either. I do think that John's latest video lays it on a little thick. But he is a self-described activist, and that is what activists do. (sigh)
I have no idea whether Rescue Reston will ultimately succeed. But I do not have a dog in this fight, and I frankly do not care whether one, or both golf courses eventually are redeveloped.
I must assume, however, that when the business rationale for operating either of the Reston golf courses end, change will come. The county's so-called master plan, whatever its faults, merely anticipates that change, but such plans are not set in stone, they exist to be debated and reworked as time and circumstances require. If ppl are unhappy with those plans, we may assume that both the political process and planning process have failed in some important respects.