Flashbacks:
The RNGC Caddyshackpocalypse
Bollards!
Nonthreatening, Not Quite Exurban Neighborhoods Your Insurance Salesman Might Live In Places to Live, rounding out the top 10... at #10. The last time our favorite earth-toned community made the list, back in ought-twelve, we were at #7. If only Kasey Kasem's dulcet tones were still with us to explain why we've fallen three notches. We have "woodsy villages," after all!
Reston was the first modern planned community in the country, and the vision of its founder (who still lives there) has held up beautifully. The city is made up of five woodsy “villages,” which encompass a range of lakes, pools, shopping areas, golf courses, and more. Fifty-five miles of paths wind through these communities, ensuring that most homes are within a half-mile walk of a village center. The city’s de facto downtown is the lively if generic Reston Town Center mall, which has the usual assortment of shops and eateries, plus a pavilion that hosts concerts and, in winter, ice-skating. The headquarters of ComScore and Rolls-Royce North America are also located in Town Center, along with a Google office. Traffic in the area can be brutal, but things are looking up for folks who don’t work in town: An extension of the D.C. Metro opened in July, and it whisks Restonians to the center of Washington in a speedy 40 minutes.And your car can then whisk you the mile and a half from the Metro station to North Reston in another 40 minutes. Fortunately, the photo accompanying Money's writeup suggests another speedy transportation option:
Even though Reston was bested -- again! -- by our Satanic Maryland doppelganger, Columbia (ranked #6), we knocked Vienna -- which usurped Reston's place last year -- out of the Top 10. SUCK IT, chumps -- your all-brown business district is no match for our rainbow palette of earth tones!
And there's more good news, at least for those of us awash in that sweeeeeeeeet web logging "cheddar," as the kids haven't said probably since 1974: #10 might be good enough for most of us, but if you're rich and unattached, we're actually five better. That's right, Reston is the fifth-best place for the affluent and single (which apparently includes 31 percent of us):
Because the city was designed around its five residential “villages,” it doesn’t have a traditional downtown, but that’s not so say that there’s nowhere for singles to mingle. Reston Town Center is the city’s main gathering spot, and offers socializing opportunities ranging from evening painting classes and classic film screenings to running workshops and wine tastings. Lake Anne Plaza is another popular spot for shopping, snacking or just hanging out by the lake enjoying the free Wi-Fi.By way of illustration, Money used this photo to illustrate the swinging singles scene:
MY GOD. It's like a photo of Tinder come to life. WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN
Isn't EVERYTHING twice as good if you're rich and single?
ReplyDelete"Lake Anne Plaza is another popular spot ..."
ReplyDelete...for businesses to go and die, maybe.
I stopped reading after Rest on is made up...
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show you that you can't trust anything you read in Money Magazine.
ReplyDeleteYes, but as we lose at Lake Anne, no doubt we'll make up in Hunter's Woods. Interesting things afoot: yet another lease not renewed in the section nearest to RCC. Money mag neglected to mention the loss of affordable frozen treats.
ReplyDeleteThe timeline starts (or resets) with Edens, a new Hunter's Woods Village Center property owner in the recent past, then plenty of vacancies in that section with no interest to renew leases, and a "phase 2" plan specifically geared to green-light redevelopment ..perhaps it is all coincidental, but I think the best thing to do is follow the donation money to our FfxCo leaders. And, of course, do try to look surprised when Ledo's gets pushed out and the owner breaks ground on a mixed retail-residential mauvescraper. Or we might simply get another container store. Containers are way cool.
Was Dairy Queen a better developer overreach doomsday clock than Macaroni Grill? As the battle now extends from RTC to every village center, I believe the answer is yes.
All this would suggest that I am against development here. Not so. But I would like some transparency, especially if the authorities and the developers have reached "understandings" over dinner meetings. And to tie this posting back to the topic at hand, however loosely, I suggest that Money magazine has done well to pick us as a fine place for both families and well-to-do cougars, but we are increasingly at risk of wrecking it all.
Guess South Reston wasn't included in the assessment.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of our friend the paddle boarder/fisherman should be accompanied by a disclaimer: "Don't fall in because swimming in Reston lakes is strictly forbidden."
ReplyDeleteYou can swim in less uptight Lake Anne.
DeleteMaybe, Anon. But who, in their right mind, would want to?
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