Meet the New Boss: RA Hires CEO, Introduces Him Via YouTube

The Reston Association (finally) has a new CEO, one with a legit city planner background and a working knowledge of Bob Simon's vision.  V. v. exciting! Give us some good new hire blockquote, BFFs at Patch:

The Reston Association Board of Directors announced the hiring of Michael A. "Mac" Cummins to oversee the day-to-day operations of the community association as its new chief executive officer. His first day on the job will be Aug. 22... With more than 20 years of municipal government experience, Cummins most recently served for more than five years as the director of the Community Development Department in Bellevue, Washington.  Before coming to Bellevue, Cummins was a planning manager for the City of Westminister, Colorado, as well as the principal planner in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Having studied city planning in college, Cummins said he was aware of Robert E. Simon's vision for Reston. One of his early jobs was in Irvine, California, which had also been built around a big master plan that could scale up to accommodate 60,000 to 100,000 residents.

"I followed Reston for years, both the residential components and the growth of the commercial area along the toll road," he said. "The things that I followed and then wanted to learn from in my roles as being a planning director related to thinking about how to connect communities. So, thinking about the relationship with the physical facilities, the trails, the park facilities, the ball fields, the pools, the nature center, all those things and how they actually build community and help people interact with each other."

But don't take our word, or some filthy blockquote, for it! You can watch this exciting YouTubes video and learn more about Cummins here, accompanied by a sweeping musical score:

He's actually going to live in Reston, which we appreciate. Coming from a background in municipal government, we hope Cummins recognizes the limitations of HOA control, and the need to keep a fire lit under our actual elected officials. But enough of our yammering! Back to the video:

Here he is, standing dangerously close to one of our pristine natural features. Apparently they don't have copperheads in the Pacific Northwest.

All in all, Cummins seems great, and we wish him well. Lest you wonder if the RA is still the same old RA, though, check out the "next video" that automatically plays at the end of this one:

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, etc. etc.