So Much Could Be Done 

To the Editor:
As Bob Simon said, Herndon has been able to develop a succession of major community facilities through municipal bonds (Reston Connection, May 30, 2007). Simon, in his appearance before the RA Board, compared Herndon’s ambitious program of recreational and other community development to Reston’s laggard effort. Why is Herndon, which is not even half the size of Reston, able to do so much more, and within the boundaries of financial prudence? 

The primary reason is Herndon is an incorporated town, with its own government capable of selling public bonds at competitively low interest rates. Simon admonished Reston Association in his comments at a recent RA Board meeting, implying that the association isn’t doing what Herndon and other "neighboring communities" are doing. But RA is not a municipal government. It is a nonprofit corporation, whose ability to borrow money is more constrained, and, even if it was able to borrow legally would have to pay higher interest rates than Herndon and other municipalities. (Simon’s lawyers drew up the governing documents that ensured that the homeowners’ associations — there used to be two — would not have any more powers than a nonprofit corporation.)

For more than two decades, Reston has talked about and sometimes intensely debated governance. But the opponents — including, at decisive moments in the late 1980s, Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Reston Citizens Association — have always prevailed, contending that self-government — even the modest limited township status that’s been on the table — would only mean "another layer of taxation" on local residents. Those claims were refuted by the 1987 governance task force, and again more recently by RCA whose leadership had turned 180 degrees on the issue.

From the 1980s up to the present, Reston has grown, and prospered, beyond just about anyone’s expectations. The total value of Reston real estate is more than $13 billion — many more times than next-door neighbor, Herndon. Yet what has Reston’s growth and prosperity delivered in new, expanded or improved recreational, cultural and other community facilities? Very little.

Here’s the sad, scary legacy:
* A Lake Anne Village Center that is a landmark not only of community history, but also of public and corporate nonfeasance.

* Stream valleys so ravaged by poorly controlled urban pollution and runoff they are on the brink of becoming a local eco-disaster.

* A Nature Center that was promised 40 years ago, but today exists only as a blueprint, and one is being gradually downsized.

* A Town Center urban core crammed with high-rent office buildings and pricey condos and apartments, but, beyond the Greater Reston Arts Center’s new space and the skating rink, is a recreational and cultural wasteland.

* A regional library that hasn’t added one square foot of space in its quarter century of existence, and is an analogue Rip Van Winkle in a digital age.

* A Reston Community Center whose aging headquarters space has declined into near-dilapidation even as RCC’s revenue base has swelled by billions of dollars.

* Highways that are death traps for pedestrians trying to get to Town Center from Reston Parkway and the Stratford complex.

If Reston were a town, it would have addressed these challenges not only with words — which are captured in many studies and meeting minutes, but with action, as smaller Herndon has done so successfully.

Reston has short-changed itself for two generations, but it’s not too late. Residents can sign the RCA petition to hold a referendum on governance. If they do, they will be making an important pledge to future generations of Restonians.

Tom Grubisich
Washington, D.C.
(former Reston resident)

Tom Grubisich, a screenwriter. is the author of "Reston: The First Twenty Years" (Prentice-Hall, 1985) and co-founded The Connection Newspapers, which began in Reston. He is writing a biography of Robert Simon, the founder of Reston. He can be reached through TomEditor@msn.com. 

© 2007 Connection Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.

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