Letter: Who Stands For Reston?

During these early days of opposition to redevelop a major open space asset, I find myself wondering - who stands for Reston - now? When I first moved to Reston 35 years ago there were developers; organizations that stood to gain by selling a model for a planned community. They no longer exist. However, the culture of community still does; Reston was recently recognized as one of the top 10 places in the United States to live. So I asked myself - who stands for Reston - now? Who defends the planned community - now? Who preserves the reason that most of us moved here?   

Without aggressive marketing stories to tell, without homes to sell, streets to build, downtown buildings to construct, who preserves the plan? Many believe that the Reston Association is the de facto town government. Not true. Many believe the elected supervisor acts as a local mayor. Also not true. Frankly I'm hard pressed to discover any person, any business or government entity that completely stands for Reston except one piece of paper, that being the master plan.

As we have learned very recently, most of us have assumed that in lieu of an actual governing body, the master plan protects and preserves the community culture which we have evolved these 50 years. That culture, that plan, that was so magnificently marketed to us in order for us to buy homes here, seems to be at risk at the whim of legal maneuvers and interpretations of decades old agreements.

What can potentially change if this re-definition of open space succeeds and continues?  What if the bond that was originally created between the concept of a planned community and its people is broken? "Yes we really, really meant this to be a golf course, we really meant this to be open space, but ...we have changed our mind!" What happens to larger investments such as corporations that move their headquarters to Reston to occupy 200,000 sq. ft. of office space? They also received an implied promise that, 'what you see is what you get'. "Move here and your workforce will be intelligent, well-educated, and local. And they will have recreational amenities that will make them better employees. Most of all your employee turnover rate will decline."

So the legal fight that's about to begin on Oct. 24 just may define who stands for Reston - the occasional developer with a plan du jour, or the people who created the culture of the town.  I've always placed a lot of faith in Reston residents. I want to rely on that faith at this time, in this place.

John Pinkman

Reston