Reston Shorts--Silver with Warts and All

                                           The View From Over Here
                                                     
Summer’s heat and humidity are slowing me down.  Accordingly, I’m doing this blog in shorts!

Love Silver Line—Even with the Warts!                                                                          This Saturday, July 26, once the Reston Farmers Market closes, our next stop will be the brand new Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station to take our first ride on the Reston train!  We plan to ride it all the way to Silver’s other end at Largo and back in comfort--with real A/C.  We may check out a couple of stops along the way, but Tysons Corner is not likely to be one of them.                                                                                                                   While I’m loving having rail in Reston, I do resent the wasted time of having four stations in Tysons—a major failing of system’s design, delaying users headed to our nation’s capital, or to Dulles if you’re coming the other way.  Also, if I were commuting from Reston or lived near Wiehle Avenue, I would be very unhappy about new rush hour congestion resulting from Fairfax County’s failure to build road or other essential infrastructure to serve the station.  It will be a mess.  But, I am putting aside all the warts to enjoy the long-awaited service Reston deserves.  Thanks to Ken Plum for leading the charge to make rail a reality.  I know he’ll enjoy the first ride!

School Start Times—Minimal Change coming                                                        It looks like South Lakes students and other County high schoolers will get later start times which studies show are critical for their health, safety, and academic performance.  After 10-plus years of foot dragging, this School Board appears ready to take action.  But, it is a timid first step as the Board caved to the after-school sports lobby.  The schedule change now planned yields minimum benefits to high schoolers while making things a bit worse for Langston Hughes students and other middle schools.              High Schoolers now start classes at 0-dark 7:20 AM and Middle schoolers at 8 AM.  Instead of changing the start time to 8:30 or 9:00 (Loudoun, e.g.,  starts at 9) for high school as was clearly preferred by the National Children Medical Center’s data and by most area parents, Dr. Garza and the School Board moved only to 8:00 AM in order to please the sports lobby.  And, Middle Schoolers?  The Board is actually moving them BACK to 0-dark 7:20 AM—so the younger kids will literally be boarding buses in the dark.  A de minimus change, but a start.

Referendum Coming on RELAC Monopoly                                                              A group of Lake Anne homeowners have submitted a petition to the Reston Association with more than enough neighbors’ signatures to qualify for a referendum. The referendum question to be voted upon by all individual homeowners currently required by Reston covenant to use only RELAC’s chilled water A/C is whether the covenant should be eliminated and all homeowners given freedom to choose the cooling they want for their homes.                                                                                                                           A similar referendum narrowly failed seven years ago after a bitter campaign and before recent tariff increases totaling over 60 per cent and further decline in service under the former corporate owners.  If approved, some homeowners will likely opt for conventional A/C units.  Satisfied customers and those unwilling to pay major bucks to switch to a conventional system will stay with RELAC. Departures should lead to reduced RELAC operating costs and reduced strain on the aging system.