Monday, September 17, 2012
Reston founder says Reston Association should find the money to get indoor tennis facility built.
Indoor tennis has been off the table for Reston Association this year, but it has been on the mind of Reston founder Robert E. Simon recently. The 98-year-old Simon spoke to the RA Board of Directors as part of the public comment session at the board's regular meeting last week. Simon praised the board for being more sensible than past groups, but urged them to borrow money to give Reston Association members an indoor tennis facility. "Covered tennis and covered swimming are things we should have had for a long time and haven't because of damned fool ways with money," Simon said. "You are not obligated to have a [money] reserve at all. All I can say with great passion is let's get on with this thing and use our borrowing capacity to get …
Monday, September 10, 2012
Kids invited to play in fall league at Hidden Creek Country Club.
Reston Association has teamed up with Hidden Creek Country Club for a year-round indoor tennis youth league. Play in the HCRA JTT League begins on Sept. 17 and will run for six weeks. There will be four divisions: 8 and under, 10 and under intermediate, 10 and under advanced, 12 and under intermediate. Reston Association Tennis Manager Mary Conaway said the program comes from a "groundswell from parents and children in the Reston community who wanted to play year round." That support has been evident at RA meetings over the last two years, where many youth players and their parents have spoken to the RA Board of Directors about their desire for indoor tennis in Reston. Reston has more than 40 outdoor courts, but area players have been …
Thursday, December 15, 2011
RA Board votes to seek new opportunities and possible public-private partnerships for future consideration.
Reston Association members will not be casting votes in 2012 on whether they support an indoor tennis facility to be built at Lake Newport, but the board of directors will continue to look for other ways to get it done. The RA board voted 8-1 at its meeting on Thursday to direct staff to actively seek opportunities, including potential public-partnerships, in the future. The board has asked for quarterly updates on opportunities. That decision was a bit of a compromise in the ongoing story of bringing indoor tennis to Reston. Other options on the table - to put it to the citizens in a referendum that would cost $75,000; to discuss the issue again in March and take another look at lowering costs; or to table the issue - which has been …
Monday, October 31, 2011
More discussion - and a field trip - but still no decision to put indoor tennis to referendum.
With time running out to put a proposed indoor tennis facility to public referendum in 2012, Reston Association CEO Milton Matthews and Parks and Recreation Director Larry Butler are doing their homework. The two recently took a field trip to Columbia, MD, where they checked out Columbia Association's indoor tennis facilities. Columbia Association operates two indoor tennis facilities that feature five courts in a freestanding building and four in a bubble. The association also has 24 outdoor courts for its 85,000 members. "They see indoor tennis as a strong part of the value to their community," Butler told the RA Board of Directors at a meeting on Oct. 27. Reston, meanwhile, has nearly twice as many outdoor courts, but no indoor …
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
RA Board working now to see if there should be a community referendum in 2012.
Nearly a year ago, some of Reston's most dedicated tennis players made their pleas to the Reston Association Board of Directors. Build an indoor facility in Reston, and not only will people use it, it will pay for itself within a few years. That was at the end of 2010. As the calendar nears the end of 2011 - and the Reston Association lays out its budget for the following fiscal year - the movement has taken only baby steps. In other words, don't try and get an indoor court reservation any time soon. "From a staff standpoint, the committees have been plugging away," said Larry Butler, Reston Association Director of Parks and Recreation. "Now it is up to the board to decide." This year will come and go without a community referendum on the …
Reston Timer
8:55 am on Friday, September 21, 2012
I began to think I was one of the few who thought or thinks the same about Mr. Simon and I also agree with John G too... respect Mr. Simon for what he started and a vision that he seems to have forgotten. I remember in a RA Parks and Planning Committee meeting when there was a lively discussion going on concerning the [dis]merits of the indoor tennis facility when Mr. Simon blurted out "Why do we… more ›