Capt. Mike Wall, Commander of the Fairfax County Police Department’s Reston District Station, said overall crime in Reston is down 14 percent when compared to this time last year.
Wall gave the station’s semi-annual “state of crime in the district” report to the Reston Association Board at its regular meeting on Thursday.
“We are very happy to have crime numbers down this year,” he said.
Some of the highlights, according to Wall:
- Robberies down 53 percent in 2014, “which is huge,” he said. There have been 15 reported so far in 2014. There were 32 at this time last year, he said.
- Larceny and theft are down 19 percent: 825 compared with 1,023 at this point in 2013.
- Burglaries are down 27 percent: 69 compared to 97.
- Destruction of property is down 19 percent, with reports of 465 compared to 574.
“The reduction is a result of proactive patrols, arrests being made, and sometimes blind luck,” said Wall. “You never know how many crimes you prevented, but we are happy to see numbers trending downward.”
One area in which numbers are rising are DUI arrests, said Wall. The Captain said DUI arrests are up 27 percent from this time in 2013. There have been 210 this year compared with 150 through October 2013.
“DUIs are always a double-edged sword,” he said. ” We are glad to see that many arrests, but sad to see that many drunks on the road and wondering how many we are missing that are out there.”
In other crime trends, Wall said the department has worked on several projects to deter crime.
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Another Reston store has closed its doors.
The AT&T retail store at 1452 North Point Village Center has been boarded up since at least a week ago.
No word as to why the store closed or what might be opening it its place.
There is another AT&T store in Market Street in Reston Town Center and at Herndon’s Clocktower.
There are some other vacancies at the village center. The stand-alone Burger King has been vacant since last year. The former Blockbuster Video store sat empty for more than two years, but is currently being remodeled to open as Glory Days Grill soon.
Vigil For West Africa — In response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church of Reston, along with other faith communities, is hosting a Candlelight Vigil for West Africa on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 6:00 p.m. on Lake Anne Plaza. The vigil will offer a time to pray, to learn and to act. Among the speakers will be Rev. Dr. Anne Cooper, a St. Anne’s parishioner and priest at the Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia, Liberia. Parishioners have raised more than $12,000 to help Liberians in the last few months.
Purchase For Patriots Park — Boston Poperties, which owns most of Reston Town Center and several nearby office builds, says it has lined up a buyer for Patriots Park, a 705,000-square-foot office complex in Reston that houses the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. An affiliate of South Korea’s Hyundai Group has paid about $321 million, or roughly $455 per square foot, for the three-building office park. [Washington Business Journal]
Metro Ridership Down — Despite the shiny, new Silver Line, ridership levels of the areas rail have dropped to 2005 levels. [Washington Post]
Painting class at Reston Town Center Pavilion/Credit: Reston Town Center
House hunting this weekend? Start with these open houses in Reston.
2210 Springwood Drive
3 BR, 2 BA Condo
$253,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
2421 Glade Bank Way
4 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$487,500
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
1573 Woodcrest Drive
2 BR, 1.5 BA TH
$336,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11964 Sentinel Point Court
3 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB TH
$430,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11627 Vantage Hill Road
1 BR, 1 BA TH
$174,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
13332 Murray Downs Way
5 BR, 3.5 BA SFH
$824,999
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11530 Links Drive
4 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$444,750
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
1602 Wainwright Drive
2 BR, 1.5 BA TH
$367,700
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11715 Great Owl Circle
3 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$510,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11004 Thrush Ridge Road
4 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$725,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
For more open houses, visit Reston Now’s Real Estate section.
A family friendly theater production deserves some family friendly activities.
That is why the Reston Community Players have added meet-and-greet sessions with the characters of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown after matinee performances on Sundays, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.
The play opened last week at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage.
The musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown was created in 1967, at the height of the Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic’s popularity. Decades later, Charlie Brown’s angst, Snoopy’s imagination and Linus’ optimism.
“Director Rich Bird has blown each one Schulz’s indelible characters into a nicely kindled flame with this delightful production, which features great casting (the characters look like their cartoon counterparts), and great direction and choreography,” Yvonne French of DC Metro Theatre Arts wrote in a review.
The cast features Richard Farella as Charlie Brown, Alana Sharp as Lucy, Nina Jankowicz as Sally, Patrick Graham as Linus, Eric Hughes as Schroeder, and Terry Barr as Snoopy. Laura Baughman is the producer. and Richard Bird is the director. Music direction is by Mark V. Deal.
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown runs Friday, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 8. All performances are at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Oct. 26 ad Nov. 2.
Tickets ($23) can be purchased through www.restonplayers.org or by calling the CenterStage box office at 703-476-4500 x 3.
Photo: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown/Credit: Traci J. Brooks Studios
Bocce in Reston lives to see another round.
The Reston Association Board of Directors on Thursday voted down President Ken Knueven’s proposal to rescind authorization of the proposal, passed by the board last December, to build a court at Cabots Point recreation area. In the motion, Knueven also suggested scouting new locations for the court.
Three directors (Ellen Graves, Michael Sanio and Eve Thompson) voted in favor of rescinding the plan. South Lakes rep Richard Chew and Knueven voted against pulling the plan. Directors Jeff Thomas and Lucinda Shannon abstained, and two directors were absent from the vote.
A similar proposal about starting over was made by RA CEO Cate Fulkerson in July, but after remarks to the board from Chew — who initiated the plan for the bocce court last year — Fulkerson’s proposal was not considered.
A second motion that returns the plan to the Design Review Board was passed Thursday by the directors. That means there will be further discussion about Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, which may add costs to the project, before the first bocce balls can be thrown.
The 12-by-60-foot court is estimated to cost $2,500 to construct and would be paid for by the nonprofit Friends of Reston. However, other communities say construction, maintenance and other factors could drive Reston’s costs much higher. If that happens, it is questionable whether RA would use its own funds for the project.
The bocce kerfuffle has been ongoing for more than six months. Many residents of South Bay, Cabots Point and Cedar Cove clusters, which are close to the park, say they were not given proper notification before RA approved the project. They also say the courts would take away open space and attract traffic and noise.
At RA’s September meeting, more than 20 residents spoke out against bocce.
On Thursday, several more reiterated their frustration, but RA also heard from one resident who supported the idea and pointed out that the public resistance was not befitting of a recreational amenity.
“Let’s put this in perspective,” said Jill Norvell, who lives in Cabots Point. “It’s a singular bocce court. It is not a brothel. It is not a multipurpose, lit athletic field. It is one bocce court. I’ve driven on South Bay Lane daily for 20 years. I have managed to navigate the area without an issue. Are you seriously concerned this one bocce court will cause traffic issues? Living in this area, trust me, this is the least of your traffic woes.”
“Not one scintilla or iota of open space will be lost to install this bocce court,” she added. “Its footprint size is less than a neighborhood pool lap lane. Don’t be derailed by knee jerk NIMBYism.”
It’s been about a month since Lakeside Pharmacy closed its doors after more than 40 years at Lake Anne Plaza.
Owner/pharmacist Larry Cohn retired after decades at the store, which also featured a lunch counter and in-store U.S. Post Office.
The space was sold to investors, who had hoped to get an independent pharmacy to take over the site this summer. That did not happen, though, and the store is now closed.
The space, which has a view of Lake Anne as well as patio seating, is available with the lunch counter operation, or can be subdivided.
Tell us in the comments: What do you think should open here?
After years of discussion, the Fairfax County School Board finally approved later high school start times for seniors on Thursday.
Starting in 2015-16, high schools will start at 8 to 8:10 a.m. instead of 7:20 a.m. Middle schools will begin at 7:30 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. Elementary schools will essentially stay the same starting from 8 to 9:20 a.m.
The board chose an amended version of Option 3 as the preferred way to proceed with changing high school start times.
The board had been presented with four options from experts at Children’s National Medical Center who worked with the school system on a study on teens and sleep and also on the best ways FCPS could implement a new system.
The issue of later start times has been debated and explored for more than a decade in this community,” Tammy Derenak-Kaufax, School Board chairman, said in a statement. “The growing body of research on the health benefits for adolescents has become so clear and compelling, we felt that we had to make a change.”
The preferred option, chosen by Superintendent Karen Garza in September, has high schoolers starting the day between 8 and 8:10 a.m. Middle schools will begin at 7:30 a.m. Elementary schools will remain largely unchanged, with starting bells from 8 to 9:20 a.m. Secondary Schools will follow the high school bell schedule.
Changes will go into effect for the 2015-16 school year and will cost about $4.9 million to implement, says Garza.
“We believe it is best to give our families and employees plenty of time to adjust to a change of this magnitude,” Garza said after the meeting. “Between now and next September, we will work with intention to finalize bell schedules and to make needed adjustments to ensure that this is a smooth transition for our stakeholders and our community.”
Even though the start time issue is geared at letting teenagers get crucial sleep, the youngest teens will still have to be at school a half hour earlier than the current 8 a.m. start time.
FCPS at-large board member Ryan McElveen says the proposed middle school time is not that different than the current schedule. McElveeen said the board will try to move towards even later start times in upcoming years.
“Although the plan is not perfect, it is the best feasible hybrid of multiple plans,” he told Reston Now in September. “Over the coming years, the board will continue to support pushing the middle school start time closer to 8 a.m. through small efficiencies that are realized annually.”
The FCPS board has been talking about changing the high school start times for several years, and made a formal proposal in 2012 to move the high school start time from 7:20 a.m. to after 8 a.m.
They commissioned doctors from Children’s National Medical Center, whose report said teenagers were chronically sleep deprived. Pushing high school start times past 8 a.m. would have an impact on everything from behavior to grades to driving records and sports injuries, the CNMC experts say.
In August, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement that recommended later start times so that school schedules would be aligned with the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents.
The board held a series of community meetings last spring to gain public feedback on four options for changes.
The original Option 3 had high schools beginning from 8 to 8:10 a.m. and ending between 2:30 and 2:40 p.m. Elementary schools would start between 8 and 9:20 a.m., which is essentially the current schedule. Middle schools would see a big change with a 7:20 a.m. start and a 2 p.m. dismissal.
The board says that in the future, “our goal will be to continue to seek improvements for even later start times so that middle schools will move towards 8 and high schools will move towards 8:30.”
The revised plan will cost less than anticipated, according to FCPS documents. The original Option 3 was estimated to cost $5.5 million, mostly to cover 46 new buses.
The revised plan will use fewer buses, and the purchase of 20 new buses has already been allocated in the FY 2015 school board budget, bringing costs to an estimated $1.5 million to $4.9 million.
Reston Lakes Part Of the Mix in Nashville — The Opryland Gaylord Conference Center Tennessee created its own body of water with H2O from all over the country, including Reston. [Restonian]
Stock Up On Puzzles — The Reston Regional Library is holding its annual jigsaw puzzle sale Oct. 30 to Nov. 2. There will also be gently used games available. Proceeds benefit Friends of the Reston Regional Library. Hours are Thursday, Oct. 30, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m; Friday, Oct. 31, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m; Saturday, Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m; and Sunday, Nov. 2, 1 to 5 p.m. Puzzle donations welcome through Sunday, Oct 26.
SLHS Singing And Helping — South Lakes High School’s Choral Department will open its concert season 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28 with a benefit for pediatric Wegeners Granulomatosis, a extremely rare, but often fatal auto immune disease. “Music’s Healing Powers” will feature a variety of musical genres performed by the South Lakes Choirs: Women’s Chorale, Men’s Camerata, Chamber Singers and Bella Voce. The concert is free, but donations are accepted and will go to the Wegeners Awareness Campaign for Kids and Youth, which raises funds for research and treatment of the disease.
Name That Station — Now that Phase I of Metro’s Silver Line is up and running, it is time to name the Phase II Stations. Phase II is expected to open in 2018. Loudoun officials are now asking for public comment on what to call the stops. [Washington Business Journals]
Photo by Brendan Ross via Flickr
On Fridays, we take a moment to thank Reston Now’s advertisers and sponsors.
Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, the business community for the vibrant region.
Reston Station, Comstock’s mixed-use development and parking garage at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro stop.
The Avant, new luxury rentals in the heart of Reston Town Center.
The Harrison, brand-new apartments now leasing at Reston Town Center.
Berry & Berry, PLLC, Reston law firm specializing in federal employment, retirement, labor union, and security clearance matters.
Just Cats Clinic, Reston’s first cats-only vet practice.
Reston Real Estate, Eve Thompson of Long & Foster Real Estate specializes in Reston homes.
Reston Community Center, Serving Reston’s recreational and cultural needs.
Realtors Valerie Kappler and Debra Granato of Long & Foster.
Cindy L. Beyer Design, Reston-based interior design firm with creative ideas for residential and commercial clients.
Van Metre Homes, handcrafted homes since 1955.
D.R. Horton Builders, America’s largest home builders.
Apartment Showcase, your guide to apartments for rent in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
CrossFit North Reston, Reston’s newest place to train Crossfit style.
Greater Reston Arts Center, sponsor of the first GRACE Race on Oct. 25.
A boutique grocery store, two five-story affordable housing buildings, a two-level parking garage and a wide central park.
These are some of the features of Lake Anne Development’s Partners’ plans for a revitalized Crescent Apartments and surrounding areas near Lake Anne. The plans were approved in concept by Reston Association’s Design Review Board on Tuesday.
That means the basic plans have passed the first steps toward redevelopment. It will still need to go back to the DRB, as well as Fairfax County officials, for more discussion before the many projects get underway.
LADP has been working on its vision for a revitalized Lake Anne since summer 2013, when it was selected by Fairfax County through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process.
Overhauling the county-owned Crescent affordable housing complex, rebuilding the farmers market and creating additional office and retail space is slated to take 10 to 12 years, David Peter, president and CEO of LADP’s parent company, Republic Land Development, has said.
Historic designation prevents big changes to the retail and residential components of Lake Anne plaza. The plaza currently has a number of empty stores, but Lake Anne residents and business owners say they are hopeful added density will aid in a renewed retail atmosphere at Lake Anne.
The parking garage will be built on a swath of land that the developer acquired last year in a land swap. In the deal, Reston Association’s board trading an acre of RA’s land at Lake Anne for a parcel along Baron Cameron Avenue, as well as financial incentives and improvements.
To see the full plans, visit LADP’s website.
Photo: Rendering of new housing near Lake Anne/Credit: LADP
There’s a new place in Reston where readers can pick up a book or share one with their neighbors.
It’s not Reston’s Used Book Shop or the return of Barnes & Noble. It’s the newest Little Free Library, located on Salt Kettle Lane in South Reston.
The Little Free Library is a movement that began five years ago. Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisc., built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former teacher who loved reading.
He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so hebuilt several more and gave them away, the Little Free Library website says.
The idea caught on with community folks who loved reading, and now there are several hundred nationwide, including in Northern Virginia.
Reston resident Kurt Rose thought a Little Free Library would make a great birthday gift for his wife, Dianne. He sent away last month for one of the Little Free Library kits, which come in more than a dozen styles, including a British phone booth or a Contemporary home.
Rose wanted to keep his Little Free Library in the style of his cedar-sided Colonial. He even painted the library box red with white trim like his house and checked to make sure the post was moveable in keeping with Reston Association rules.
But more important than the decor is the content, Rose says.
“Sharing books seems like such a great thing in this era where everyone is so into technology,” he said.
Rose says the main rules are “Leave a book, take a book.” So no dumping a whole crate of hardbacks in the driveway. Books for all ages are welcome.
Know of another Little Free Library in or near Reston? Tell us in the comments.
Photo of Kurt Rose and his Little Free Library on Salt Kettle Way/Credit: Kurt Rose
Hunters Woods Students Tackle Book Writing — About 100 fifth graders at Hunters Woods Elementary School will take part in November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The students are currently in the pre-writing stage and will take on the challenge of a novel beginning Nov.1 [Reston Connection]
RA Needs Costumed Characters — Reston Association needs a few teen and adult volunteers to act as characters at the Halloween House and Trick or TreatTrail Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. FRIDAY: Storm, Vulture, Lorax, Troll, Smurfette, Commander Cody. Mad hatter, Spiderman, Ashoka from Clone Wars. SATURDAY: Thor, Vulture & Ashoka from Clone Wars. To volunteer, contact [email protected] or call 703-435-7986.
Bechtel’s Move Upsets Marylanders — Bechtel is moving about 1,000 employees from the Frederick office to the Reston office, and that is not sitting well with Maryland residents, who say it will have a huge impact on the economy. [WJLA]
Ducks on Lake Thoreau/Credit: Brendan Ross via Flickr
Some Reston residents have noticed sponge-like organisms floating in Lake Audubon and Lake Anne recently.
Reston Association staffers have identified the creatures as Bryozoa (moss animals).
The freshwater aquatic colonial animals are harmless and their existence is an indicator of healthy lakes, says Claudia Thompson-Deahl,, RA’s Environmental Resources Senior Manager.
“They are actually pretty cool wonders of nature,” said Claudia Thompson-Deahl. “They only live in clean water, so that’s a real plus.”
Bryozoa have been around since the upper Cambrian (500,000,000 years ago) era and are very similar in composition to coral, scientists say.
The Bryoza serve as filters of various micro-organisms in the lakes. They have existed in Reston waters for many years, according to Thompson-Deahl. Most moss animals form in spring and die in winter.
Thompson-Deahl says questions were recently raised about what the “mystery objects” were and suggested that they should be eliminated. However, RA staff said that while Bryozoa can be considered a nuisance in certain environments, they have never caused any problems in Reston lakes and are beneficial to the local environment.
Learn more about Bryozoa on this info page from the University of Massachusetts.
N’used women’s consignment shop reopened on Tuesday in a new location — just one door down from where it had been located in Herndon’s Sunset Park the last three years.
N’used had outgrown the small space at 286 Sunset Park Dr., said owner Rosemary Edwards. It has moved its merchandise to 284 Sunset Park, which formerly housed Ajax Amusement’s showroom.
N’used carries high-end, gently used women’s clothing and handbags, as well as new accessories. The store also aids local shelters and women’s charities by donated unsold goods. Have some items to consign? Call the store at 703-437-8733 to make an appointment.
The store will hold a grand reopening and third anniversary party in the new space on Nov. 11, said Edwards.
