Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best New Business category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
With this, the preliminary ballots have been released for all categories of the 2017 Best Reston Business awards. After voting on these final ballots wrap up, watch for the finalists to be announced.
OTHER POLLS
Open through 5 p.m.: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Sit-Down Restaurant category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back Wednesday for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through 5 p.m.: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Fast-Casual Restaurant category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Monday, July 31.
After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through Wednesday for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Crime, development, a historical designation and painted rocks.
Yes, there has been a variety of news — and fun — in Reston in the past week. Now we look forward to another weekend, and a steamy one at that. The good news is weather forecasts predict this heat wave to break, finally, early next week.
Before that, though, let’s look back at the week that was. Here are the stories that have received the most clicks on Reston Now since last Friday:
- Police: Ex-SLHS Booster Club Treasurer Embezzled At Least $60K
- Another New Restaurant Coming to Hunters Woods Village Center
- Keep Your Eyes Out for Painted Rocks as Nationwide Craze Hits Area
- Lake Anne Village Center Named to National Register of Historic Places
- Jury Gives Maryland Man More Than a Century Behind Bars for Area Rim Thefts
Feel free to discuss these topics and anything else that happened locally this week. Make sure to vote on 2017 Best Reston Business awards as well.
Stay cool, and enjoy the weekend!
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Local Shop category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Friday, July 28. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Real Estate Agent category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Thursday, July 27. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
This is a commentary from Del. Ken Plum (D-Fairfax), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.
While there are a myriad of issues facing government, some advocacy groups are working on changes to the basic way government works as a fundamental means to respond to a host of issues. There are many such advocacy organizations; this column describes a few.
Probably most people would agree with the contention that “there is too much money in politics!” If the influence of big money could be removed from political campaigns and from the legislative process, we would have better government and many issues would be resolved. Every Voice is an organization addressing this issue. In its most recent survey of candidates running in Virginia elections the group introduced its survey by stating that “People of all political stripes believe politicians are influenced by their dependency on wealthy donors and therefore don’t always act in the public interest. This perception fuels cynicism and drives distrust of politicians and our government.” Every Voice goes on to point out that “Virginia is one of just a handful of states with absolutely no contribution limits on what wealthy and corporate donors can give to candidates running for office.”
At the same time, there are states like Maine, Arizona and Connecticut that have made reforms in campaign financing, providing candidates the opportunity to raise money for their campaigns through small donations and limited public funds if they agree not to accept big donations. I support such a movement in Virginia. While my political stance on issues has never attracted big donors, I would support a statutory limit on the size of donations, especially those from corporations. While this action is important for Virginia, it is even more critical at the federal level to limit corporate contributions in elections.
Another group working in Virginia to bring about systemic change to the way the government operates is OneVirginia2021 that focuses on legislative redistricting. Under the present system of drawing legislative district boundaries in Virginia and in most states, the organization contends legislators pick their voters rather than the voters picking their legislators. Known for years as “gerrymandering” as boundary lines are drawn around friendly voters to ensure the outcome of elections, OneVirginia2021 has adopted the term “gerryrigged” to describe the same activity. Their documentary by the same name explains the process and its impact on election outcomes and legislative activity (“GerryRIGGED“).
In the early 1980s, I worked with Common Cause, another organization that proposes basic changes to improve governance, on this issue and introduced the first bill in Virginia and one of the first in the nation to propose that an independent, non-partisan commission be given the responsibility of drawing legislative district lines after each federal census. OneVirginia2021 has done a remarkable job of informing citizens and of enlisting voter support for candidates who support independent and non-partisan redistricting.
Working on individual issues facing the government and society is very important. Equally as important is working on reforms that would make our government work better.
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Fitness Business category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 26. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Financial Business category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 25. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Child Care or Preschool category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Monday, July 24. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
Man, it’s been a hot week.
Temperatures in the high 90s with heat indices nearing 105 have swamped us all in recent days. If you’re tired of sweating, there’s good news for the weekend: temperatures are forecast to be below 90 (wow!) and maybe we’ll get a nice breeze as well.
The news has been hot this week too. There’s always something going on in Reston. These are the stories that have received the most clicks on the site since last Friday:
- Bear Spotted Near Reston; Police Urge Safety Around the Animals
- Police Investigating After Swastika Painted Near Reston Home
- 1831 Michael Faraday Site Has Thursday Date With Planning Commission
- Crime Roundup: Alcohol Leads to Charges for Local Residents This Weekend
- Reston Resident Scores High on ‘Jeopardy!’ But Gets Stumped at the End
Feel free to discuss these topics and anything else that happened locally this week. Make sure to vote on 2017 Best Reston Business awards as well.
Enjoy the weekend!
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Builder, Remodeler or Contractor category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Friday, July 21. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
There are plenty of fun things to do in Reston on any given day.
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Arts/Entertainment Venue category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Thursday, July 20. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
We have several fun venues and entertainers who are in the running for the honor this year. Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
This is a commentary from Del. Ken Plum (D-Fairfax), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.
During the primary election season when both parties in Virginia were making their selection of a candidate for governor, one candidate who went on to get his party’s nomination proposed the clincher of a policy proposal to secure his success in the election: a billion-dollar tax cut!
For those who have been around the state for some time it may sound familiar; the successful car tax cutting proposal that elected a previous governor is still costing the state about a billion dollars each year. That cut was particularly ironic in that it had the state cutting a local tax by reimbursing the localities for taxpayers. It was great for Northern Virginians as less wealthy downstate taxpayers reimburse the wealthiest jurisdictions in a reverse “Robin Hood” plan.
Before voters jump at a promise of reduced taxes, I hope there will be a serious consideration of the consequences. Virginia prides itself on being a “balanced budget” state; its revenues cover its operational expenses. Borrowing is permitted under the State Constitution for capital projects when approved by voters unless the project raises enough revenue to pay for itself. All that is good with a major exception. At no time does the state quantify its needs in order to determine what the cost of government would be if the state met its responsibility in providing funding. Two examples are offered below to make my point.
The first example is the state’s refusal to fund education at the level it has in the past and that is required by the Constitution. A report by the Commonwealth Institute, “State Cuts Mean Fewer Staff and Resources for Virginia Students,” in April 2017 makes the point.
“Statewide, state support has fallen 11 percent per student since 2009 in real dollars. This has impacted the ability of schools to maintain staffing and facilities. Across the state, school divisions have about 2,800 fewer staff than they had in 2009, despite growing enrollment. If they had kept pace with enrollment growth, Virginia’s schools would have 10,400 more staff instructing students and making sure the schools run smoothly.”
The other example is in health care. The Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic in Wise County is well known having been featured on an edition of 60 Minutes. There, thousands of Virginians receive their health care for the year in a weekend clinic held on the local fair grounds. The federal Affordable Care Act did not help as the legislature would not take federal monies to expand Medicaid that would have helped these people in need. The state turned its back on nearly $5 billion paid into the federal system by Virginia taxpayers because it did not want to have anything to do with what it termed Obamacare. What has happened in the meantime? A second RAM weekend clinic has been opened in Lee County nearby to Wise in Southwest Virginia, and a new clinic has been started in Emporia in Greensville County in Southside Virginia.
We definitely need to balance our budget, but we need to balance it against our needs. How could we seriously propose to cut our income when there continues to be such extensive unmet needs in the Commonwealth?
Today, we open the voting for our 2017 Best Reston Business award in the Best Medical Practice category. This poll will be open through 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 19. After that, the top two vote-getters will advance to final voting, which will take place in early August.
We have five facilities who have nominated themselves for the honor this year.
So who has been there for you in your time of need? Cast your vote below.
Check back each weekday through July 26 for another category’s ballot.
OTHER POLLS
Open through July 25: Best Financial Business
Open through July 26: Best Fitness Business
Open through July 27: Best Real Estate Agent
Open through July 28: Best Local Shop
Open through July 31: Best Fast-Casual Restaurant
Open through Aug. 1: Best Sit-Down Restaurant
