| Southgate
Season is Upon Us |
| You can tell autumn is on its way from the whispering sound
of ballots falling to the ground up and down the eastern seaboard.
|
| It's election season again. This year, Reston is getting
an early start, to coincide with all the excitement of political
primaries in Florida, Maryland and North Carolina. |
| But there's not a lot of politics to Reston's ballot. Reston
has a pretty straightforward decision to make: Let Fairfax
County build a community center or let Reston Association
foot the bill. |
| Yes, the much-publicized, much-heralded, and much-hyped
referendum on what to do with the Southgate Community Center
is upon us. RA officials said ballots should have begun arriving
in homes this week, and the pressure is on to get as many
ballots as possible returned by Nov. 7. |
| If the leadership of Reston Association was not restricted
by the association's bylaws, if they had the power of a town
council, for example, they would have made this decision on
behalf of the people they represent long ago. |
| As some people have said over the last few months, it's
a no-brainer, a win-win situation. But what does that really
mean? |
| According the RA bylaws all community centers must be brought
up to a certain standard every now and then to maintain the
value of the neighborhood. So, Reston needs to rebuild the
Southgate Community Center because it's lousy right now and
has been largely underused and not very useful for several
years. |
| RA would spend somewhere around $700,000 to rebuild or restore
the Southgate center and make it a more functional facility
to meet the needs of the surrounding community today. |
| But, Fairfax County a little while ago approached Reston
with an offer: Lease the land to the county for a long, long
time, and the county will spend $2.3 million to build a much
more advanced center for Reston residents, especially those
in the Southgate area, to use. |
| If RA were a town council, the body probably would have
voted to approve the project after a few public hearings and
construction would already have begun. But, Reston is a little
more complicated than that. |
| Reston's bylaws require such a long-term lease to be approved
by its members, specifically the property owners in Reston.
If you rent a home in Reston, thanks for playing, but you
can't vote. If you rent a home in Southgate, cross your fingers
and stop by your place of worship this week, because that's
about all you will be able to do. |
| But that's not all. In order for the referendum to be valid,
at least 40 percent of all Reston Association members must
cast a ballot in the election. Even if every ballot cast is
in favor of making a long-term lease with the county, if fewer
than 40 percent of owners vote then the whole deal is scuttled. |
| That would be enough of a challenge for any homeowners'
association, but that's only half of the challenge Reston
faces. |
| In order for the referendum to be approved, and the deal
with the county to be authorized, at least two-thirds of all
votes cast must be in favor. |
| Now, this has been a daunting task for Reston. To reach
the 40 percent mark about 7,000 ballots will have to be returned,
and no more than about 5,000 people have ever voted in a Reston
Association election before. To approve the referendum, about
4,600 voters will have to choose "yes." |
| In an attempt to encourage people to cast their ballots
first, and to vote "yes" second, RA employees, elected officials,
politicians, even Reston's celebrity Grant Hill have been
brought in for the campaign. |
| But now it comes down to us. This sounds like a pretty good
deal to me, but how you will vote is entirely up to you. The
best we can all do is to cast a ballot. |
| So take a minute, take 30 seconds, and cast your ballot
today. |
