| Skate
Park is Battle of New Reston and Old |
|
To the editor:
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| The Reston Community Center proposal to build a skate park
with surplus tax funds from Special Tax District #5 seemed
like a good idea in the Reston tradition. The YMCA was donating
land for the site. What could prevent the proposal from becoming
a reality and then even threatening the very being of the
RCC itself? The law, that is to say, the law of unintended
consequences. |
| The proposal has created theater with its players. One player
is "Old Reston" represented by the RCC. The second lead goes
to "New Reston" represented by the West Market community and
many business leaders. Supporting cast is the YMCA and county
Supervisor Catherine Hudgins, who has been a silent if not
reluctant cast member. |
| Old Reston sees itself as the keeper of the faith. The RCC
believes in the Reston gospel of open community, never to
be gated, and where people of all income levels, work and
play together. Old Reston believes in the Robert Simon promise
of a place called "Reston." |
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| New Reston sees itself as a shining community on the hill,
fresh with energy and vitality and attracted to the same promise.
The YMCA, by providing the site, plays the role of good Samaritan,
as such is their mission. The role of county supervisor is
to make moot the law of unintended consequences in this drama. |
| The dialogue is very familiar by now. The RCC believes an
$800,000-plus skate park serves the community needs by supplying
needed recreation for children 6 to 18 years old. They consider
taxpayer funds the appropriate vehicle to finance the park,
even if up to 80 percent of the skaters may come from outside
the Reston community. |
| The RCC reminds the audience that no one facility can serve
all and keeping with the promise of Reston, all projects should
be inclusive and certainly, skaters are a part of our community.
More importantly, the RCC sees great community demand for
the project and they are simply meeting that demand. |
| The New Reston plays to the audience by stating their opposition
to the site is much more than a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)
argument as it ridicules the consultant study prepared for
the RCC as to cost and profitability of the proposal. The
New Reston objects to the RCC using their taxes for what should
be scripted as a county facility. |
| The business community feels completely taken advantage
of by the RCC. The residents of West Market are asking why
they were never asked for their view about the site, and why
a petition with over 1,000 names opposed to the YMCA site
has been ignored. What elitism on the part of the Lake Anne
crowd. |
| The plot thickens as Old Reston and New Reston dig in. The
RCC views the New Reston as unreasonable and disrespectful
of the role the RCC has played in Reston history. Worst of
all, New Reston is argumentative with only NIMBY concerns.
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| New Reston views the RCC as not representative of the whole
community and more concerned with promoting itself by making
backroom deals. They question if the RCC has the resolve to
reform itself as some have suggested. |
| The county supervisors get to choose whether or not a project
gets funded in their district. Supervisor Hudgins gets to
write the final act. She must call for a sit-down of all the
major players, including a representative parent for the skaters.
A compromise could be reached, one that calls for a skate
park but not at the YMCA site. Maybe it could be located at
Lake Fairfax or some other site agreeable to all. |
| The YMCA could run the facility, as it has the experience
to do so. The pressure to eliminate RCC would recede and the
careful restructure of RCC could take place. The proponents
of the skate park would no longer face the threat of litigation
and the children would get their park built. |
| Finally, as to the funding, something should be left for
the supervisor to write. That's what she gets paid to do.
The drama would end with only one Reston, respecting the value
of the Old Reston with consideration for the concerns of the
entire cast. |
| James DeAngelo |
| Reston |
