Letters to the Editor - July 16-22, 2005
Supporting Town Not Anti-County

Jack Kenny’s article (“Restown? Weak Representation”, June22-28, 2005) attempts to equate a referendum on Reston becoming a town with a vote of no confidence in our county leadership. There is no such equation. You can like being a part of Fairfax County and like the idea of Reston becoming a town at the same time.  

Towns in Virginia are part of counties. The Reston Citizens Association proposal for a town retains county police, fire, school, and library services. Courts and Social Services are never provided by a town in Virginia , so they would also remain with the county as well. Ideally, towns provide additional services above those generally provided by the county. In Reston, these additional services consist largely of recreational and cultural services currently provided through the Reston Association and the Reston Community Center . In the RCA proposal for the Town of Reston , these services would move to the town. The staffs of the organizations would be combined, and the RA services, currently paid for through a non-deductible assessment, would be paid for through a deductible real estate tax.  

In addition, the RA, RTCA, RCC, RCA, ARCH, GRCC, RI and GRACE (hint: all the R’s stand for Reston) provide unofficial and generally uncoordinated commentary on community issues to our Supervisor, the County Board, Regional Commissions, and the State legislature. Our Supervisor, Cathy Hudgins, has taken extraordinary steps to deal with this problem by convening groups such as the Lake Anne Charette, the Transportation Charette, and the Wiehle Avenue Steering Committee. But coordination of such issues would be far easier if there were an official local government, elected in a real election, that could hold hearings on these and the many other issues that our neighbors in the Towns of Herndon and Vienna routinely address through their official elected representatives. Herndon and Vienna don’t lose the voice of their County Supervisor by being towns – they just gain the additional voice of a mayor.  

Mike Corrigan, President
Reston Citizens Association  

11214 Wedge Dr .
Reston , VA 20190
(703) 786-3672

© 2005 Connection Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.

RETURN TO PRESS HOMEPAGE