Please help BROOD (Basset Rescue Of Old Dominion) find our rescued hounds a home for the holiday!

See all our available hounds at: http://www.brood-va.org/availabledogs.htm

Or join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BROOD-Basset-Rescue-of-Old-Dominion/120465412858

By: Twilla Miller

Sunday, October 30th:

• Zoo Boo & Trick or Treat Trail – Halloween Fun @ the Reston Zoo 10am-4pm
• Pumpkinville – Leesburg -  Trick-or-Treat Weekend – Kids Costume Contest @ 1:30pm (grab a coupon)
• CoxFarms Fall Festival & Pumpkin Madness- Open 10am – 6pm
• Terror After Dark – No Scare Matinee for Kids12 & Under – Dulles Town Center in front of Macy’s 1pm-4pm
• Ghost Train 2011 – Burke Lake Park – 10am-6pm
• Trunk-or-Treat – Drainsville UMC @ Kohl’s Parking Lot in Herndon – 3-5pm (what is trunk or treat?)
• Trunk-or-Treat – Sterling – 4pm – 6pm (what is trunk or treat?)
• Trunk-or-Treat – RBC Herndon United Methodist Church @ 701 Bennett St in Herndon – 6:30pm – 8:30pm (what is trunk or treat?)
• Charity Haunted House – Seneca Shopping Center in Great Falls 4pm-8pm
• Terror After Dark – Dulles Town Center in front of Macy’s 7pm – 10pm

Monday, October 31st:

• Mr. Knick Knack Children’s Performance @ Reston Town Center 10:30am – 11:15am
• Great Falls Annual Costume Parade & Trick or Treat Event – Great Falls Village Center -
• Charity Haunted House – Seneca Shopping Center in Great Falls 4pm-8pm
• Leesburg Kiwanis Annual Halloween Parade – Historic Downtown Leesburg (Ida Lee Park) – 6pm – 8pm
• 24th Annual Mall-O-Ween – Fair Oaks Mall – 6pm-8pm
• Terror After Dark – Dulles Town Center in front of Macy’s 7pm – 10pm
• Halloween Happy Hour – Il Fornaio, Reston Town Center 4:30pm – 12:00am (Happy Hour Prices for all in Costume)

Not for the first time, I am confused about the future of Dulles Corridor transportation.  As someone who has been following closely the issue of Metrorail’s planned arrival in Tysons, Reston, and beyond as well as the development of the new Tysons and Reston plan, I see tremendous inconsistencies in the transportation—particularly traffic—analyses and prognostications about our future.

For example, in 2009, Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA) prepared a “comprehensive” traffic and revenue study under a contract with MWAA.  It showed that traffic on the Dulles Toll Road (DTR) declining on the DTR from 110 million transactions in 2008 when the full toll was $1.25 to 93 million transactions in 2047 (last year reported) when the toll reached $11.25.  The decline in usage is natural despite the anticipated growing population as people opt to take either Metrorail or alternative non-toll roads, eliminating 17 million trips/year—or 47,000 transactions per day.

RCA’s Reston 2020 Committee updated the WSA study using the same analytical approach, but with updated MWCOG job and population growth estimates (they’re lower) and the higher toll rates MWAA laid out last year.  As expected, they showed a greater decline in 2047 transactions—83 million per year or 74,000 per day—as tolls reached $15.40.  Of course, more recent toll forecasts (including one by MWAA) suggest Reston 2020 undershot toll growth with the implication that toll road use would decline even more steeply over the next 30-40 years.

On the other hand, Fairfax County submitted a report to the Virginia Department of Transportation (527 report) in 2010 indicating that the DTR would need to be widened one lane eastbound and two lanes westbound  not later than 2030 to handle increasing traffic on the DTR resulting from the redevelopment of Tysons.

Both of these judgments cannot be true.  Either DTR traffic will increase (despite the addition of Metrorail and huge toll rate increases) or it will decrease because of these same factors.

On top of this, no one—not even WMATA–has a well-based reasonably current understanding of the traffic that Dulles Metrorail will actually handle in the near or distant future, if it’s completed, including what fares WMATA will likely charge for its use.   Obviously, the higher the fare, the less it will be used.

Right now, there is a massive argument going on in Tysons planning as to who will pay for the $1.7 billion transportation infrastructure needed there in the next 20 years, according to Fairfax officials.  Most of that is for bus transit to and from the Metrorail stations within and beyond the immediate station areas.  Aside from the issue of who pays, how does anyone know with a reasonable level of comfort that Tysons won’t need substantially more or less money than that to provide a reasonable level of local transportation service?  Has anyone examined how the improvements made there will affect transportation needs farther west on the Dulles Corridor?  Would alternative approaches achieve the same transportation goals more cost-effectively (e.g.—by building parking garages at the Metro stations, expanding pedestrian and bicycle access more than planned, etc.)?  Has any independent authority checked the validity of the process used by the county and its contractor to generate the current cost figures?

To proceed with further transportation infrastructure planning and development, much less the massive community planning in Tysons, Reston, and Loudoun’s Dulles World, is government misfeasance on a multi-billion dollar scale.  An expert, independent outside entity overseen by a panel of non-partisan citizens from the Dulles Corridor needs to conduct an extensive, integrated, transparent analysis of the Dulles Corridor’s future transportation needs, based on multiple population and jobs forecasts, property development plans (or plans in the making), and transportation infrastructure programs.  This needs to be completed before ANY of the parties—US DOT, Virginia, Loudoun, and Fairfax—make half-baked decisions about what, when, and where to build, and how to pay for it all based on incomplete and inaccurate information.

The fact of the matter is we may not need Dulles Metrorail, more lanes of Dulles Toll Road, more bus service, or other expensive additions to our transportation infrastructure to meet the needs of the Corridor.  Alternatively, we may need much more than is currently envisioned.  We just don’t know.  Yet, government officials are making multi-billion dollar decisions anyway on information that they and we know is bad.

The abysmal failure to set aside parochial and often partisan viewpoints and work together in a systematic, constructive, and transparent way to address the transportation needs of the Dulles Corridor is an example of why the public is increasinly angry with elected officials and public employees  in government at all levels.  It is time for all the parties to the Dulles Corridor transportation issue to “man up” and do the right thing for the Corridor, its employers and its residents, rather than reaching secret agreements behind closed on bad information without citizen understanding or input.

Terry Maynard
Reston, Virginia

“if those 6 are allowed to vote now why not some of the other 15,000+ that didn’t vote either?”

My answer is: Because they didn’t attempt to vote and have their vote messed up by Cvent and subsequently deleted.

I sat in the meeting the other night, and have read through the documents provided by RA Counsel. Honestly it doesn’t appear that the By-Laws cover this instance, the only section I see that applies is the Appeal process which states that if a candidate is aggrieved by a decision of the election committee or Secretary or Assistant Secretary, they may appeal the decision within 10 days of the decision. Mr Greenberg has made such an appeal. The By-laws state that an appeals panel made up of all directors who are not candidates in the election in question, shall promptly consider the appeal, and a majority of the panel shall constitute a quorum.

I think the problem arises out of the state statutes. Here is the section of the code that the RA legal counsel provided at the meeting:

The code says that no ballot, proxies or votes, nor any revocations thereof or changes thereto shall be accepted by the inspectors after the closing of the polls unless the circuit court of the city or county shall determine otherwise.

Similar to the hanging chads in Florida, the court is going to have to say “go back and get those 6 votes” before it is actually going to happen.

It’s just a shame how poorly mismanaged this process was handled. These 24 households that experienced the glitch should have been directly contacted in a verifiable manor and the elections staff should have made sure that the votes they did cast for the at-large position counted, and that they had the opportunity to specifically vote or not vote in the Northpoint election that they were entitled to vote in but were not given the option when they placed their online votes.

Since they were not effectively contacted during the election process and RA is bound by the law not to accept new ballots after the election without the court saying so, the issue is closed until a civil case is filed.

—

“24 North Point residents (who were owner/occupants) attempted to vote online and were only allowed to vote for the at-large candidate, they should also have been allowed to vote for the North Point representative. After RA discovered the error the deleted the initial 24 votes so that the people could revote in both races. They reassured the candidates that they would personally get in touch with all affected voters and make sure that they votes. Come to find out all they did was send a single email. Now after much prodding they admit that just 18 of the 24 revoted. That means 6 had their initial votes erased and did not revote. The question is after RA’s online voting system malfunctioned and RA deleted their votes is sending a single email sufficient follow-up. In my opinion no, every attempt should have been made to reach these people including phone calls. When you send an email you have no idea if it ever reaches the person. To me this is a prime example of voter disenfranchisement.”

—

“Given that Collins margin of victory was 2 votes (1 owner/occupant household) this calls into question the results of the election. If RA’s online voting system hadn’t malfunctioned the results might have been different. Doesn’t RA owe it to the voters involved to make sure that their votes are counted?”

—

“Given the board’s past treatment of Greenberg they should have known that a 2 vote victory for their (Chew) hand picked canidate would raise some eyebrows. They should have been out ahead of this one, particularly since the rest of the SBC canidates won their seats.

Unless there is more to this story? Get it together folks…”

—

“Just call the actual affected 6 households. A win-win for everyone involved with this “glitch”. Collins and Greenberg agree to the tally and not to pursue further – we’re done.”

—

“This issue is the one that will get me to comment when almost nothing else did.

An election process speaks to the credibility of the organization. If the process is flawed the organization is flawed and needs to be fixed. There has to be complete faith that a cast vote is a sacred vote otherwise what is the point of voting and what sort of candidate will be inspired to spend six weeks of time, money and energy in a non-election??

I would like to hear an explanation of how votes were deleted. By who and at one point? It took a lot to get me to post but this is the issue that did it.”

—

“Precedent was set to reach out to the six affected households again, when someone at RA had to directly contact the affected households, during the election, due to a “glitch” in the online system.”

—

“First RA did not volunteer the information about what happened. The squirmed and avoided direct answers until it was dragged out of them. This is not right and those involved should answer for their behavior.

Second Milton kept his mouth shut and let others shoulder the blame. Most conspicuous was Kate – who had a hand in the decision to delete the votes, took on following up and told people that it would be done right and then simply sent a single email that she did not know was ever received. She should not have shouldered or had the responsibility for these decisions. Milton Matthews as CEO the buck stops with you. How can you let one of your people stand out there alone? Shame on you,

Mistakes are made. Acknowledge them, put them right and learn from them. That’s a learning organization that can be trusted. Unfortunately that is not RA led by Mr. Matthews.”

—

“Mike Collins – keep your mouth shut and hope this blows over.

Every time you say that you understand voter rights but nothing can be done about it in this case you look bad.

I didn’t vote for you but I also don’t want to be embarrassed by you.

Please just keep quiet.”

—

“RA should have documented they reached the affected 24 households, documented the outcome, and validated the votes counted.

Any household that was not reached, should have raised a red flag, and all candidates as well as BDO notified.”

—

And the comments go on and on, as of the time that I am posting this, there are 56 comments up in arms over how the Reston Association has handled the election  glitch that caused them to then manually delete 24 ballots from the system.

1. A malfunction in the setup of the online voting system, setup with CVent, caused a problem with the initial electronic ballots.  24 home owner voters in the Northpoint area (and maybe some in other areas) were only presented with the At-Large position vote and never presented with the Northpoint candidates.
2. After the glitch was corrected, these 24 ballots were DELETED from the system, “to avoid duplicates”, and the home owners who’s votes were deleted were sent an email notifying them of the problem and giving them a new code they could use to vote online.
3. Of the 24 deleted ballots, all but 6 of the households re-voted, leaving 6 ballots (or 12 votes) unaccounted for.
4. In the election, 166 ballots were declared invalid for one reason or another, and 109 were declared partially invalid.
5. In the contested Northpoint Board of Director position, Mike Collins won by 1 ballot (2 votes).
6. Peter Greenberg, who lost by 1 ballot (2 votes) for the Northpoint seat, has formally asked the RA board and the elections committee to make sure that these highly motivated voters (as evidenced by their immediate participation in the election) be contacted to identify their voting intentions to insure that their votes are counted in the election.

So that is the situation.  Due to an election malfunction, 24 Ballots (48 votes) were DELETED, and very little follow-up was done explain the situation and make sure that these residents were able to cast their ballots.  As a result 6 of these home owners have been disenfranchised in the election.

The elections committee discussed the issue in the meeting, and decided that they would allow Mr. Greenberg and others inspect the invalidated ballots, they would allow BDO, the accounting firm responsible for counting the ballots, to provide Mr. Greenberg with more detailed information surrounding the 24 deleted ballots and the 17 re-votes.

The elections committee refused to take the further step, requested by Mr. Greenberg, of contacting the potentially disenfranchised voters, to clarify their intentions to make sure their proper votes were counted in the election.

Ken Chadwick, General Counsel for the board, advised the election committee and Mr. Greenberg that a Civil case would need to be filed and a court order would need to be rendered for any further steps to be taken in the election.

“Win or lose, I’m not out to change the election, I just want to make sure none of my neighbors were disenfranchised” said Peter Greenberg.  “Issues like these go to the heart of why I ran, as neighbors we have to treat each other very well and not see the association as something separate from it’s members, the members are the association.”

“I really know a thing about voter protection and voter rights, it’s kind of become a hobby of mine” said Mike Collins, “The worse thing an entity can do is make up new procedures after the votes have been counted.”

After campaigning hard, “…knocking on over 2,000 doors”, I think Mr. Collins feels the results speak for themselves, and that he deserves the Northpoint seat on the board.

It sounds like our local voting drama has some more twists and turns to come, stay tuned!

$10 of every cheese fondue purchased from 1pm-9pm will be donated to charity. The  Reston location will be donating to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the largest charitable health organization devoted to funding blood cancer patient services, education, and research.

You can make reservations by calling the Reston location at (703) 264-0900.

For more information and information about other participating locations, visit http://www.nationalcheesefondueday.com/

Dear Citizens:

In the past week and a half, there has been a malicious and erroneous e-mail circulating in our community which is causing undue alarm and hysteria. This e-mail has the subject line “Serial rapist spotted in Reston” and has many inaccuracies, false information and presumptions which have caused much concern in our community. As a result of this e-mail being circulated to our schools, HOAs, other jurisdictions, etc. my office, our dispatch center, and the police Public Information Office have been inundated with calls and e-mails referencing the rapist loose on the Reston pathways.

The facts are that on Saturday morning March 13, we had two reports of a suspicious male on the pathway along Glade Drive between Soapstone Dr and Twin Branches Road. Based on these reports, I directed additional patrol and resources to the pathway in an attempt to identify the subject along with providing a sense of security to the users of the pathways. The subject did not commit any crime nor was there any physical contact made.

On Monday March 15, the Washington Post had a detailed report of an East Coast Serial Rapist. Based on this article, the circulating e-mail erroneously made the leap that our suspicious person report was somehow linked. First, let me state there is ABSOLUTELY no information which remotely ties the suspicious male/incident to the East Coast Rapist.

Second, we encourage all citizens to call the police when suspicious activity occurs. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the concern that the East Coast serial rapist is loose in Reston. If you receive such an e-mail, it would be best not to forward the information; call the police Public Information Office at 703-246-2253. On March 16, information was released and is currently available on our webpage www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/stations/reston/

If you have any community questions or concerns, please let me know or contact our Crime Prevention Office at 703-478-0799.

Thank you,
Captain Deborah Burnett
Commander, Reston District Station

SAFETY ALERT

Please see the personal report below regarding a walker on the Reston Pathway. As always, please be aware of your surroundings when out running or walking. Do not go out alone, and remember to have a cell phone with you. Your safety is our concern.

On the morning of March 15, a woman was walking on the path back from Twin Branches along the trail that runs along the stream between the houses on Glade and Howland. She was with her dog, and noticed that she was being followed. She allowed the man to pass by and even acknowledged him, but then he slowed down and repeatedly looked backward. He was then out of sight. The woman noticed that he was wearing latex gloves. When she saw this, she turned and started back toward Twin Branches. At this point, the man started running after her. She was able to get to a house where a Good Samaritan let her in. This incident has been reported to the Reston/Fairfax police.

“The man was large, as in “built” not “fat”, with broad shoulders and a broad face. Big and strong-looking. No facial hair. African-American. Probably around 6ft tall, 200 lbs. He had on a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood over his head and hands in his pockets. Until he later took them out and I saw the gloves.”

Officers recommend that walkers and runners do not use the trails alone. Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Reston Police at 703-478-0904.