Ask Questions about the New Reston Rec Center Proposal
Carol Ann Bradley, Chair of the Reston Community Center Board of Governors, suggested at Monday’s joint task force meeting, that if the community had questions about the proposed Rec Center project, that they should “email the website” and they would put together a list of frequently asked questions. With the way this process has been mismanaged so far, I think the idea of submitting non-public questions, and hoping that the RA and RCC boards will answer them is as ludicrous as their having community input meetings where they refuse to allow the community to ask questions and actually receive a direct response from the boards or the Brailsford and Dunlavey folks.
I would like to offer GoReston.com and this blog post to serve as a spot where people can add their public questions that they would like answers to, that way we will have a public record of the questions asked, and the responses received and we can then know which questions they are choosing not to answer.
Ask away!
Questions for RA/RCC:
1. The report lists five members of the Task Force (3 from RA, 2 from RCC) who else is on the Task Force?
2. Is it possible that it is just those 5 members that provided the “Strategic Asset Value” feedback that comprises Section 2?
3. The draft copy of the report shows a total of 9 individuals other than RA & RCC committee and/or staff members providing feedback during a focus group meeting -The final copy does not give a head count for the attendees of the meeting, instead it lists various sports organizations as being represented. Is it possible that you would base this entire concept from as few individuals as appear listed in the draft?
4. Why is the B & D study based on nationwide trends in recreation rather than the hard data that must certainly be available to you considering you are the RA and RCC and it is your programming that we are looking to expand into the largest rec center in the county?
5. Why were the people who paid for the study not able to question the B & D consultants directly?
6. The often discussed $92,000 dollar amount for the study does not include the Urban Land Planning component, the legal fees or this ongoing work with B & D. What is our tab up to?
7. Are you aware that the numbers in the draft show 47% Reston resident usage and 53% non-resident usage and that is using the 100% capture rate of Reston residents? 100% capture seems a little high but then the capture rate of non-residents at 10% seemed a little low – still that only got it to a nearly 50-50 split.
8. What is the fixed seating capacity for the 864 Reston tennis players? Are they stadium seats as they are for the competitive swimming pool designed for regional and national events?
9. Finally, do you feel that this study is adequate to take to a bank to request a loan to finance a $100,000,000 project with operating losses projected at $1,000,000 per year out the gate? If not, why would you present it to the taxpayers of Reston and ask for the same amount out of our pocket?