Blog
February 2, 2012
Founder’s Day – 2012 Bob Simon’s Birthday 4/12 & Family History Story 4/19. Sat. April 12, in Reston ,Va: Community Celebration of Reston’s 48th & Bob Simon’s […]
January 23, 2012
he says. “If I wanted to live in a car-dependent area with a great big house, those would be quite affordable.” ---
that makes me hurt inside. We tried to bring more walkable areas but were beaten down.
Mr. Simon didn't say that but If he did I would quote him.
I didn't know to try because I lived in Reston and didn't know people were looking for it. It was designed with big roads for cars and it had walking paths. It was a balance.
If you research the original plans from 1964 you will see what wasn't supported by Golf Development Corporation after 1967. Granted Mr. Simon didn't sell enough homes to make his town successful in the beginning. Golf people knew what to do to change that negative spiral of sales. They gave the mass market what they wanted--what advertising was selling them. Reston grew and prospered in this balance of what people thought they want and what they didn't know they liked. This new plan of mixing global traditions and new ideas slowly faded in order to sell more single family tradition doll houses with pitched roofs and small windows. Golf then sold it to Mobil for a profit. Mobil sold the remaining land for a huge profit and Terrabrook who sold their remaining land. Last I checked, in '07 there were 5 acres left for a million and acre. The descendent developers changed things but they didn't touch the Lake Anne area. There was no reason to tear that apart because it was planned too well. Simon in the 60's was selling against what advertising was selling. Mr Simon had a different kind of living in mind being from NYC and having lived in Europe. Sprawl, isolation and segregation were not on his agenda.
The DOcumentary: “Designing Healthy Communities,” AIRS this now or soon: in New York, WLIW, 101 and 102, Thursday, February 2 at 4am; 103 and 104 Friday, February 3 at 4am.
-- 4 am! that is insane maybe bc NYers don't live in sprawl-- everywhere else though it is airing when people are awake. Sorry DC/VA/MD you don't see it at all. The land of sprawl. I'll find in it on line and post the link -- if I think it is good.)
DONATE to the film about Reston/MR SImon and the Early Kids of Reston. Email MoS collective info for details to participate in anyway. Production has started and stopped.