Run, don't walk, from Reston.
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5/4/2008
Reston was a planned community designed around quaint 1950s and 1960s ideals. The planned part has failed -- look at the deserted eyesores that Lake Anne and Tall Oaks villages have become for proof positive of those failed ideals. One village center, Hunter's Woods, had to be torn down and rebuilt before it even began to foster any growth and now it's just a typical ugly suburban strip shopping center with acres of parking lots full of over sized SUVs driven by aggressive, mean Stepford Wives. The one high school is a "ghetto" school that no one wants to attend (there are lawsuits pending over forced redistricting to get this white elephant school populated; the rich people in neighboring towns want nothing to do with South Lakes and will fight to the end -- and this is after the nearly $60 million (yes 60 million!) renovation.
Reston is full of legions of cheap, poorly maintained and ugly social / subsidized housing complexes scattered all over Reston and there are more coming. The county now sneaks in yet more low-income housing by buying cheap, low-end condos that are miles from any jobs, recreation centers, grocery stores or other needs of the poor. The tiny condos are stuffed with large families and then the inevitable problems and clashes are left to the volunteer condo boards to support. The county staff never show up or participate in board meetings or offer any support to the problems that their tenants create. Another failed Reston model.
The county supervisor has done a poor and terrible job of protecting the property values that support the schools and other so-called amenities of the community and taxes were just raised to cover more funding for yet more subsidized housing.
On top of the sky-high housing taxes, there is ANOTHER tax to be paid to the Reston Association. This non deductible tax pays for pools that no one wants, miles of poorly maintained dangerous paths and lakes and streams that are disgusting open sewers clogged with litter and trash.
I bought into this so-called ideal suburban life and was more than shocked at what ills are hidden behind all of the trees and woods. My condo has depreciated by about 50% since I bought it in 2005 and it appears that I am going to be stuck here for a good long time. It's a good thing there is no cemetery here, because I would not want to spend eternity in this failed experiment.
Abhd | Reston, VA