Could it really be true that the Reston Association and its penchant for trying to color code trims and paint schemes has become the cruelest community in the country?
Can you imagine any true southern town telling a respected elder they weren't allowed into their own house? Can you imagine some Yankee town taking away the rights of one of its individuals to get into their own home? Apparently Reston is neither genteel south nor the freedom-fighting North.
My mother's breast cancer recently metastized into her spine, liver and nodes and she is now wheelchair bound. This happened very suddenly and very recently. Two weeks ago she was walking and progressing toward greater mobility...and then came the steroid induced weakness, the Xeloda induced malnutrition, and the falls. The cancer is in her T7-T10 and her T10 is collapsed because of the radiation treatments.
She is but 60 years old and she is a loving mother and a very nice woman loved by her neighbors. This past week because of her health she had to go to the CCU at Reston Hospital. She was discharged today.
On Friday, 10/19, I went into the Reston Association and asked what it would take to get permission to build a temporary ramp. I was told of the types of pictures and drawings I would need and that evening I acquired those pictures and those drawings (from a professional building engineer) and submitted them to Sarah K. Marsden the Covenants Property Inspector and asked if what I provided were the right kind of drawings: a Plan View and a Site View. I also took 4 pictures of the front of the house from 4 different angles and I was told the pictures and the drawings were sufficient. I have an email to that effect.
I asked if I could petition to make special an opportunity to present the ramp to the Design Review Board on Tuesday 10/23. Remember all of the drawings were done and sent on 10/20. Also I had all of the neighbors sign off on the plan including the president of the Hunter Green Cluster.
So what had I done? I requested permission to put in a simple ADA compliant handicap ramp so my mother could get into her house (on Indian Ridge Road, in Reston VA) without requiring two people to lift her wheelchair into her own house. Also with her weakened spine if she were to be dropped it could mean immediate paralysis. Plus isn't it just wrong to deny a dying and disabled elderly woman access to her house?
Also, lets say she is carried with her wheelchair into her home and her caregiver has to leave for one reason or another. Then what if there is a fire? She would be incapable of getting down the stairs in front of her own house. She would die in that fire because the Reston Association denied her request to have a temporary wheelchair ramp placed in
front of her own house. She has six steps in front of her house. That is all...
I submitted all the required drawings and pictures, and was told that what I submitted was sufficient (and I have an email to that affect). I then balked when they suddenly came back and said in a voicemail that they needed 5 more items from me...that day on Tuesday 10/23, the day of the meeting, and that I had until noon the next day to get them all the materials to be considered for the Design Review Board--three weeks from that date.
I thought it obvious that any human being would want to help a dying and disabled woman have easy access to her house...I was wrong.
I could not give up so easily and so I called multiple people in my networks to find out if they had any experience working with the Reston Association. My favorite quote from a person who will remain anonymous was, "I have never dealt with them directly, but the horror stories are legendary!"
So I put as much pressure on the Design Review Board bureaucracy as I could to get onto the 10/23 agenda. I love my mother and want the best for her. I succeeded! I received an email from Sarah K. Marsden indicating that the Meeting Manager had allowed me (lucky me) to be on the agenda.
So I went...the result? Nine different people present. Then a tenth project that was going to be presented was not presented because it was cancelled. And then I piped up..."What about the Indian Ridge Road project? I received an email that I would be on the agenda?"
Oh, said the meeting manager, "that went to consultation." I said, "I don't know what that means but I am here because I received an email three or so hours ago that my mother's project was on the agenda." The meeting manager then said to the Design Review Board, "He was told." That is a lie...straight out, bald-faced lie--publicly spoken. No one ever
spoke to me. And no I did not receive an email that I was not on the agenda.
Then to add insult to injury the head of the Design Review Board decided to tell me how horrible it was of me to think I could get on his agenda in such a short time period. I simply reminded him that I was in attendance at that meeting because I was invited--by the people sitting next to him:
Brevetta Jordan Brevetta@reston.org
Barbara Ramey Bramey@reston.org.
Why would I show up if I wasn't invited? I was strongly discouraged by Sarah Marsden, though ''It is a public meeting so you are free too attend." But she added "there is really no reason for you to be there." Oh really? Fighting for permission to get my dying mother access to her own home must not be a good reason to be there.
If permission to build had been granted, I could have brought my mother home from Assisted Nursing in but a week. I had already started the bid process and engaged with Arundel Woodworks, Case Design, & Australian. Three different companies equally capable of getting the work done at the highest professional level.
In a week, I could have brought my mother home from the Assisted Nursing facility where she is trapped until the Ramp is completed. Now I can't...
I have to ask myself why Reston prided its process more than a dying woman's life and well being? This is not about the color of a door. This is about life and death...real people affected by horrible decisions made by people who prize their own fiefdoms more than they value human life.
Attached is a PowerPoint of the pictures of the front of the house and the design drawings that were submitted so you can be aware that I did my part to submit the requisite materials.
Can you place a call investigating this story? Can you tell others about this issue? Are there no cases involving treating people humanely that call for an expedited process? Can you ask the Reston Association if they believe their tactics to delay my request for approval of the ramp is unethical? Can you determine if denying a disabled homeowner access to their own is potentially illegal? I don't have answers...only questions...only concern for my mother's well being.
I noticed that several recent cases have gone to the supreme court of Virginia questioning the infallibility of Associations such as The Reston Association...isn't this a circumstance that would suggest the associations ability to control a dying persons access to their own home seems incongruous?
I've spoken to professionals who feel the best appeal to Reston is their perception in the populace rather than taking them to court--though I may have to do that--your thoughts?
Do you think they ask themselves how they would feel if their own mother or child was not allowed into their own home and had to live in some remote facility until the Reston Association decided it would be okay to build basic access?
Reston, in my limited view of the world, is now the cruelest community in the United States. When a civic process takes precedent over people's lives--I believe it is time to re-evaluate what the purpose of that civic function is doing. Am I emotional about this issue because it is my mother's life at risk? Probably.
But is it really wrong to fight for what our loved ones need in their time of need? My mother always believed that I knew what the right thing was. She never told me what to do...only to do the right thing, support just cause causes, she taught me to believe in decency and care. Well now it is my time to support her just cause, to advocate for decency on her behalf, to ask the Reston Association to honor the needs for her proper care. Is common decency too much to ask for anymore?
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