Word: simon
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Furthermore, city planners often condemn Reston by judging it aesthetically as some sort of pastoral anachronism. The automobile is missing; Simon has carefully wound his parking areas behind the houses and the town center. But to the planner, this seems a negation of the automobile's existence. And the Lake Anne center, with its yellow brick walls and walks and clay chimneys reflected in the lake looks too much like an Italian fishing village to belong in the age of plastics, steel, and pre-stressed concrete. To some urban designers, Reston appears to deny the visual, as well...
...Simon does not propose to be solving the urban problem; Reston is definitely and experiment in revised suburban life. The Washington area will quadruple its size by the year 2000. As it grows, its suburbs will become more than bedrooms for the city. Implicit in the figures of city expansion is the spreading of the city's functions into the suburbs. And developing a model plan for this new type of suburb is as crucial as finding a model for in-city redevelopment...
Reston is not just an anomoly, but a much needed experiment in solving part of the problem which the city planner faces; how to help suburban areas handle their new functions. And Simon's wish to integrate industry, private homes, commerce, and recreation for optimum use by all classes is not different from the aims of the most technically ambitious planner...
...applying these goals to the new type of suburb, Simon is helping to bring the city planners' goals closer to reality. Changing the Fairfax zoning ordinances, for example, won the county to a more realistic view of its planning needs. Getting federal funds for a new-town-style low income housing project is another major step...
...build Lake Anne village, Simon's greatest breakthrough was with the financial community. Over 70 corporate and lending institutions turned Simon down when he set about getting capital for the huge initial investment needed for Reston. The story goes that at one point there were two briefcases on Simon's desk, one containing the orders to dismantle the whole project, the other with the plans to go ahead. Simon recalls, "It was a tense time. Very tense." Fortunately, Gulf Oil pulled through at the critical moment with a considerable grant, and, since then, Simon has found the task of obtaining...