From the The Connection:
Back when Clark Tyler was running meetings of the citizens group planning the redevelopment of Tysons Corner, the transformation of this traffic strangled cross roads seemed a glorious vision.
The ambitious plan grew during one of the hottest housing booms of Fairfax’s history. Housing prices soared and equities grew. The boom in turn was fed by millions of dollars of federal and defense expenditures in Northern Virginia. Typical family real estate taxes grew as well from $2,400 a year to $4,800.
But now in 2012, the hopes of that glorious vision have run into the reality of a post recession Northern Virginia and the tightening of federal expenditures that could spell limitations in the future.
THE PLAN called for the crowded traffic corridors of the present Tysons to be replaced by Metrorail bringing thousands of workers to its offices each day. The streets would be pedestrian friendly, neighborhoods joined by perhaps a trolley or a local bus system. There would be restaurants and urban parks, playgrounds and bike trails and a 21st Century ambiance without the exhausts of thousands of autos each day.
The plan would grow Tysons over the next 40 years from a village of 17,000 permanent residents and 105,000 day workers to an employment Mecca of 200,000 and a residential population of 100,000. . . [read more]
