Alexandria: Two Cents Worth
Where the city’s tax increase is going.
When the city manager presented his proposed budget to the City Council, it came with a one cent tax increase.
Alexandria: Responding to Metro Delays and Closures
City leadership and ridership look at upcoming Metro changes.
It's frustrating but necessary.
Inside the Alexandria Police Department: Street to Cell
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
Whether it’s being pulled over for a traffic violation or being directed around the site of a crash, virtually every Alexandrian has had some interaction with the Alexandria Police Department’s Traffic Section.
Inside the Alexandria Police Department: Specialists in Action
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
In 1989, a hostage situation was unfolding at 316 Hopkins Court. A man trying to collect on a drug debt had taken hostages at gunpoint inside a house and the Special Operations Team (S.O.T.) was called out to the site in response.
Alexandria: Opposition to Old Colony Inn Proposal Turns Personal
Has it gone too far?
After nearly a full year of back and forth through boards, commissions, and community engagement, the Old Colony Inn is one step away from redevelopment. Hot on the developer’s heels, however, were local neighbors objecting to the zone transition allowances by staff.
Alexandria: Design Supported as Patrick Henry Moves Forward
N. Latham Street controversy resolved; auditorium questions loom.
After a series of back and forths between the School Board, an advisory group, and project staff, Patrick Henry Elementary School is moving forward with a compromise that seems to have satisfied most parties. Questions and concerns remain about the site, including a looming discussion about the exclusion of an auditorium from the design, but at the April 27 meeting of the Patrick Henry Advisory Group, the group agreed to support the Option C.1 design.
Alexandria: Accomplice in Beverley Park Homicide Sentenced
Teen’s attorney details background of abuse.
On April 28, the family of Jose Luis Ferman Perez met the girl who was at least partially responsible for his death. The defendant, 16-year-old Leidi Granados Gutierrez, is one of three MS-13 affiliated suspects connected with last year’s Nov. 9 homicide of Jose Luis Ferman Perez.
Inside the Alexandria Police Department: Crisis
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol. In the sixth week of the course, citizens learned more about how the Alexandria Police react to crisis situations, including hostage situations and riot control.
Alexandria: City Council OKs Improvements
In an update to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, the City Council approved on April 16 some major extensions and renovations to four miles of new sidewalks and 88 miles of bicycle improvements.
Alexandria: Management Misfiring at Torpedo Factory?
Torpedo Factory hangs in balance between artistic enclave and commercial asset.
Everyone seems to be in agreement: the Torpedo Factory is one of the star attractions of Old Town Alexandria.
Alexandria Snapshot: Higher Power
Power outage along Duke Street on Tuesday, April 19 interrupted Shiloh Baptist Church’s service, so Pastor Taft Quincey Heatley organized his congregation and the visiting worshippers from Arlington’s Macedonia Baptist Church to take the service into the adjacent parking lot. “We came to worship, so that’s what we’re going to do,” said Heatley. “The church is not the building, it’s the people.”
Inside Alexandria Police Department: On the Job
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol.
Transitway Comes to Arlington
Ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the launch of joint Arlington-Alexandria bus service.
“This is Arlington,” said Sandra Borden from the Crystal City Civic Association as she points across Glebe Road, “and over there, that’s Alexandria.”
Alexandria: McAuliffe Visits City Hall for Veto
Mayor and Domestic Violence specialists back Governor’s stance.
On paper, giving domestic violence victims under protective orders access to concealed weapons without permits or training may have appeared sound, but with his veto of a series of bills out of the Virginia legislature, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others argued that adding more guns would only put more lives at risk.
Inside Alexandria Police Department: Use of Force
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol.
Alexandria: Council Hears Ethics Recommendation
A pledge for city’s elected and appointed officials.
The ethics pledge makes no changes to the law, increases no reporting qualifications, and includes no complaint process, but after months of City Council fights over its necessity and implications, the draft presented by the Code of Conduct Review Committee at the April 12 City Council meeting was received with relatively little fanfare.
Alexandria: Civil War Still Reverberates
Indecision and conflict continues over Confederate street names and statues.
After four tumultuous meetings, the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Confederate Memorials and Street Names has not managed to settle the 150-year-old conflict over the legacy of the Confederacy in Alexandria.
Alexandria Brief: Lawsuit Filed Against General Registrar of Voters
Anna Leider, the general registrar of voters in the City of Alexandria, is now faced with a lawsuit that alleges she failed to maintain proper voter rolls and refused to permit the plaintiffs to inspect list maintenance records as required by federal laws.
Alexandria Business: Teaism Goes Cold
By the end of April, healthy food restaurant Teaism will close.
After four years as part of the first wave of the North Old Town renaissance, the Teaism Restaurant on on N St. Asaph Street will close on April 24.
Alexandria: Uniting for Clean Energy
Rally spotlights climate change’s effects on people.
A rally to support clean power, held in Market Square on April 2, was interrupted by a heckler denouncing climate change as a fraud. For attendees of the rally, it was an unexpected disturbance, but the legislators hosting the event say it’s par for the course.
Inside the Alexandria Police Department: Evidence
An occasional series, drawn from the Alexandria Citizen’s Police Academy.
The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol.
Alexandria: Robbery Ends in Murder
Local grandfather remembered as pillar of community.
Melaku Abraha loved walking. It was his favorite way to explore Alexandria, and family and neighbors in particular remember his frequent walks near his home on South Alfred Street. On March 28, at around 9:33 p.m., he was found conscious but badly injured just a block from his home. A robbery and assault left Abraha with serious head injuries. He was hospitalized, but his condition continued to deteriorate and four days later he died.
Inside the Alexandria Police Department: Criminal Investigations
“I’d be lying if I said it’s not cool.” — Sgt. John East from APD Vice
The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol.
Alexandria: Addressing Business Woes
City Council and state legislators examine Alexandria’s business woes.
Over oatmeal, Alexandria’s City Council and state legislators did their best to reassure local businesses, distressed by a recent spate of closures in Old Town.
Alexandria: Transitway Plan Branches Out
Council approves West End Transitway after argument over tree canopy.
If all goes as planned, implementation is still four years away, but the West End Transitway took a step forward at the March 29 meeting with the City Council unanimously voting in support of guidance for the planning of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route between the Van Dorn Metro Station and the Pentagon.
Alexandria Brief: King Street Park Revitalized
Beverley Park isn’t the only Alexandria Park looking at major redevelopment. The park at the end of King Street, appropriately named “King Street Park,” could be seeing a temporary boost before Waterfront redevelopment transforms the area. Currently the site hosts a small anchor monument and a bench, but expansion into two nearby sites could turn the park into the missing link between the northern and southern parts of the Alexandria waterfront.
Alexandria: Old Town North Development Approved
The empty lot in North Old Town, formerly home to Giant, will soon be home for 232-units of residential development. Local citizens protested the traffic and parking impact of the new building, and while City Council did tighten the on-street parking requirement, City Council approved the development at the March 12 public hearing.
Alexandria: Ramsey Resolved
Despite approvals, Ramsey Homes redevelopment pushed back until 2017.
The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority has agreed to a work plan with the city. One of the core tenets of this plan, number 3 on the list, is “no surprises.”
Alexandria: Euille Meets with Inmates
Former mayor discusses need for jobs to curb recidivism.
“Before we start, I want you to know that I can’t do anything to get you out sooner,” said former Mayor William Euille to inmates at the Alexandria Detention Center on March 10. Euille spoke about his own experiences with successes and defeats throughout his life, including his recent loss to Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg.
Alexandria: Make Eisenhower Great Again
City Manager Mark Jinks lays out plans for Eisenhower area.
While the city makes adjustments to local transit and fosters more cultural activities in the Carlyle and Eisenhower area, there’s been no word yet on the biggest issue affecting the Eisenhower Valley: whether or not the Transportation Safety Administration will move into the long-vacant Victory Center. At the March 10 meeting of the Eisenhower Partnership, City Manager Mark Jinks said that the city’s been hearing that they’ll find out whether or not Alexandria will be the new TSA home “any day now” since a judge voided the contract in November 2015.
Alexandria: Ramsey Reconsidered
Rebuilding the strained “special relationship.”
Rezoning a piece of property without having an approved plan — for what will replace it — is highly unusual, but it doesn’t mean the City Council won’t do it.
What City Can Do To Help Businesses Succeed
Small business owners offer suggestions.
It might not sound like much for the average Alexandrian, but a zoning community meeting could be the first step towards making Alexandria a better home for small businesses. On March 19, the city will host a Small Business Zoning Community Meeting, starting at 10 a.m. in the Sister Cities room at City Hall.
Alexandria Votes Moderate
City residents favor Clinton, Rubio, and Kasich.
The ballots are hidden, but when he went to the polls at Lyles-Crouch Elementary School early on Super Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner made no secret of whom he was supporting.
Alexandria: Building on Giant’s Bones
Despite traffic concerns, Planning Commission green lights North Old Town development.
Currently, the city block between in North Old Town that formerly housed the Giant grocery store sits empty except for a lone ABC store.
Opportunities for Alexandrians
City job fair centers around entry level positions.
If you host it, they will come. While 3.4 percent unemployment in Alexandria is slightly below the 3.9 percent average for Northern Virginia, it still leaves 3,381 Alexandrians unemployed.
Alexandria: Butting Heads on Ramsey Homes
Sudden reversal in saga of Alexandria affordable housing.
After seven hours of debate, the decision not to rezone Ramsey Homes on Saturday was rendered moot when one City Council member announced three days later that he’d changed his mind.
Alexandria: Jinks Presents Budget Plan
2017 proposed budget focuses on funding schools, but sets aside pre-k programs.
With Fairfax County looking at raising its real estate tax rate by 3 cents and Arlington County lowering it by a half cent, the main theme of City Manager Mark Jinks’ FY 2017 budget was surviving somewhere in the middle while providing funding to enhance schools, the fire department, and parking.
Alexandria: TC Honors Its Titans
Hall of Fame inductees include serviceman killed in Iraq and “Remember the Titans” coach Herman Boone.
For one of T.C. Williams High School’s biggest celebrities, Coach Herman Boone made a quiet entrance to the Alexandria City Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony. He worked his way apart from the crowd, finding and greeting some of the men he used to coach in football. Boone was among the athletes inducted and coaches honorarily inducted into the ACPS Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Feb. 12.
Alexandria: And Now for Something Different–Consensus
Council and School Board agree on capacity priority.
Here’s how budget sessions go: the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) puts together a list of funding requests. The city puts its budget together and tells the school system to get its numbers lower. There’s some haggling over prices and priorities, with the city eventually transferring a little more money into the schools and the schools announcing cuts to various programs or plans to reach the city’s funding requirements.
Alexandria: Residents Displaced by Church Expansion Assured Housing
The Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley presents affordable housing relocation plan.
“One of our missions is to sustain affordable housing,” said the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley at a meeting with the local residents on Feb. 11.”This affects people and families. It’s not something we take lightly.”
Alexandria: Making of a Megachurch
Alfred Street Baptist Church prepares for 181,151-square-foot expansion.
On Sundays, Alfred Street Baptist Church, one of the city’s oldest black churches, is one of the most popular spots in Alexandria’s Historic District. According to Deacon James Garrett, the church has added more than 3,000 new members over the last eight years. If all goes according to plan, it’s going to get a little more spacious inside Alexandria’s historic Alfred Street Baptist Church, but some residents are concerned it comes at the cost of crowding their neighbors.
Alexandria: War of Passive Aggression
South rises again in Alexandria to fight renaming streets and moving memorial.
Speakers at a city meeting compared the potential plans to de-Confederate Alexandria to everything from the backlash against soldiers returning home to Vietnam to ISIS and the Taliban. At the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Confederate Memorials and Street Names, a public comment section sparked tensions and highlighted a deep divide in how Alexandrians still view a war over 150 years ended.
Alexandria: Ethics Reform Roils Council
Progressive transparency or potential witch hunt?
One month into her term as mayor, Allison Silberberg got the process started on enacting a new set of ethics reforms. At its Jan. 28 meeting, the City Council voted to approve an Ad Hoc Study Group to examine ethics reform. It’s the first legislative step forward on an issue Silberberg had put forward as a centerpiece of her election last year. But on the rest of the council, feelings toward the new committee were a little more tepid, some even drawing parallels between Silberberg’s ethics reform and McCarthyism.
Alexandria: Two Republicans Enter Race Against Beyer
Incumbent gains Republican opponents.
It’s been a little over a year since U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) took office, and both the first term congressman and his political opposition have been busy in that time.
Alexandria: Tragedy and Charity For Deputy Sheriff
Hardships continue for deputy sheriff, while family and coworkers help.
People at the Alexandria Sheriff’s Department say good things about Sergeant Chris O’Dell, but one of the most telling stories about O’Dell is when he saved an inmate’s life in August 2014.
Alexandria: Achieving ‘Passable’ Roads
On Wednesday morning, Jan. 27, the city announced that all streets in Alexandria were passable for emergency vehicles, but warned that “passable” may mean only one lane is clear.
Alexandria Neighborhood Outlook: Developments Underway for Oakville, Eisenhower, Landmark
Incremental steps require time and negotiations.
With the approval of the Oakville Small Area Plan by the City Council in late 2015, that small corner of Alexandria is receiving a major facelift. The area referred to in council discussions as the “Gateway to Alexandria” will see expanded density and retail as the city braces for the opening of the nearby Potomac Yard Metro Station.
Alexandria: Murders Spotlight Gang Presence
MS-13 gang members in custody over Beverley Park and Four Mile Run homicides.
After months of investigating, two of Alexandria’s 2015 homicide cases may have been solved. Police announced on Jan. 13 that suspects were in custody for the murders of Jose Luis Ferman Perez and Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez.
Alexandria: Big Trouble in Little Businesses
Why Not closing, Old Town Coffee Tea and Spice hanging in the balance, and questions surround future of small business in Old Town.
Within the next few months, Old Town Alexandria will be losing one of its small business institutions and a second one remains at risk for closure.
Alexandria Snapshot: Archaeological Find
Francine Bromberg, city archaeologist, is on hand to answer local citizen’s questions on Jan. 5 about the latest archeological find.