Alexandria City Council members highlighted economic uncertainty and federal impacts as key challenges facing the city during a Chamber of Commerce breakfast Tuesday (May 6). The sold-out event at National Industries for the Blind allowed business leaders to hear directly from city leadership about priorities and upcoming initiatives.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins set the tone by describing the current climate of economic uncertainty facing Alexandria, particularly related to federal government changes.
“We have over 16,000 federal workers here in our community. We have about 9,000 direct federal jobs within our city. We have about 2.5 million square feet of office space that is leased to federal tenants,” Gaskins said.
The mayor noted that in fiscal year 2024, government contractors and businesses in Alexandria received about $4 billion in government awards, with the city receiving approximately $51 million in direct federal funding.
Council members expressed concern about the widening gap between residential and commercial tax bases, with Councilman John Taylor Chapman calling for bold action.
“If we’re talking about actually trying to close this gap in a meaningful way, it is going to be something big,” Chapman said. “It is not going to be a subset of little things.”
The upcoming Economic Summit, scheduled for Thursday (May 8), emerged as a focal point for developing strategies to address these challenges. With nearly 500 people registered, the summit aims to generate specific policy recommendations.
“The goal is then that we take those conversations, we take the data, we take all of the information from the listening sessions that have happened to date, and then come summer, the Council is presented with that menu of options,” Gaskins explained.
Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley highlighted positive developments, including the city’s One Start planning process, designed to streamline permitting and planning procedures.
“We are working very diligently to streamline our planning and zoning process and our permitting process, which is supportive to sort of commercial business and to building in the city,” Bagley said.
Council members also pointed to Alexandria’s transit-oriented development opportunities and the profile-raising impact of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus and the Potomac Yard Metro station.
Housing affordability remains a critical issue, with Councilman Kirk McPike noting that Alexandria leads the region in office-to-residential conversions.
“A year ago last year, only one city converted more square feet of office space to residential than Alexandria, and that was Los Angeles, California,” McPike said.
Recent examples of this approach include the Victory Centre conversion and the Whitley project on North Washington Street, where a planned hotel is being redesigned as residential housing.
Chapman called for neighboring jurisdictions to match Alexandria’s commitment to affordable housing.
“Alexandria is trying to do what its voters and businesses want us to do. But in Fairfax, in Prince William and Loudoun County, a lot more needs to be done if we’re talking about changing the market for housing,” he said.
Workforce development emerged as another key priority, with council members acknowledging current approaches aren’t meeting needs. Gaskins describes the disconnect between employers and job seekers.
Councilwoman Jacinta Greene emphasized the importance of comprehensive planning for workforce development.
“We can train as many people as we want to train, but they’re not going to want to drive an hour, an hour and a half each way to get to work,” Greene said, connecting workforce issues back to housing affordability.
The council also discussed opportunities in sports and entertainment, with Chapman revealing plans for a Sports Tourism Task Force.
“Fairfax County’s done that. Montgomery County just recently did that. And the goal is to pull together all the assets you have, talk about how your marketing strategy works, talk about what you can handle, what you can’t handle, and then go after those specific things,” Chapman explained.
McPike noted that entertainment venues provide multiple benefits beyond their primary use.
“When you build out these spaces and you create entertainment zones that draw people together, for an entertainment use, and then the ancillary uses around restaurants and other recreational facilities, those restaurants, those recreational facilities, those traffic improvements persist even beyond the event in question,” he said.
Throughout the discussion, council members emphasized their commitment to stability amid uncertainty, with Bagley noting the city’s approach to the recent budget process.
“What this council has felt almost since the day we took office is a desire to project stability, functionality, you know, calm and measured responses,” Bagley said.
