Author: Emily Leayman

Emily Leayman is the editor of ALXnow and contributes reporting to ARLnow and FFXnow. She was previously a field editor covering parts of Northern Virginia for Patch for more than eight years. A native of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, she lives in Northern Virginia.

News

City Council approves Housing 2040 Plan to guide housing goals over next 15 years

By Emily Leayman
The Sherwood apartment building at Southern Towers in Alexandria's West End. (staff photo by James Cullum)

On Saturday (June 13), Alexandria City Council unanimously approved the Housing 2040 Plan, which will set the city’s housing goals over the next 15 years.

The Housing 2040 Plan will guide city policies on expanding housing supply and affordable homeownership, preserving existing affordable housing, seeking landlord-tenant protections, strengthening condominium communities, expanding resources for seniors and people with disabilities, and supporting safe and healthy housing. It will also guide the city’s legislative policies on housing, land use planning, small area plans, housing programs and development of new financial and regulatory tools.

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News

Alexandria government offices, other services to close Friday for Juneteenth

By Emily Leayman
The Contrabands and Freedmens Cemetery Memorial at 1001 S. Washington Street in Old Town (staff photo by James Cullum)

The City of Alexandria and other agencies serving the city have announced closures and other schedule changes for the Juneteenth holiday.

All City of Alexandria government offices will be closed Juneteenth (Friday, June 19). The holiday recognizes the end of slavery in the U.S. as the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free on June 19, 1865 — two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

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News

Mayor Gaskins urges self-care after her dehydration scare during Sails on the Potomac

By Emily Leayman
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins (staff photo by James Cullum)

After a health scare and visit to the emergency room, Mayor Alyia Gaskins shared some advice for residents: “take care of yourself.”

Gaskins ended up in the emergency room due to severe dehydration during Sails on the Potomac‘s opening ceremony on Friday (June 12). City leaders were giving remarks to kick off the weekend-long festival.

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News

School Board cuts 56 positions in $401M ACPS budget, gives lifeline to CIS program

By James Cullum and Emily Leayman
The Alexandria City School Board on June 11, 2016 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City School Board gave the green light to its $401.18 million combined funds budget on Thursday night, capping months of public meetings and conversations during what Board Chair Michelle Rief described as “an extraordinarily difficult budget year.”

“This year’s budget development process occurred amid significant uncertainty,” Rief said before the budget’s passage, “including federal workforce reductions that disproportionately affect Alexandria, slowing City revenue growth, continued inflationary pressures, the complexity of negotiating our first collective bargaining agreement and the delayed adoption of the state budget.”

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Around Town

Sails on the Potomac and ALX Jazz Fest lead Alexandria’s June 12-14 weekend events

By Emily Leayman
The Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center at Waterfront Park is home to the Tall Ship Providence (staff photo by James Cullum)

As the second weekend of June arrives, Alexandria City Public Schools students are off for the summer and families will be heading out to enjoy events around the city and region.

Sails on the Potomac will coincide with ALX Jazz Fest from June 12-14 at Waterfront Park (1A Prince Street). Highlights of the event include tall ship tours, fireworks, ALX Jazz Fest performances and the VA250 Mobile Museum.

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News

Alexandria drinking water customers to see smaller rate hike after settlement

By Emily Leayman
Water faucet (via Imani/Unsplash)

Virginia American Water, the drinking water utility for Alexandria, has agreed to a settlement that sets a lower rate increase than originally proposed.

The June 5 settlement with the State Corporation Commission, City of Alexandria, City of Hopewell and Prince George County allows Virginia American Water to increase its revenues by $16 million annually, which is less than the $22 million the utility requested.

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News

Next Woodrow Wilson Bridge drawbridge opening set for tonight

By Emily Leayman
A view of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Old Town, Alexandria (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge will have a drawbridge opening with impacts on Capital Beltway traffic for the second time this week, the Virginia Department of Transportation says.

The drawbridge will open multiple times between 10 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday for maintenance work. Drivers should expect intermittent traffic stops during that timeframe. VDOT recommends using alternate routes due to anticipated delays.

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Around Town

VA250 Mobile Museum to bring American Revolution history to Alexandria’s Sails on the Potomac

By Emily Leayman
VA250 Mobile Museum (via Virginia’s American Revolution 250 Commission)

VA250 Mobile Museum has provided an update to ALXnow on the museum’s opening hours.

A traveling museum led by Virginia’s American Revolution 250 Commission will make a stop at Alexandria’s waterfront for the Sails on the Potomac festival this weekend.

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News

State budget impasse leaves uncertainty as Alexandria School Board lines up final budget

By Emily Leayman
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt talks about a proposed policy change on student publications at the May 8, 2025, School Board meeting (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City School Board held a work session yesterday (June 9) to decide adds and deletes from the budget before final approval, but the state budget impasse leaves future funding for compensation and other items unresolved.

Several of the 38 add/delete proposals that had at least four co-sponsors received support to be added into the Alexandria City Public Schools budget. The School Board will vote on the final budget tomorrow (June 11).

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Around Town

Alexandria to mark Juneteenth with cemetery memorial, concert and festival

By Emily Leayman
Shiloh Baptist Church (staff photo by James Cullum)

The city has announced various events planned for Juneteenth, a federally observed holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.

On June 19, 1865, the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free — two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Today, Juneteenth celebrates African American history and freedom.

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