News

(Updated at 11:45 p.m.) The race for the next mayor of Alexandria has officially begun, sort of.

Last night, Vice Mayor Amy Jackson formally announced her candidacy to the Alexandria Democratic Committee (ADC), a rite of passage in Alexandria elected politics since the city has only ever elected a Republican mayor once, in 1872. Jackson’s opponent, City Council Member Alyia Gaskins, made her own announcement to the ADC on Dec. 2, and used the opportunity last night to announce her latest endorsements.


News

Jafaar Ouardi says his shave ice is like eating fluffy snow.

After launching Le Petit Ananas Hawaiian Shaved Ice two years ago in Fairfax County, Ouardi recently got City Council approval to set up shop in the alleyway outside Bagel Uprising at 2307 A Mount Vernon Avenue. He’s planning on reopening at the new location in March and staying open until November.


News

A Festivus for the rest of us is coming back to Del Ray this Saturday night.

The secular celebration that started in the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld will be celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Joy on the Avenue pop-up at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue.


News

A local hardware store in Del Ray that was in danger of closing just got saved by an Alexandria realtor.

Jay Portlance bought Executive Lock and Key Service from Chris Harvey just before Christmas for $150,000 and reopened it as Del Ray Hardware on New Year’s Day. The store at 2003 Mount Vernon Avenue first opened in the mid-1990s, and the former owner told us in October that he was going to close the business unless he found a buyer by the end of the year.


News

A new temporary exhibit at Freedom House Museum until April documents the life of a teenager enslaved at Washington Seminary in D.C.

Searching for Truth in the Garden” reveals a story of Gabriel, a 13-year-old boy who was enslaved at the school — later renamed Gonzaga College High School — in 1829.


News

The Alexandria Police Department is looking for a 28-year-old man for allegedly striking his roommate in the head with a machete in an apartment in the city’s West End.

The suspect, Kory Anding, got into an argument with the victim in an apartment in the 5400 block of N. Morgan Street on Dec. 23. The suspect allegedly struck the victim with a machete at around 11 p.m., and the victim suffered a serious but non-life threatening injury, according to APD.


News

A man was shot in the leg in the bathroom of a McDonald’s in the Landmark area of Alexandria, and the Alexandria Police Department (APD) is on a manhunt for the suspect.

APD was notified of a fight in the restaurant when two holdup alarms were activated at around 6:15 p.m., according to the police scanner. Police say that the suspect and the victim know each other.


News

(Updated 5:25 p.m.) The owner of an aging office building in Old Town North wants it converted into a 136-unit apartment building, and credits the decision to the “ongoing and diminished office market and current high vacancy rate.”

The five-story, 112,000-square-foot office building was built in 1983. It’s owned by Principal Life Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and managed by PF III Abingdon LLC, an affiliate of the D.C.-based real estate investment firm the Pinkard Group.


News

Two longtime members of the city’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee (BFAAC) resigned earlier this month after severely criticizing the leadership of Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt during a meeting.

BFAAC Vice Chair Kathy Stenzel resigned on Dec. 14 and Board Member Karen Graf resigned on Dec. 16 without providing a reason, according to the city. Graf was chair of the Alexandria School Board in 2013 and 2014, and was a School Board member for six years.


News

Friends of Guest House residents were greeted with the gift of pajamas and cozy socks on Christmas morning. Alexandria realtor Maureen Clyne ended up exceeding her goal of 100 pairs of pajamas and socks by collecting 140 pairs.

“The generosity of the Alexandria community never ceases to amaze me,” said Clyne. “I want to give a special shout out to Margaret Ticer Janowsky of Del Ray Cafe who donated 40 pairs and my colleagues at Coldwell Banker Realty in Old Town who also donated.”


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