After two years of reconstruction, two Del Ray dog parks will be reopening to the public over the next several months.
The formerly dusty, not-grassy Simpson Dog Park at 521 E. Monroe Avenue is expected to open within the next three-to-four months, according to the city. The work includes tree and sod plantings, grading and stormwater improvements.
“The majority of the work is complete, although there are important items remaining to allow the park to safely open to the public,” according to the city’s Department of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities.
Improvements to the half-acre dog run at Mount Jefferson Park and Greenway (2607A E. Randolph Avenue) are also nearly finished, the city says.
“With the exception of the Dog Park, Mount Jefferson Park is open for public use,” DRPCA told us in an email. “The grading plan for the dog park to correct drainage is approved and improvement activities are anticipated to begin within the next two weeks. Weather permitting, the dog park is anticipated to open late May or early June after turf establishment.”
The two-year construction schedule has irked some residents.
“It’s puzzling that Alexandria, a city that prides itself on being dog-friendly, takes two years to build these dog parks,” a Del Ray resident said.
Photos via Facebook and City of Alexandria
New parks, 400-foot-tall commercial and residential buildings and more.
The Hoffman family and its associates have a comprehensive idea for the future of the 79-acre site next door to the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station in Alexandria’s Carlyle neighborhood.
The collection of vacant properties are located in and around the Hoffman Town Center, home to the National Science Foundation, a popular movie theater, a Wegmans grocery store, as well as a number of large apartment buildings.
Hoffman, its affiliates and Arlington-based Paradigm Companies will present their coordinated development district (CDD) conceptualization design plan to the Planning Commission at City Hall (301 King Street) on June 4.
Hoffman and Paradigm are proposing the eventual development of multiple apartment buildings up to 400-feet tall, commercial buildings up to 300-feet tall, as well as space for a new school, a new city park, walking trails, a dog park, and tennis and basketball courts.
The 20-page document is a framework for future development, where property boundaries for individual blocks are outlined, and so are building heights, streetscape designs and expected uses, such as open space areas.
As far as a timeline, the developers said in their application that phased development “can occur at any order and is subject to change,” and that uses for the underdeveloped blocks could include vehicle parking, material storage, city agency training, a farmer’s market, festival space, a beer garden and “other similar uses approved by the city.”
Paradigm owns the 24-story Parc Meridian at Eisenhower Station apartment building (750 Port Street), the dual-tower Carlyle Place apartment building (2251 Eisenhower Avenue) and well as the unfinished 26-story Meridian 2250 apartment building project (2250 Dock Lane). Hoffman owns seven blocks within the property.
The site has contaminated soil. According to Hoffman and Paradigm:
To the best of our knowledge contaminated soil may be on site… Based on environmental investigations, Block 2 contains arsenic and has high total chromium levels. Block 3 contains arsenic, petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents. Additional investigations will be completed with each DSUP (development special use permit) when a block moves forward with redevelopment.
The Alexandria Police Department is asking City Council to fund an incentive program to help it monitor crime in real-time.
Council will consider the release of $20,000 to help create the Alexandria Real-Time Information Center (ARTIC) at its meeting on April 24.
City staff said in a memo that ARTIC will establish a “doorbell camera registry, phased implementation of security cameras (license plate readers) and future integration with privately owned security camera systems.”
The city has experienced a crime surge the last several years. APD said that the main goal of the program is to monitor and analyze data in real-time and enhance public safety.
City Council placed the funds in a reserve account during last year’s budget process. The initial plan was to encourage homeowners and business owners to be incentivized to buy private security cameras, but the City Attorney found a number of “legal hurdles” to creating such a program.
Last year, Council also approved $490,000 for five speed cameras at school crossing zones around the city, adding to the speed camera program in multiple school zones.
In recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month in June, Del Ray’s seasonal pop-up bar will open in early May as Pride on the Avenue, it’s owners tell ALXnow.
Bill Blackburn and his business partner “Mango” Mike Anderson of the Homegrown Restaurant Group and their staff gutted the space that was home the last few months to their ski lodge concept, Aspen on the Avenue. Just what they’re planning for the interior is still under wraps, as is the menu, but Blackburn said that renovations will be extensive.
“We’re expanding Pride Month into a two-to-three month period in celebration of openness and inclusiveness for the LGBTQ+ community,” Blackburn said. “I can tell you that we’re going to have a new, extensive craft cocktail program, and the interior of the pop-up is going to be completely different.”
The pop-up is located between HRG’s other Del Ray restaurants Pork Barrel BBQ and Holy Cow Del Ray on Mount Vernon Avenue.
Blackburn said that he got the blessing to open the bar from Freddie Lutz, the owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant in Crystal City. He also said that HRG is planning on donating $500 a week to Equality NOVA, a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“I anticipate that Del Ray will rally behind us with this concept,” Blackburn said. “We want everyone to be welcome in all of our restaurants, and this is a way for us to showcase that.”
Pride on the Avenue will likely stay put until October, when the pop-up will be transformed into its Halloween concept Nightmare on the Avenue. After Thanksgiving, the bar will once again be turned into the Christmas-themed Joy on the Avenue.
Kevin Harris didn’t like the way the 2021 City Council primary went down and now he’s taking another shot.
Harris was edged out by just 750 votes, with Council Member Kirk McPike taking the sixth and last available Council spot. Now he faces 11 opponents in the upcoming June primary.
“This truly is a family affair for us,” Harris said. “Obviously some tears were flowing from my wife and children… It’s a commitment to be up here, and it’s a privilege to have been working on all the things I’ve been doing in the city of Alexandria.”
Harris has been president of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) Resident Association for more than a decade. He’s a lifelong city resident and lives in Old Town with his wife and four children in an ARHA property near to where a rash of shooting incidents have occurred.
ARHA and the police erected video cameras in the area and patrols have increased over the years. Harris says that when the city hires a new police chief that community policing and officers on foot patrols need to be brought back to the area.
“I’m talking about community policing in terms of having a real relationship, real connection with your residents,” Harris said. “Where people can identify the officers, they know their names, they don’t feel threatened when they see an officer coming towards them.”
Harris got his Bachelor’s Degree in business from Alabama State University, where he got a full athletic scholarship and was named captain of the basketball team. He later played professionally for the Dakota Wizards. In 2003, he founded Hoop Life Inc. and has since taught basketball camps, clinics, classes and after-school programs throughout the region. He’s also an ordained Minister at the Love of Christ Church in Del Ray, where he teaches Sunday school.
On the failed Potomac Yard arena deal, Harris said that it’s better that the Washington Wizards and Capitals are staying in D.C.
“Aside from the huge fact that the deal could have caused displacement for marginalized communities, partially sidelined labor unions, and created a complex traffic situation, it was clear from my talks with community members from various sects of the city that the vast majority of Alexandrians didn’t want it or were indifferent towards it,” Harris said. “Regardless, this situation has sparked a unique opportunity for our city to continue in dialogue on the real issue, how to boost our commercial tax base.”
Harris has gotten endorsements from NOVA Labor, former City Council Member Willie Bailey, as well as the ARHA Resident Association and other labor groups.
Harris said that outgoing Mayor Justin Wilson will be missed, and needs to be replaced with “someone who listens.”
“Before you get into the technicalities of what it takes to run a city, you got to first really care,” Harris said.
Harris would like to see a free trolley, like the King Street Trolley, drop visitors at the city’s historic spots. He also said that the city should look for creative solutions before deciding on a tax increase and needs to favor a more welcoming small business environment.
“I always say that a budget is a moral document,” he said. “That’s my key thing, and understanding that our children are really important. But running the city is not not too much different than running a household. A lot of times you know, you have to make sacrifices.”
Harris also grew up homeless, living with his single mom at the homes of family friends. Consequently, he says that he’s been a lifelong advocate for affordable housing.
“Basketball has been a tool that has taught me so much in my life,” Harris told ALXnow. “You have to learn how to deal with adverse situations and push through them by using your fundamentals you’ve learned so hard to master. Basketball allows you a better understanding of who you are, and how to leverage your strengths and weaknesses.”
Harris said that Michael Jordan was his idol growing up.
“It was his mindset,” Harris said of Jordan. “He was determined to win, to be competitive and understood what was needed to win.”
The Democratic primary is on June 18.
After years of planning, a new neighborhood was just approved to replace the former Vulcan Materials site in Alexandria’s West End.
City Council approved the proposal 5-1 at their Saturday public hearing, with City Council Member Canek Aguirre voting in opposition.
Lennar Corporation and Potomac Land Group II LLC can now build a dual-branded 11-story hotel with 256 rooms facing S. Van Dorn Street on at 701 S. Van Dorn Street and 698 Burnside Place, as well as condominiums, townhouses and a new public park. Renderings of the hotel revealed a Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites.
The group also plans to contribute $3.5 million into the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund instead of including affordable housing on the 18-acre site. Additionally, $2.6 million would go toward construction of the 4.4-acre Backlick Run Park in the northwest corner of the property, and the developers would also build a pedestrian bridge from the property to the park.
Aguirre said that the project is an island without affordable housing, and said that the plan does not create a new voting precinct, or a school, and is difficult for the community to otherwise access.
“This is acres and acres of land,” Aguirre said. “We don’t get an opportunity to deal with this much land like this, and to say that we’re gonna have this large of a site and not have anything affordable, I don’t know how we do that.”
The site is the former home to a gravel and granite processing site, and is approximately a half-mile from the Van Dorn Metro station. About one-third of the property can’t be developed due to its previous industrial use.
Mayor Justin Wilson said that the city can’t always get what it wants, especially with such an industrial parcel of land.
“We want to do it all,” Wilson said. “We want public art, we want open space, we want affordable housing. We want it all and the reality is that it all does not pencil out.”
Ken Wire represents the developers and told Council that it will take a year to do environmental cleanup on the property and three years before housing units can be sold.
The plan also calls for construction of 204 condominiums, 88 back-to-back multifamily units, and 31 townhomes connected on an internal street network. Wire said that the condos would range in price from $400,000 to $600,000.
There’s a new barbecue restaurant in an Old Town space that was previously home to… You guessed it — a barbecue restaurant.
Mystic BBQ & Grill formally opened this month at 220 N. Lee Street in the space previously occupied by Myron Mixon’s Pitmaster Barbeque, the Zebra first reported. Myron Mixon’s closed last Christmas Eve.
RT’s Restaurant (3804 Mount Vernon Avenue) owners Ralph Davis and Matthew Davis took over the restaurant, after their special use permit was approved. The menu has undergone a visual and branding overhaul and the “southern-centric menu” also features fresh seafood, “including our signature spicy she crab soup, low country shrimp & grits & creole bouillabaisse,” according to the restaurant.
According to Mystic BBQ & Grill:
Opened in April 2024 by a family that has been operating restaurants in and around Old Town for almost 50 years. Located in the heart of Old Town, Mystic has a diverse menu featuring Texas style smoked brisket, baby rack ribs & Carolina pulled pork. Meats are smoked low & slow in BBQ champion Myron Mixon’s signature smoker that is front and center in our open kitchen.
BBQ is just one part of this southern centric menu that also features fresh seafood including our signature spicy she crab soup, low country shrimp & grits & creole bouillabaisse. Not to be missed is the jumbo lump crab cake sandwich, which sets the standard for all of Old Town. Specialty sandwiches & unique salads are available all day in a casual setting that features upscale but moderately priced food. Great little wine list & large selection of draft beers are also available. Don’t forget about the “bananas foster” bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream & brown sugar rum sauce.
The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, and from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
For all intents and purposes, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor James Ross isn’t going anywhere.
Actually, this fall Ross is starting work as the director of orchestral studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He also just renewed his contract in Alexandria another three years. Ross says that his new contract in Philadelphia stipulates that he will be allowed to return to Alexandria the week before a symphonic performance in order to get the orchestra ready.
“I am going to be doing both,” Ross told ALXnow. “I will start at Curtis in the fall and I will continue with Alexandria, and I will just bounce pass back and forth as needed between between the two places.”
Ross is currently in his sixth season with the orchestra, and every show since January has been sold out. The next show will feature renditions of Leonard Bernstein’s dances in “On The Town” on April 20 at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Theater at Northern Virginia Community College.
Ross has been teaching at Curtis for the last two years. He credits Bernstein as one of his principal conducting teachers, as well as Kurt Masur, Otto-Werner Mueller and Seiji Ozawa. He is the founding orchestra director of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, and also taught at the University of Maryland from 2001 to 2017.
“My whole reason for being and my approach to music has been about what concerts are going to look like 50 years from now,” Ross said. “Orchestras can play movie music, video game music, we can accompany jazz artists, in addition to work from old composers. So, it’s dependent on the orchestra nowadays to be flexible, and the flexible orchestras are the ones doing the best.”
ASO Executive Director George Hanson said that the organization has been infused with energy and creativity since Ross started in 2018. He was hired after a two-year search.
“We are thrilled that Jim is continuing his role as ASO’s music director and are very pleased with the opportunities that his role with the Curtis Institute of Music will bring to our orchestra,” Hanson said.
Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins has more than doubled the campaign contributions raised by her opponent Vice Mayor Amy Jackson and triple the amount raised by former real estate developer Steven Peterson.
As of March 31, Gaskins raised $149,107 with $69,425 on-hand. Jackson has raised $59,984 and has $22,682 on-hand, while Peterson has raised $44,700 with $14,019 on-hand.
The April 15 quarterly campaign finance disclosure deadline follows a recent Alexandria Democratic Committee straw poll that Gaskins resoundingly won. The previous campaign disclosure report was on Dec. 31, and showed Gaskins with $46,000 and Jackson with nearly $17,000 in campaign funds.
Gaskins received 79 cash donations more than $100 totaling $72,775, five in-kind donations totaling $15,558, and 263 donations $100 or less totaling $15,280, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Gaskins’ top donor is Reginald James Brown, an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis, who donated $13,318 (and $20,500 since her 2021 campaign). Her number-two contributor is Brown’s wife, Tiffeny Sanchez, who gave the candidate $20,000. The Northern Virginia Labor Federation also gave her $10,000, and she received $1,000 for former Delegate Rob Krupicka, $500 from former City Council Member David Speck, as well as $200 from retired Sheriff Dana Lawhorne.
Jackson received 66 cash donations more than $100 totaling $21,946, 132 cash donations of $100 or less, and 20 in-kind contributions more than $100 totaling $5,206.
Jackson is the top donor of her campaign, donating $8,271, followed by her second-biggest contributor, her mother, Martha Bickford, who donated $5,516. Former State Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw gave Jackson $3,000, and other notable contributions include $1,500 from 2021 City Council candidate Bill Rossello, $849 from assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Lord, and $437 from School Board Member Tammy Ignacio.
Peterson received 11 cash contributions more than $100 totaling $24,500, two contributions of $100 or less totaling $200 and one in-kind contribution of $20,000.
Peterson is also his own top donor, having given his campaign $30,000. His second-most contributor is Michael Srabek, who donated $10,000.
The City Council race
City Council Member John Taylor Chapman leads in fundraising so far in the Council primary, closely followed by Council Member Kirk McPike and with newcomer Jesse O’Connell having raised the third-most of the 12 candidates.
Chapman received his biggest donations from fibre space owner Danielle Romanetti ($5,000), and from NOVA Labor ($5,000). Reginald Brown also donated $2,500 to his campaign, and other notable contributors include $250 from Sheriff Sean Casey and former Alexandria Toyota manager John Taylor, who donated $2,000.
McPike’s top donors included NOVA Labor ($5,000), Reginald Brown for $2,500 and Tiffany Sanchez ($1,000). Sheriff Casey also contributed $250, and former City Council Member Del Pepper gave him $300.
- City Council Member John Taylor Chapman — Raised $57,379, with $44,354 on-hand
- City Council Member Kirk McPike — Raised $55,648, with $40,675 on-hand
- Jesse O’Connell — Raised $46,081, with $25,590 on-hand
- City Council Member Canek Aguirre — Raised $34,733, with $20,380 on-hand
- James Lewis — $24,490 raised, with $21,765 on-hand
- City Council Member Sarah Bagley — Raised $24,338, with $14,937 on-hand
- School Board Member Abdel Elnoubi — Raised $18,306, with $13,415 on-hand
- School Board Member Jacinta Greene — Raised $13,089, with $0 on-hand
- Jonathan Huskey — Raised $12,590, with $11,300 on-hand
- Charlotte Scherer — Raised $11,128, with $6,834 on-hand
- Kevin Harris — Raised $2,116, with $2,138 on-hand
- Celianna Gunderson — N/A
The City Council Democrat and Republican primaries are on June 18. Election day is Nov. 5.
A 41-year-old Maryland man is being held without bond after allegedly executing the family dog in a fit of rage, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The incident occurred on Feb. 25 in an apartment in the 4300 block of Raleigh Avenue, which is near the Shoppes of Foxchase on Duke Street.
The victim told police that the father of her child took her car and her Glock 19 9mm pistol when he left for work that morning. She told police that she then became fearful and left the apartment with her child.
At around 10 p.m., the victim and the suspect were texting, with the suspect “highly agitated that she would not tell him the whereabouts of their daughter,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
A phone call followed the series of texts, and during the call the victim heard two “loud booms and the call disconnected,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
Police later found the dog named Max dead on the bed in the master bedroom, shot twice in the head.
The suspect then allegedly texted the victim that she should not go upstairs with their child, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The suspect was arrested on March 12 and was charged with torture of a dog, larceny of a firearm, unlawful discharge of a firearm in an occupied building, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He goes to court on April 26.
The Alexandria Sexual Assault Center and Domestic Violence Program is available 24/7 to listen and help at 703-746-4911.
“If you are a neighbor and know that an abusive incident is occurring, call the police immediately,” the city said. “Calling the police is simply the most effective way to protect the victim and children from immediate harm.”
