Around Town

Two local businesses in Del Ray held ribbon cuttings at their new storefronts Saturday (May 16).

The Del Ray Business Association hosted the ribbon cuttings for Lifestyle & Performance Fitness (202 E. Custis Avenue) and the Department of Beer and Wine (2805 Mount Vernon Avenue). The events were attended by City Council Members John Taylor Chapman and Sandy Marks, along with DRBA president Lauren Fisher and board member Gayle Reuter.


News

After an 11-hour public hearing with more than 100 speakers Saturday (May 16), a divided City Council upheld the Traffic and Parking Board’s decision to redesign a 0.8-mile section of Braddock Road in Alexandria’s Rosemont and Del Ray neighborhoods.

The 4-3 decision means city staff will continue designing the project into 2027. In 2028, parking will be removed on Braddock Road between Mount Vernon Avenue and Russell Road to make way for new bike lanes. Braddock Road will also be reduced from two lanes to one in each direction between West Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, creating two-way bicycle lanes on one side and a commercial delivery loading zone on the other.


News

A fatal officer-involved shooting followed the suspect’s fatal shooting of a female victim in Alexandria early Monday (May 18), according to police.

Around 4:05 a.m., the Alexandria Police Department responded to a report of a female victim who had been shot at an apartment complex (27 Canterbury Square) in the West End. Two relatives had left the apartment, leaving the suspect barricaded inside a room with the victim.


News

Two candidates for the open principal position at Alexandria City High School were introduced at an online meeting Thursday (May 14).

The candidates are Michael Burch, the ACHS lead administrator for operations and student support, and Anthony McWright, the executive principal at Denver School of the Arts and president of the Arts Schools Network. The meet-and-greet was moderated by former ACHS principal John Porter, who said Alexandria City Public Schools will conduct the final candidate interview next week before the finalist’s name goes to the School Board for consideration on May 28.


Around Town

Alexandria’s world champion whistler Chris Ullman has his sights — and lips — set on whistling at an NFL game and before the Pope.

Ullman, the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal profile, sat down with ALXnow to talk about being a four-time national and international whistling champion (1994, 1996, 1999 and 2000) and the author of the memoir “Find Your Whistle.” Ullman has whistled for President George W. Bush and top administration officials in the oval office, on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and “The Today Show” with Katie Couric, at Major League Baseball games, college basketball games, with jazz bands and symphony orchestras, and even a funeral.


Around Town

In 2023, Jess Moak left behind a career as a program manager for large nonprofits to start her own interior design shop in Old Town.

The New York native opened her store Eries Interiors opened Eries Interiors at a 300-square-foot space at 101 S. St. Asaph Street in October 2024. The following month, a fire next door at 103 S. St. Asaph Street temporarily shuttered three women-owned businesses. The landlord spent nearly a year renovating the 1,800-square-foot space and approached Moak with a proposal to help design the interior and move in. Last October, Moak signed a lease and opened in time for Black Friday at 103 S. St. Asaph Street.


News

The Alexandria Planning Commission has deferred a plan to implement citywide beekeeping policies, finding that city staff needed to conduct more outreach and research.

On May 5, city staff told the Planning Commission that its community outreach was limited to a consultation with a member of the Northern Virginia Beekeepers Association. There are no existing provisions regulating beekeeping in Alexandria. The city’s plan would have allowed two hives on lots smaller than 5,000 square feet, with an additional hive for every additional 2,500 square feet of property, and 5-to-10-foot setbacks for those hives.


News

No injuries were reported after a fire at a townhouse on Prince Street in Old Town this afternoon (Thursday).

Alexandria Fire Department crews responded at around 1 p.m. and found a fire on the second floor of a three-and-a-half-story townhouse in the 100 block of Prince Street, near the intersection with S. Union Street. The fire was extinguished around 1:20 p.m., according to radio dispatches. AFD reported on social media at 1:40 p.m. that the fire was out, that no one was injured and asked the public to avoid the area.


News

Despite multiple failed attempts over the past decade, two Alexandria City Council members advocated Thursday (May 14) for bringing a Business Improvement District to Old Town.

Under a challenging economic outlook, City Council Members Sandy Marks and John Taylor Chapman said that Old Town’s business community needs an organized push to attract visitors. The council members made the remarks during the Chamber ALX’s annual City Council Breakfast, which was held at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town (1767 King Street).


News

 

With the closure of the parking garage underneath City Hall, Alexandria is working on several creative solutions for a growing problem — parking in the heart of Old Town.


News

The pedestrian killed in Old Town North last month was walking within a marked crosswalk with an active countdown on the pedestrian beacon signal, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.

The 62-year-old victim, identified by the Alexandria Police Department as Norma Floyd-Sayles, was struck by a Chevrolet Suburban and killed while crossing at the intersection of St. Asaph and Montgomery Streets around 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 20. The 46-year-old male driver stopped approximately 40 feet from where police found her body and called 911 to report the incident, according to the affidavit.


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