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The Alexandria City Council has mixed feelings about serving as a cosigner for the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s plan to keep its senior residents in the city.

Faced with a $40 million budget shortfall, ARHA abandoned plans to replace the aging 11-story, 170-unit Ladrey Senior High-Rise with a six-to-seven-story 270-unit L-shaped building. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development subsequently ended its operating support for building management and maintenance, issuing vouchers for the relocation of Ladrey’s residents by the end of the year.


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Northern Virginia is reportedly among the “five cities run by Democratic leaders” that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to deploy tactical units to, according to MSNBC.

Citing two unnamed sources “familiar with the planning of future ICE operations,” MSNBC reported that ICE is preparing to deploy tactical response teams in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Northern Virginia.


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City Council formally recognized June as LGBTQ+ Pride month in Alexandria on Tuesday night (June 10).

“It’s very real that there are people in this country, and even in this city, who, because of who they are, don’t know if they’re going to be welcomed or not,” City Council Member R. Kirk McPike said before reading a city proclamation. “This is a difficult time for many people in our community, LGBTQ+ communities across the country.”


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Ben N Jerry’s, Urbano 116, Patagonia, and Jeni’s Ice Cream are just a few of the 21 mixed-use properties in Old Town that have been put on the market.

North Carolina-based Asana Partners bought the properties along the King Street Mile (between the waterfront and the King Street Metro station) worth more than $100 million between 2016 and 2018. Asana reportedly invested $20 million into their redevelopment, and now the portfolio is being marketed by D.C. firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).


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With a years-long renovation breaking ground this summer, the move-out dates have been set for staff at George Mason Elementary School (2601 Cameron Mills Road).

Staff began packing up in early May, according to ACPS, and the main move, a 3.5-mile relocation to the building at 1703 N. Beauregard Street, is scheduled for June 16-20. The newly renovated George Mason Elementary is planned to reopen for students in August 2027.


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With 167 senior residents and a police officer being forced out of the Ladrey Senior High-Rise by the end of the year, Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority CEO Erik C. Johnson says there’s actually an opportunity to capitalize on the situation.

“This comes down to whether or not the city is going to support seniors the way that we want to support seniors,” Johnson told ALXnow. “We’re not asking the city to finance it, nor is the city taking a first position loss in the event that something goes wrong.”


News

Get your lawn chairs ready, because Alexandria’s birthday celebration is right around the corner.

On Saturday, July 12, the city will celebrate its 276th and the U.S.’s 249th birthdays along the waterfront at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street). The free party includes food trucks, live performances by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, appearances by the town crier, poet laureate, and Mayor Alyia Gaskins, as well as cupcakes for thousands of attendees.


News

Alexandria leaders will participate in an anti-Trump protest in front of City Hall at Market Square (301 King Street) on Saturday.

Confirmed speakers at the event, which runs from 3 to 5 p.m., include U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), Virginia House majority leader Charniele Herring (D-4), Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-39), and Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter. Mayor Alyia Gaskins is tentatively scheduled to speak.


News

School’s out for summer in Alexandria starting this week.

Thursday (June 12) is the last official day of the 2024-2025 school year for Alexandria City Public Schools, not counting Alexandria City High School’s senior graduation last month.


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Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and city staff are asking that the Virginia Department of Transportation delay approval of a preferred alternative on a plan to add express lanes from the Springfield Interchange across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

In an April letter to VDOT, Gaskins wrote that the project will bring “Alexandria substantial consequences” to our local neighborhoods, and asked that an alternative not be chosen until a noise, traffic, and air safety analysis is conducted. VDOT and the Commonwealth Transportation Board, in the meantime, have set a timeline for the project.


News

Twice a week, Bethany Skvortsova gets a break while her young daughters put on rainbow tutus and learn how to dance in Del Ray.

Her seven-year-old appreciates being taken seriously as a dancer, Skvortsova says. At the moment, her daughter is rehearsing for The Nutcracker, which the school will be performing this year on the main stage of Capital One Hall in Tysons.


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