Author: Vernon Miles

Vernon Miles is the ALXnow cofounder and editor. He's covered Alexandria since 2014 and has been with Local News Now since 2018. When he's not reporting, he can usually be found playing video games or Dungeons and Dragons with friends.

Opinion

Poll: Should Alexandria revisit the Confederate street names issue?

By Vernon Miles

Last week, Mayor Justin Wilson said he sands the city to take another pass at renaming streets throughout Alexandria named for Confederate leaders.

The announcement comes around two years after the city’s last major push to de-Confederate Alexandria, an effort that saw the Appomattox statue on S. Washington Street removed. The city renamed Jefferson Davis Highway through Alexandria to Richmond Highway a year before that.

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News

Alexandria to ask FEMA for $50 million for waterfront flood mitigation

By Vernon Miles
Flooding on lower King Street in Old Town (staff photo by James Cullum)

(Updated 5:45 p.m.) At an upcoming meeting, the City Council is scheduled to consider a grant application asking for $50 million for waterfront flood mitigation projects.

Last year, city staff put forward a variety of potential projects to add more flood resiliency to the waterfront, which has seen increasingly frequent flooding in recent years, but with cost estimates ranging from $170 to $215 million, some city leaders faced some sticker shock and have asked to scale down the projects.

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News

Port City to host pop-up bazaar later this month

By Vernon Miles
A holiday candle at Made in ALX (image via Made in ALX/Facebook)

Later this month, the outside parking lot at Port City Brewing Company will be transformed into a holiday-themed pop-up market for local artisans.

The Small Business Saturday Holiday Pop-Up Market is a partnership between the hometown-favorite beer company and Made in ALX. The event will feature local artists and creators with their handcrafted products.

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News

Chicken chain Hot Lola’s coming to Lincolnia neighborhood

By Vernon Miles

Chicken restaurant Hot Lola’s is coming to the Lincolnia neighborhood just outside of Alexandria in Fairfax — that big place just west of the city.

Hot Lola’s currently has locations in Ballston and Rosslyn in neighboring Arlington, but the new location at 6544 Little River Turnpike will be the first outside of Arlington.

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News

Major pieces of Landmark Mall redevelopment head to Planning Commission next month

By Vernon Miles
Concept map for new Landmark Mall development (image via City of Alexandria)

The “West End” project is a lumbering titan, one of the most enormous of the development projects in progress. While projects of that scale can move slowly — this one first reared its head in late 2020 — the Landmark Mall redevelopment is building momentum as it moves toward Planning Commission review next month.

Four blocks of the sprawling development, Blocks E, G, I and K, are scheduled for review at the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 6. The blocks consist of a mix of multifamily residential, ground floor commercial space, and medical offices.

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News

Virginia Railway Express says month of free rides helped lure pre-pandemic riders back, but didn’t draw new crowds

By Vernon Miles
A VRE train heading south through Potomac Yard (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) said in a report that the fare-free ride program created a noticeable bump in ridership during September, though it’s unknown how much that will linger post-promotion.

In a report (page 60) prepared for the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), the VRE said the commuter rail service offering free rides in September caused a 21% increase in ridership. The promotion continued into October for Alexandria and areas further south during the ongoing Metro shutdown.

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News

After decades of complaints, a new rail authority could be the key to fixing Alexandria’s railroad bridges

By Vernon Miles
A VRE train crosses a bridge over King Street (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

For years, local first responders have been dispatched for worrying signs of decay at the CSX bridges over King Street and Commonwealth Avenue. Streets have been closed for emergency fixes and rail debris can regularly be found on the nearby streets and sidewalks. Finally, Mayor Justin Wilson said a new organization could help Alexandria address this problem.

In a newsletter where Wilson also addressed Holmes Run issues, Wilson also said there may be a way of getting the bridges back on track.

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News

Alexandria leaders push more equity for minority-owned businesses and stronger business associations

By Vernon Miles

As the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership works through programs aimed at helping to strengthen the city’s business communities post-Covid, some in the organization and partnering groups are working to ensure there’s a greater diversity of voices in the new order.

A new grant program, the ALX B2B Business Association Grant Program, aims to help prop up business associations across the city to make them more active and helpful for their communities. The city-funded grant program is in the process of distributing $535,000 in grant funding across eight associations.

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News

Mayor: Full recovery for damaged Holmes Run Trail set for late 2024

By Vernon Miles
A trail entrance to Dora Kelley Nature Park after flood damage in 2018 (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Holmes Run Trail has been incomplete and partially inaccessible since floods in 2018 and 2019 badly damaged it, and in a recent update Mayor Justin Wilson said some of the final pieces of that recovery might not be finished until the summer or fall of 2024.

That’s not to say there isn’t progress being made on trail recovery, with other phases completed earlier this year and a bridge replacement planned for later this winter.

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