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.

News

Community meeting planned for controversial Braddock redevelopment

By Vernon Miles
Samuel Madden redevelopment rendering (image via Torti Gallas + Partners/City of Alexandria)

The Samuel Madden redevelopment project at the north end of the Braddock neighborhood is heading back to the community review process after a significant redesign.

The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) is planning on tearing down a dozen aging townhomes at the north end of the Braddock Neighborhood, where Patrick and Henry streets reform into Route 1. They will be replaced with a new 500-unit multifamily residential development that would act — as it was called in some of the earlier meetings — as a gateway into Old Town.

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News

NVTC meeting tomorrow tackles Falls Church connection for new West End bus rapid transit

By Vernon Miles
Envision Route 7 BRT concept, photo via NVTC

A new bus rapid transit (BRT) system could connect Alexandria’s Mark Center with Tysons along the second-busiest corridor in Northern Virginia.

BRT systems are a way of potentially redesigning a roadway to favor fast and accessible bus travel, sometimes separating the bus into its own lane as in the Potomac Yard Transitway. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) has scheduled a community discussion tomorrow to look at the planned Route 7 BRT system.

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Opinion

Poll: How do you feel about Alexandria’s new speed cameras?

By Vernon Miles

Tomorrow, Alexandria’s City Council is set to review a proposal to bring speed cameras to the city for the first time.

Though scattered across nearby D.C., until a few years ago Alexandria was prohibited from utilizing speed cameras by state ordinance. Now, the city is looking at installing five cameras at various school zones across the city.

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News

Texas A&M Professor hosting virtual lecture this month on buried ship findings

By Vernon Miles

Five years after buried ship timbers in Old Town were shipped off to Texas A&M for study, the director of that research team is hosting a virtual lecture to discuss their findings.

Christopher Dostal is the Director of the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation and the Director of the Analytical Archaeology Laboratory that scanned four 18th century ships dug up in Old Town.

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News

Alexandria public sector workers vote to unionize

By Vernon Miles
Alexandria workers post-unionization (image via AFSCME)

Nearly 200 Alexandria workers hopped onto a wave of unionization in Virginia following a new law allowing collective bargaining.

In an election held by mail, the City of Alexandria Labor and Trades Bargaining unit voted to select the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 20 Local 3001 as their union representative, AFSCME said in a release

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News

Olympian Noah Lyles and other Alexandria athletes inducted into Hall of Fame this weekend

By Vernon Miles
Noah Lyles comes home to Alexandria City High School, Tuesday, September 7, 2021. (Via Elijah Walter Griffin, Sr.)

Alexandrian Olympic medalist Noah Lyles and his brother Josephus are among the 24 athletes set to be inducted into Alexandria City Public Schools’ (ACPS) Athletic Hall of Fame this weekend.

The Alexandria City School Board is scheduled to host the 2022 Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8. The ceremony will be held at Alexandria City High School (3330 King Street).

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News

Alexandria looking to loosen up a little for on-street dining

By Vernon Miles

With the City of Alexandria returning to regulating on-street retail and restaurant uses, including adding a price tag for the benefit, the City Council is also scheduled to review a few changes to make the process a little less onerous.

At a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Council is set to take a look at some changes to reduce redundancies and streamline the process for businesses hoping to make use of sidewalk and street space.

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News

Traffic backed up in Braddock neighborhood after driver strikes Metro work vehicle

By Vernon Miles
Metro work vehicle struck on Oronoco Street at N Henry Street (staff photo by James Cullum)

It’s been a rough week for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and to top things off: someone hit a Metro work vehicle in the Braddock neighborhood this afternoon.

The crash occurred around 2:30 p.m. on Oronoco Street near the intersection with N Henry Street.

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News

Survey finds widespread support for expanded King Street pedestrian zone

By Vernon Miles
Unit block of King Street pedestrian zone (image via City of Alexandria)

The City of Alexandria said a survey collecting feedback on the new expanded King Street pedestrian zone showed overwhelmingly positive.

After the 100 block of King Street was permanently converted into a pedestrian zone last year, the program was extended via pilot into the unit block of King Street — the one closest to the waterfront — and an adjacent stretch of road called The Strand.

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