Vernon Miles | ALXnow

Tall Ship Providence to dock at The Wharf for much of 2022

Published March 31, 2022 at 2:45PM

The Tall Ship Providence and The Cherry Blossom on the Potomac River with the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the distance. (staff photo by James Cullum)

While Gen Z has decided, correctly, that Alexandria is superior to D.C., at least one local attraction is headed to the further shore for much of this year.

The Tall Ship Providence is planning to move to The Wharf for the “2022 cruise season” while construction is ongoing at the Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center in Old Town.

Opinion

Poll: How much of King Street should be converted into a pedestrian zone?

By Vernon Miles

Published March 31, 2022 at 10:45AM

The pedestrian zone on the 100 block of King Street has been a hit, so much so that the city is looking to expand the program to the unit block, which prompts the question: what should be the ultimate extent of the pedestrian zone project?

Last year, the City Council voted unanimously to make the closure on the 100 block permanent. The city is also taking a look at ways to make the 100 block’s pedestrian zone “look” more permanent. A new proposal going to the Planning Commission and City Council in April will put a similar pilot project into effect for the end of King Street and The Strand by the waterfront.

News

City outlines what’s ahead for Potomac Yard development

By Vernon Miles

Published March 30, 2022 at 3:50PM

With Potomac Yard Metro Station coming along, city staff and leaders recently took a look at the rest of the planned development.

At a meeting of the Potomac Yard Metrorail Implementation Work Group on Monday, Principal Planner Dirk Geratz took group members on a virtual tour of the development site and outlined how far development in the area has come — and how far some parts still have to go.

News

Alexandria breaks ground on new Minnie Howard campus expansion

By Vernon Miles

Published March 30, 2022 at 10:45AM

Minnie Howard groundbreaking, photo via Canek Aguirre/Twitter

The long-discussed and debated Minnie Howard project — part of adapting Alexandria City High School to handle ever-increasing capacity — finally broke ground yeterday.

City and school officials gathered at the site to mark the beginning of construction on a new Minnie Howard campus. The project is scheduled to be constructed around the current school and open in the 2024-2025 school year.

News

Child struck and injured in crash outside Jefferson Houston Elementary School

By Vernon Miles

Published March 29, 2022 at 3:45PM | Updated March 30, 2022 at 4:01PM

200 block of North West Street, image via Google Maps

Update on 3/30/22 — The Alexandria Police Department said the driver was a 78-year-old local resident whose vehicle left the roadway and struck a 9-year-old girl on the sidewalk. Both driver and pedestrian were taken to Fairfax Hospital. The pedestrian had serious but non-life-threatening injuries and the driver was treated for minor injuries.

Earlier: A child was struck and seriously injured at an intersection just outside of Jefferson Houston Elementary School (200 block of North West Street).

News

NOVA cancels classes at Alexandria campus after bomb threat

By Vernon Miles

Published March 29, 2022 at 1:00PM

The Northern Virginia Community College has canceled classes at its Alexandria campus after a bomb threat.

The campus was shut down at 8 a.m. this morning, and all classes were canceled by 11:30 a.m. with all campus facilities being closed.

News

Planning Commission poised to push forward King Street pedestrian closure

By Vernon Miles

Published March 29, 2022 at 9:45AM

Rendering of the unit block of King Street with street closure (via City of Alexandria)

New city documents outline plans to close the end of King Street until at least November.

The closure of the unit block of King Street — the very end by the waterfront — to vehicle traffic is docketed for review at a Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, April 7.

News

Lecture this week to examine impacts of Virginia Theological Seminary’s reparations program

By Vernon Miles

Published March 28, 2022 at 2:50PM

Virginia Theological Seminary (staff photo by James Cullum)

Nearly three years after Alexandria’s Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) launched a program to create reparations and research related to Black Americans enslaved or compelled to work at the school, a new lecture program this week is scheduled to look at what kind of progress has been made on that front.

On Wednesday, March 30, the Alexandria Historical Society, the Alexandria Black History Museum and the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project are hosting a virtual lecture to examine what that program has accomplished since it launched in September 2019.

News

New mixed-use development, and potential dance space, coming to Old Town North

By Vernon Miles

Published March 28, 2022 at 11:00AM

Rendering of 901 North Pitt Street development from N Montgomery Street, image via City of Alexandria

Just caddy corner to where an office building is getting a new restaurant space, another developer is coming forward with plans to redevelop 901 N Pitt Street into an eight-story mixed-use building.

At an April 7 meeting (Item 9), the Planning Commission is scheduled to review the development’s development special use permit. The 901 N Pitt Street development is proposed by the somewhat unimaginatively named 901 N. Pitt Street, LLC, which the application says is a mix of The Oliver Carr Company and Carr Holdings II LLC.

News

Alexandria officials push back against ACPS ‘cover up’ story

By Vernon Miles

Published March 18, 2022 at 4:50PM

School buses on W. Braddock Road on Dec. 10, 2021 (staff photo by James Cullum)

After right-wing outlet National Review broke a story accusing Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) of covering up a sexual assault case, city leaders are hitting back and saying the story misses some critical details.

The story, which was widely shared on social media, said a 14-year-old suspect was arrested in December for aggravated sexual battery, rape and forcible sodomy in connection to an October incident at the Minnie Howard campus of Alexandria City High School. The article also includes quotes from parents who said they were left in the dark and there was no communication about the issue.

News

ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published March 18, 2022 at 3:45PM

Busy week in Alexandria. The city’s budget process is moving forward, with a maximum tax rate set last week, and details emerging like how the budget will handle the long-awaited body camera program for the Alexandria Police Department. There was also some fun local oddities, like plans to re-sink a couple of the historic ships.

Police also made a pair of relatively high profile arrests: like a man arrested for a shooting in February and another arrested in Texas after allegedly striking Alexandria police officers with his car in an escape attempt last December.