Vernon Miles | ALXnow

ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

Published October 22, 2021 at 3:30PM

Yates Pizza Palace has been under development at 3000 Duke Street for years. (staff photo by James Cullum)

Just as the school resource officer debate started to cool down, things have started heating up between the City Council local first responder unions and city leadership over pay issues.

At the same time, city officials are entering the final stretch before election day on Tuesday, Nov. 2., which among other statewide elections will see candidates competing for the City Council, mayoral and School Board seats in Alexandria.

News

Alexandria lays out mid-year salary increase plans, but first responder unions say it’s not enough

By Vernon Miles

Published October 22, 2021 at 1:30PM

At an upcoming Alexandria City Council meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 26), City Manager Mark Jinks is scheduled to present a planned mid-year pay increase for city employees, though local unions that have been pushing for pay adjustment say it’s far from enough.

According to the docket, the proposal will be to restore a compensation initiative that had been eliminated last year because of COVID-19 revenue losses.

News

Freedom House Museum opening pushed back to next spring

By Vernon Miles

Published October 22, 2021 at 9:45AM

Freedom House at 1315 Duke Street (photo via City of Alexandria)

The new opening of the Freedom House Museum (1315 Duke Street), a museum dedicated to telling the stories of the victims of slavery trafficked through Alexandria, has been pushed back to a full year after its original planned opening.

The city said the museum is now expected to open to the public in spring 2022.

News

Morning Notes

By Vernon Miles

Published October 22, 2021 at 5:00AM

Cortado Cafe opens in Alexandria’s West End — “A new coffee shop has opened in the Shoppes of Foxchase shopping center in Alexandria’s West End.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]

Council amends, renames Transportation Master Plan — “City Council approved an amendment to the Alexandria Transportation Master Plan during Saturday’s public hearing that aimed to expand the city’s focus on alternative modes of transit while addressing concerns such as congestion, accessibility and equity.” [Alexandria Times]

News

Alexandria mayoral candidates Wilson and Catchings clash on policing and guaranteed basic income

By Vernon Miles

Published October 21, 2021 at 3:45PM

Alexandria incumbent Mayor Justin Wilson (D) faced off against challenger Annetta Catchings (R) in a forum hosted by the Seminary Ridge Civic Association (SRCA) earlier this week.

Discussion of crime and policing took up much of the forum, marking one of the few instances where the candidates challenged each other directly. During a discussion of the opioid impact on Alexandria, Catchings put the blame for the issue on drugs on border control and drugs imported from China.

Opinion

Poll: Has Metro’s mayhem affected you this week?

By Vernon Miles

Published October 21, 2021 at 1:05PM

King Street metro (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

The Metro is operating at 40% service after the 7000 series railcars were pulled from service to be inspected for the same defect that recently caused a derailment in Arlington.

Metro has said that passengers should expect to wait up to 40 minutes for service on the Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green and Silver lines.

News

Alexandria Police say quarrels over music may account for some school violence

By Vernon Miles

Published October 21, 2021 at 9:55AM | Updated October 22, 2021 at 9:59AM

(Updated 10/22) One of the possible motives being the recent violence in Alexandria City Public Schools being investigated by the Alexandria Police Department seems to be, of all things, disagreements over music lyrics, a police officer said at a meeting of the Gang Prevention Task Force last night (Wednesday).

“The issues at the school… appear to be a dispute over rap music,” said Lt. Jerry Newcomb, commander of the Crimes Against Persons Section. “It’s an ongoing investigation. We’re hoping to find out more… It’s a dispute over lyrics. Some of them think that the lyrics they’ve come up with are proprietary in some way, but we’re still trying to dig into it. That’s the underlying reason that we’re hearing.”

News

Morning Notes

By Vernon Miles

Published October 21, 2021 at 5:00AM

DASH ridership up 26% — “[DASH] says its Sept ridership was up 26% (215,963 vs 171,589 in Aug) after it launched revamped bus route network, made fares free. Probably got a bump from more reopening/activity.” [Twitter]

Mount Vernon Trail marked for bump removal — “The trail bumps were marked by spray paint with care with hopes that our volunteers would remove them from there. Volunteer to remove trail bumps on 10/23 or 10/30.” [Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail]

News

Local woman seeks help to pay for tumor removal surgery

By Vernon Miles

Published October 20, 2021 at 3:45PM | Updated October 20, 2021 at 5:48PM

Amana Bhuiyan, courtesy photo

(Updated 5:50 p.m.) Amana Bhuiyan wakes up at 4 a.m. at her home in the Huntington neighborhood of Fairfax and immediately starts driving Uber. Around 9 or 10 a.m. she’ll switch to Instacart or DoorDash. Then around 2 or 3 p.m., it’s working at Walgreens until closing until around midnight. Then, another few hours of late-night Uber before returning home to sleep for two or three hours before starting it all again the next day.

It’s an exhausting schedule, but Bhuiyan said it’s what it takes to try t try to raise the money necessary to pay to remove a painful tumor.

News

City looking for $60 million in federal and state floodwater funding

By Vernon Miles

Published October 20, 2021 at 1:15PM

After achieving some funding from earlier grants, the City of Alexandria is going back to that well to try and finance more flood mitigation.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the City Council is scheduled to review a request for a grant of up to $50 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and up to $10 million from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Virginia Resources Authority (VRA).

News

City warns National Airport noise mitigation could be two or three years away

By Vernon Miles

Published October 20, 2021 at 9:45AM

At Gravelly Point, a man in a folding chair reads a book as planes land at National Airport (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

It’s another beautiful, sunny day in Old Town where you occasionally can’t hear the person standing next to you speaking because an airplane from National Airport is flying directly overhead.

Sound familiar?