Vernon Miles | ALXnow

Local citizens association offering tours this week of what’s planned around Old Town North

Published September 21, 2021 at 10:45AM

GenOn Power Plant (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

There is lots of new development coming to North Old Town, and for locals interested in getting to know the area more, the North Old Town Independent Citizens Association (NOTICe) is planning a tour of what’s coming up.

The tour is scheduled to run from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 23, followed by a social hour at the North Old Town location for St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub (529 Montgomery Street) from 7-8 p.m. The tour is self-guided but representatives will be on-hand at each of the locations to provide information on what’s planned.

News

Preserving Arlandria’s affordability against gentrification could cost upward of $100 million

By Vernon Miles

Published September 20, 2021 at 3:50PM | Updated September 21, 2021 at 9:43AM

AHDC's proposed Arlandria housing development (image via AHDC)

Update 9/21 p.m. — A previous version of the article had a typo in Division Chief Carrie Beach’s quote

Housing preservation is a central pillar of the plan to save Arlandria-Chirilagua from the anticipated gentrification stemming from Amazon’s HQ2. Last week, city staff told the Planning Commission that effort will likely require at least $100 million from public and private sources to preserve or expand affordable options in the area.

News

Fort Ward Museum reopening with a bang next weekend

By Vernon Miles

Published September 20, 2021 at 2:40PM

Fort Ward Museum staff shows models with Union uniforms to guests (photo courtesy Fort Ward Museum)

The Fort Ward Museum is planning to reopen next weekend with a live cannon fire demonstration to kick things off.

While many of Alexandria’s museums and historic have reopened over the last few months, Fort Ward remained closed for renovations to the museum.

News

City Council approves new plastic bag tax for local grocery and convenience stores

By Vernon Miles

Published September 20, 2021 at 11:00AM | Updated September 20, 2021 at 12:01PM

This weekend, the Alexandria City Council unanimously approved a new five-cent tax on plastic bags — though with some grumbling that Arlington had beat them to the punch by a few hours.

The tax will only be applied to grocery stores and convenience stores, not restaurants or other businesses, and is similar to taxes implemented in D.C. and other localities across the country. Groups collecting trash around the area reported a three-quarter decrease in the amount of plastic bags being picked up and overall decreased plastic bag use — though some of those results have been brought into question.

News

Goodwin House highlights memory care needs for growing local senior population

By Vernon Miles

Published September 17, 2021 at 2:45PM

Resident at Goodwin House, via Goodwin House/Facebook

Growing older hasn’t improved Dr. Robert Wallace’s memory, and he’s doing something about it.

For the last two months, the resident of Alexandria’s Goodwin House Incorporated has participated in StrongerMemory, a memory care program designed to combat memory loss in seniors. Goodwin House started the program in January 2020, with a handful of daily activities that encourage working memory and triggering brain activity in the prefrontal cortex.

News

ACPS laying the groundwork for in-school vaccination

By Vernon Miles

Published September 17, 2021 at 9:30AM

Students return to George Washington Middle School, August 24, 2021 (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

In a community update yesterday (Thursday), ACPS staff said they’re starting to make progress on plans to vaccinate students in-school.

Currently vaccination is only available for children ages 12 and above. Julie Crawford, chief of Student Services and Equity, said at a meeting yesterday that the teenager category has been one of the most thoroughly vaccinated age groups in the city. Crawford said ACPS is getting ready to offer in-school vaccination as a prelude for when vaccination is allowed for the younger age group.

News

BREAKING: Flooding reported in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published September 16, 2021 at 3:45PM | Updated September 17, 2021 at 1:19PM

Flooding near the Braddock Road Metro on Thursday, September 16, 2021. (Courtesy Kerrin Nishimura)

(Updated at 5:50 p.m.) An afternoon storm has brought flooding and shut down some roads and services in Alexandria.

City bus service DASH announced via Twitter that all bus service was briefly suspended due to severe weather conditions, but service resumed roughly 30 minutes later.

News

Eisenhower Partnership hosting Oktoberfest to support local urban planning scholarship

By Vernon Miles

Published September 16, 2021 at 1:05PM | Updated September 17, 2021 at 11:28AM

The Eisenhower Partnership is planning an Oktoberfest celebration early next month to help raise funding for the Partnership’s Engin and Agnès Artemel Urban Planning Scholarship.

The scholarship is named for former Director of Planning Engin Artemel, who helped shape waterfront development in Alexandria and died last, and his wife Agnès Artemel, a realtor and president of Artemel & Associates Inc. The scholarship helps students from Alexandria City Public Schools and planning to major in a realty or urban planning related studies.

Opinion

Poll: What do you think of Metro’s proposed Blue Line crossing to National Harbor?

By Vernon Miles

Published September 15, 2021 at 3:30PM

Potential new Blue Line route (photo via WMATA)

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is eyeing a new Blue Line route that could be realigned to run from the Huntington Metro station in Fairfax across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over to National Harbor.

The project was cited as one of the higher performing projects in a list of options aimed at boosting ridership. A cost-benefits analysis put the new Blue Line route, which would also go up to Georgetown, above alternatives like a Silver Line Express tunnel.

News

New Old Town townhouses headed to architectural review proces

By Vernon Miles

Published September 15, 2021 at 1:00PM

Proposed townhouses at 101 Duke Street, image via City of Alexandria

After initially submitting plans in January for review, developer Eleventh Street Development LLC is back in the city process to get final approval on a plan to convert a parking garage at 101 Duke Street into a series of townhouses.

According to the application there will be six, four-story townhouses broken up into three buildings. Each unit would also have a two-car garage attached via central alleyway. The demolition of the existing 101 Duke Street parking garage and the new project are scheduled for consideration at the Wednesday, Oct. 6, Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting

News

Alexandria School Board candidate wants cameras in classrooms and ‘examples’ made of misbehaving kids

By Vernon Miles

Published September 14, 2021 at 3:45PM | Updated September 14, 2021 at 11:33PM

(Updated 6:20 p.m.) Ricardo Roberts is, to say the least, an outlier in the 2021 School Board District B race.

Roberts has had multiple run-ins with school officials, including one charge of trespassing at an Alexandria City Public School that ended in acquittal in court last year. While other candidates include incumbent School Board members and others generally supportive of the direction Alexandria City Public Schools have taken over the last few years, Roberts’ policy suggestions mark a sharp and potentially controversial departure from many other candidates.