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

Alexandria updates COVID-19 guidance as cases increase

By Vernon Miles

With the city starting to see an upswing in COVID-19 cases, the city is updating some of it’s guidance for local residents and directing them to resources — like where to go if you lost that vaccination card that was frustratingly not wallet-sized.

Over the last few months, there’s been an average of 10-20 new COVID-19 cases reported daily; a far cry from the peaks of hundreds of new cases earlier this year but a noticable increase. There has been a total of 73 new cases per 100,000 persons for the last seven days, which is considered substantial transmission.

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News

Parker-Gray development asks for more density and less parking

By Vernon Miles
Proposed 805 N Columbus Street development (image via City of Alexandria)

A new five-story residential development in the Parker-Gray neighborhood is moving forward this fall.

The 805 Columbus Street development led by PT Blooms LLC is docketed for review at the Planning Commission on Oct. 5 with a handful of requested zoning modifications — like an increase to the maximum building height, an increase in density, and a parking reduction.

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Opinion

Poll: Did you watch the Olympics this year?

By Vernon Miles
Troy Isley lost against Gleb Bakshi of the Russian Olympic Committee on July 29, 2021. (Courtesy Troy Isley)

The Olympics are coming to an end this Sunday, and it’s been a banner year for Alexandria.

Three T.C. Williams High School grads competed in the Olympics this year, and sprinter Noah Lyles is bringing home a bronze medal for his 200 meter run.

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News

Development on West End lot could signal the start of Mark Center overhaul

By Vernon Miles
Mark Center parcel being redeveloped, via Google Maps

A proposal to turn a vacant Mark Center lot into a potential residential or commercial use — rather than office — could signal the start of a planned overhaul to the West End office center.

In a new master plan amendment for 5000 Seminary Road and 4880 Mark Center Drive filed by CRP Mark Center Hotel LLC and Institute For Defense Analyses, the vacant lots could be turned into a variety of non-office developments. The overhaul of the site is closely tied with plans to install a bus rapid transit (BRT) system called the West End Transitway.

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News

Eviction moratorium extended for Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Alexandria’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases has put it on the list of localities where the eviction moratorium has been extended.

In a press release, the city confirmed it was on the list of places where the moratorium took effect and pushed residents struggling to pay their rent to state and local resources.

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News

Heritage project skirts denial at Board of Architectural Review meeting

By Vernon Miles
Rendering of Block 1 of the Heritage Project, via City of Alexandria

The embattled Heritage project came within a hair’s breadth of being denied at the Board of Architectural Review‘s design review last week, and survived only on a last-minute deferral.

Many of the recurring public criticisms of the project, a series of three new apartment buildings along S. Patrick and Washington Streets in Old Town, resurfaced during the public comment period and from members of the BAR during discussions. BAR members have described the project as putting “lipstick on a pig” when the project first came forward for permitting last fall.

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News

School Board: Masks will be required when school starts later this month

By Vernon Miles

When students come back to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) later this month, they will be wearing face masks.

The School Board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to require all students, faculty, staff and visitors to ACPS facilities to wear face masks when inside for the time being.

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News

With ACPS expecting enrollment increase, Alexandria Mayor explains where kids come from

By Vernon Miles

Last year marked the first time in 14 years that ACPS saw an enrollment decrease, and with schools headed back to in-person teaching at the end of the month it’s likely that the school system could see enrollment increases in the years to come.

So, where are all the new kids coming from?

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News

Mount Vernon Trail widening project gets funding

By Vernon Miles
Exercising along the Mount Vernon Trail in Alexandria (staff photo by James Cullum)

The good news for users of the Mount Vernon Trail is that a proposed widening project was selected for state funding. The bad news? It will be 2026 before work even starts on the project.

As anyone who has bicycled or walked along the popular trail could likely attest, there are parts that can feel dangerously narrow. Last year, the National Park Service released a report recommending widening. The report noted that there were 225 reported bike and pedestrian crashes on the trail between 2006 and 2010, many of them at crash hotspots near National Airport and the 14th Street Bridge.

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News

Parks Department braces for strain on system when Minnie Howard field closes down

By Vernon Miles
Minnie Howard field, via Google Maps

As the city and schools prepare for the process of overhauling Minnie Howard as part of the expanded Alexandria City High School, the Parks Department braces to go two years without access to one of the city’s most well-equipped fields on the school grounds.

At a meeting of the School Board and City Council, Jack Browand, division chief of Parks and Cultural Activities, fielded questions from City Council member John Chapman and Mayor Justin Wilson about how the city will fare without one of the most heavily used fields.

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News

City plans commemoration for lynched Black Alexandrian

By Vernon Miles
Memorial post for victims of Alexandria lynchings (photo via City of Alexandria)

Roughly 122 years after his murder, Black teenager Benjamin Thomas is being memorialized this week on the anniversary of his death at the hands of a white lynch mob.

Thomas, one of two recorded victims of lynching in Alexandria, was killed on Aug. 8, 1899. He was 16 years old.

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