News

In response to the city’s public information meetings about the Taylor Run Stream Restoration project, local advocacy group Environmental Council of Alexandria (ECA) is hosting its own meeting tomorrow outlining its opposition to the plan.

The city is planning to overhaul the stream’s design to reduce erosion of the banks and cut down on the flow of pollution from the watershed further down the creek into the Potomac River. Critics of the plan, including the city’s own natural resource manager Rod Simmons, have questioned project contractor’s figures on the pollution in the stream and the benefit of the proposed changes.


News

M&B Auto Sales has reportedly been a difficult neighbor, and it could cost the used car dealership at 26 S. Dove Street its special use permit.

At an upcoming March 2 meeting, the Planning Commission will consider revoting the dealership’s automobile sales and repair special use permit after what staff called repeated violations.


News

Old Town waterfront restaurant Virtue Feed and Grain could make a recent its outdoor dining expansion permanent if the closure of a nearby alleyway by the waterfront goes through.

At the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 2, the city is putting forward a proposal to close Wales Alley between S. Union and Strand streets to vehicle traffic.


News

The North Ridge Citizens’ Association has launched a Change.org petition to save a 100-year old home in the neighborhood from development.

The home tucked away behind some trees at 506 N. Overlook Drive was built sometime in the late 19th century, although exactly when is a matter of some disagreement. The home was owned by Hampshire Fractious (page 12), a freed Black man who lived in the city sometime in the late 19th century.


News

As plans for the redevelopment of Landmark Mall start to come together, the project’s architects turn their eyes to other successful developments in the region for inspiration.

Don Hoover, a landscape architect and urban designer with design firm Oculus, described the planned layout of the site at the Eisenhower West/Van Dorn Implementation Advisory Group meeting last night. The plan is to have a central “green spine” of open space running through the heart of the site and connecting to Holmes Run.


News

A long public hearing — and extended public debate in online forums and city meetings — over the controversial Heritage project ended with an unanimous vote approving the project.

Many on the City Council expressed reservations, including issues of size, increased traffic and additional burden on schools. Ultimately, however, the addition of new affordable housing units was an offer the Council felt it couldn’t refuse.


News

Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority reopened its waitlist for affordable housing in the city and within two days the organization said around 45,000 individuals had applied.

The surge in demand for affordable housing comes after months of job loss and high unemployment. Those numbers are gradually recovering, but are still significantly higher than pre-pandemic figures. The opening also comes after almost a decade of the organization sorting through a backlog.


News

The intersection near the George Washington National Masonic Memorial is a mess, and city staff are hoping to give the traffic-logged crossing an overhaul to make things run a little more smoothly.

There are three alternative plans presented for the access street that runs parallel to the west of Callahan Drive. Staff’s recommendation is to convert the lane into a one-way, southbound street that allows traffic headed down to Duke Street a left turn before the main intersection.


News

(Updated at 12:15 p.m. on 2/25/21) Bill Rossello, one of the early members and administrators of the 2,200-member-strong Bring Integrity Back to Alexandria Facebook group, has announced that he will be running for City Council in the June 8 Democratic primary.

Rossello, who works as principal at Greenhouse Consulting LLC according to his LinkedIn profile, has been active in neighborhood advocacy for a few years, but said in earlier interviews that the Seminary Road debate was when he really threw himself into it.


News

Alexandrians are starting to get suspicious that the repeated power outages aren’t just the fluke that Dominion officials claim.

Old Town was hit with another power outage last week that left over 2,000 customers in the city’s southeast corner in the dark for hours. It was the latest in a series of outages over the last year.


News

For all the earlier talk of doom and gloom early in the coronavirus financial forecasts, City Manager Mark Jinks’ proposed FY 2021 budget seems relatively painless.

As laid out by Jinks, the operating budget is a 1.9% proposed increase over last year’s, with a 2 cent real estate tax rate reduction, no major service reductions, and fully funds the proposed school CIP and operating budget.


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