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

City Announces Housing Summit to Review Affordable Housing Progress

By Vernon Miles
Andrew Adkins, an affordable housing neighborhood in Braddock (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

Alexandria’s Office of Housing has announced the 2020 Housing Summit to examine the current status of affordable housing in the city.

The event is scheduled for Jan. 11 at the Lee Center (1108 Jefferson Street) from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. The main goal of the event is to review the progress of the 2013 Housing Master Plan.

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News

‘Higher Than Normal’ Delays on Seminary Road as Complete Streets is Implemented

By Vernon Miles
Seminary Road (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Seminary Road has seen delays beyond standard reconstruction work as the city implements the new Complete Streets configuration, according to a staff memo to City Council.

The plan takes the four lanes on Seminary Road from N. Howard Street to N. Quaker Lane down to one travel lane in each direction and a turn lane also accessible to emergency vehicles. The change allows for a new bicycle lane to be placed on the street, part of a push to make Alexandria more accessible to non-vehicle forms of transportation — and a broader effort called Vision Zero to reduce or eliminate traffic fatalities.

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Crowded West End Retail Spot Opens New Parking Options

By Vernon Miles

Modera Tempo, an apartment and retail building at 5760 Dow Avenue, has had a notorious parking shortage for years. But a change approved at a Planning Commission meeting last week has opened up unused residential parking to customers.

Modera Tempo is a popular hangout on the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor, but it is common to see cars circling like vultures in front of the Starbucks trying to snag one of the handful of parking spots outside/

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Memorial in Del Ray for Medal of Honor Winner Rocky Versace on Veterans Day

By Vernon Miles
Veterans at a Friends of Rocky Versace memorial (photo via Friends of Rocky Versace/Facebook)

This Veterans Day, the Friends of Rocky Versace are holding their annual memorial for the MIA local Medal of Honor winner Rocky Versace and other Alexandria Veterans.

Versace’s unit was ambushed, but he was able to provide covering fire to allow other to escape. When he was held prisoner, Versace resisted interrogation efforts. The North Vietnamese Liberation Radio announced Versace’s execution on Sept. 26, 1965. His remains were never recovered.

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Adoptable Artist Dog ‘Ricasso’ Plans Debut with Auction

By Vernon Miles

Ricasso, né Rico, came to the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria last fall, according to Gina Hardter, director of marketing and communications for the AWLA. He quickly perfected sit, stay and shake, but staff noticed his constant tail-wagging and had an ambitious idea.

“When he was introduced to some washable paint, ‘Ricasso’ was born,” Hardter said.

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Planning Commission Approves New Gothic Presbyterian Church in Rosemont

By Vernon Miles
Proposed Alexandria Presbyterian Church (photo via City of Alexandria)

Despite some concerns from neighbors, the Planning Commission unanimously gave the thumbs up a new 22,794 square-foot, gothic-style Presbyterian church, a couple of blocks north of T.C. Williams High School.

The new building will replace the existing 3,400 square foot Alexandria Presbyterian Church at 1300 W. Braddock Road, as well as a parking lot and an adjacent residence, but the congregation is larger than the church can contain. The congregation also has held worship services at Del Ray Baptist Church since 1999, but the new church will bring all of the members together under one roof.

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News

Eight Million Square Feet of New Development In the Works for Potomac Yard

By Vernon Miles

Just a few days after submitting plans for the Virginia Tech site near the North Potomac Yard Metro station, JBG Smith has submitted early concept designs for the development that will replace Target and the other Potomac Yard stores.

While the area is known today as a big-box shopping center and surface parking lot, the majority of the new development will be office and residential spaces in a large grid, the Washington Business Journal first reported. Ten of the buildings will be required to have retail, with optional retail at the southern end of the site.

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Public Hearing Next Week for Sweeping Overhaul of Alexandria’s Bus System

By Vernon Miles

After a series of community meetings, a public hearing is scheduled next week for a plan that could radically reshape how the city’s DASH bus network operates.

The big selling point of the new plan is that it would increase the frequency of buses in the city’s current and planned high-density corridors, like Potomac Yard and the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor. In many of these locations, buses would be running at least every 15 minutes all day, every day.

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With Amazon on the Horizon, City Begins Update to Arlandria and Del Ray Plans

By Vernon Miles
Del Ray North (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria is taking another look at the future of Arlandria and Del Ray and how those communities can weather the planned urbanization of the “National Landing” area.

This fall, the city is launching its community engagement for plans to update the 2005 Mount Vernon Avenue Business Plan and the 2003 Long-Term Vision and Action Plan for the Arlandria Neighborhood. The city cites the nearby arrival of Amazon, the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, and the North Potomac Yard Metro station as looming developments that could start to change the character of the residential and commercial communities to the west.

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