Vernon Miles | ALXnow

Del Ray BBQ spot expansion heading to City Council this weekend

Published October 12, 2023 at 11:05AM

Meal at Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ (image via Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ/Facebook)

Del Ray’s BBQ scene could be getting a little bigger soon.

A plan to boost the size of outdoor smokehouse Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) in Del Ray, in the backyard of Evening Star Cafe, is heading to the City Council at a meeting on Saturday, Oct. 14.

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Alexandria Mayor says city spent $1.8 million on stream restoration projects with nothing to show for it

By Vernon Miles

Published October 12, 2023 at 10:10AM

Taylor Run (Photo via City of Alexandria)

The City of Alexandria spent $1.8 million on its Taylor Run and Strawberry Run restoration projects and, at a meeting earlier this week, Mayor Justin Wilson said the city has virtually nothing to show for it.

That $1.8 million went into the project before shovels ever hit the dirt. The plan was to combat erosion and improve the flow of the waterway, but the city’s design attracted considerable pushback from some local environmental activists and city watchdogs who said the plans could do more harm than good to the stream. Critics also noted that pollution levels in the stream were being calculated based on modeling rather than testing in the actual waterways.

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City leaders say repealing panhandling regulation will have minimal impact but will help avoid lawsuits

By Vernon Miles

Published October 11, 2023 at 3:55PM

Sign asking for money (photo via Maarten van den Heuvel/Unsplash)

Alexandria’s City Council is taking its anti-panhandling ordinance off the books, but city leaders said at a meeting last night the actual impact of the change should be minimal.

City Attorney Joanna Anderson noted that the panhandling change is part of an update to bring obsolete sections of the city code in line with evolving case law.

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Washington’s chief cook, Birchmere founder and John McCain considered for new Alexandria street names

By Vernon Miles

Published October 11, 2023 at 11:15AM

Sen. John McCain (photo via John McCain/Facebook)

The City of Alexandria is working on renaming streets honoring Confederate leaders, and now there’s a full list of new potential names to replace them.

The Historic Alexandria Resources Commission compiled a list of roughly 63 names that could replace streets honoring Confederates.

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Dinner party fundraisers planned next month to support scholarships honoring Alexandria lynching victims

By Vernon Miles

Published October 11, 2023 at 9:45AM

Sign marking the lynching of Benjamin Thomas (image via City of Alexandria)

A set of dinners next month will help raise funding for local scholarships named after the victims of lynching in Alexandria.

The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project runs the scholarships in the names of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, Black Alexandrians who were lynched in 1897 and 1899.

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Alexandria looking for state help to fix its dangerous T-intersections

By Vernon Miles

Published October 10, 2023 at 2:45PM

T-intersection of N. Jordan Street and Seminary Road (image via Google Maps)

When a pedestrian walk signal comes on at a T-intersection, the light for turning vehicles comes on at the same time: meaning every vehicle is turning into a crosswalk that has an active walk signal.

A memo from Adriana Castaneda, director of Transportation and Environmental Services, concurred with the broader planning community: T-intersections are uniquely dangerous. Now, the City of Alexandria wants to make enhancements across the city’s 80 T-intersections to make them safer.

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BREAKING: Foot pursuit ends with arrest in Del Ray apartment building

By Vernon Miles

Published October 10, 2023 at 11:15AM | Updated October 10, 2023 at 11:32AM

Police at The Aspen (staff photo by James Cullum)

A man was arrested at a Del Ray apartment building Tuesday morning after allegedly trying to flee from police.

Arlington police flagged a vehicle with Maryland tags as being associated with a suspect wanted for attempted murder and followed the vehicle into Alexandria, according to scanner traffic.

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Former Tucker Elementary School principal lands bigger school leadership role in ACPS

By Vernon Miles

Published October 10, 2023 at 9:50AM

Acting Executive Director of School Leadership Rene Paschal (image via ACPS)

There’s a new man in charge of guiding school leadership in Alexandria City Public Schools.

The new acting executive director of school leadership is Rene Paschal, formerly acting executive director of human resources since October 2022.

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Notes: New custom framing store enters the picture in Old Town

By Vernon Miles

Published October 10, 2023 at 8:45AM

Framebridge location in D.C. (image via Framebridge/Instagram)

Good Tuesday morning, Alexandria!

Any Alexandrian looking to get custom framing work done has a new option coming to Old Town.

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Port City brings back ale celebrating Alexandria’s most iconic mystery

By Vernon Miles

Published October 9, 2023 at 3:30PM | Updated October 9, 2023 at 5:58PM

The grave of the mysterious Female Stranger (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 6 p.m.) Who was the female stranger?

It’s a question that’s haunted Alexandria since 1816, when a sick woman arrived by ship and died on Oct. 14, and her husband swore the local doctor to secrecy. Her grave in St. Paul’s Cemetery bears no name but tells the story of her passing.

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Tour d’Alexandria bike ride rolling into town later this month

By Vernon Miles

Published October 9, 2023 at 2:30PM

Seminary Road (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

While it won’t have the fierce competition of its French forebearer, Le Tour d’Alexandria is being hosted by the Alexandria Library later this month.

The 13-mile, 2.5-hour bike ride will run in a loop around Alexandria, hitting all of the library locations along the way.