Police continue to investigate two suspicious deaths in Alexandria this week — one in the Braddock neighborhood and another at Four Mile Run.
Telemundo reported the victim found in Four Mile Run as Kevin Isaías, but official identification from the police department is still pending the results of a medical examination.
Police also hasn’t released the identity of the victim who died at The Bloom at Braddock Apartments earlier this week. Scanner traffic indicated a man suffered a cardiac arrest in his apartment after being assaulted in the hallway of the building, but police have not released additional information about the death.
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The body of the man found at Four Mile Run Park on Tuesday has been identified as Kevin Isaías of El Salvador by Telemundo 44, though police won’t confirm the victim’s identity.
Telemundo 44 was the first to report the identity of the man, and was told by his family that he was a married father with a daughter and a baby on the way. The family also told the outlet that he left for work at 6 a.m. and that they were clueless as to what led to his death.
The Alexandria Police Department has released few details on the incident, except to say that they responded at 1:27 p.m. that day and found an adult male dead in the water in the 4100 block of Mount Vernon Avenue in Four Mile Run Park.
APD classified the incident as a suspicious death — the second to occur this week following Monday’s suspicious death of a 50-year-old man at The Bloom building in the Braddock neighborhood of the city. Police also did not answer questions on that incident.
Anyone with information on either of these incidents can contact the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
A race through Old Town this weekend will cause some road closures on Saturday and Sunday.
The PNC Parkway Classic is scheduled for Sunday, April 28. The city said in a release that there will also be a couple of closures on Saturday — we’re told that’s for race setup near Oronoco Bay Park.
According to the release:
For the safety of those involved, there will be numerous road closures in Old Town beginning Saturday, April 27
at 8 a.m. through Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m.Saturday, April 27, 8 a.m. – Sunday at 2 p.m.
N. Union between Oronoco Street and Pendleton Street
Pendleton Street between Fairfax Street and UnionSunday, April 28
5 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.
Fairfax Street will be closed to through traffic between Canal Center and Pendleton Street for buses to shuttle race participants.6 a.m. – 2 p.m.
S. Washington Street closed from the city limit on the south side of the city to Washington and Gibbon7 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Franklin Street between Washington and Union Street
Union Street between Franklin and Oronoco StreetThe start line for the 5k is at Oronoco Bay Park, the 10-mile run starts at Mount Vernon. There will be no parking on Mount Vernon and towing will be enforced.
Photo via PNC Parkway Classic/Facebook
Medians, reduced crossing distances and curb extensions are just a few of the roadway changes being proposed for four intersections with Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria.
The preferred design options are meant to improve mobility, safety and access issues at the intersections of Mount Vernon Avenue at Glebe Road, Russell Road, Executive Avenue, and Four Mile Road. The options will be presented at the Traffic and Parking Board’s April 29 public hearing.
The project would extend curbs, remove street parking, add crosswalks along Mount Vernon Avenue, as well as add a pedestrian refuge island at the busy intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and Glebe Road.
The changes are part of the city’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate fatal and severe crashes, and construction is funded by the city and from a Virginia Department of Transportation grant.
There have been three fatal pedestrian crashes along Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria over the years. Changes have been proposed since 2016, when a study outlined needed pedestrian improvements. The 2021 Arlandria-Chirilagua Small Area Plan also recommended changes at the intersections.
The city was set to deliver the plan to the Traffic and Parking Board in January, but the city was delayed because it needed to “allow staff more time to finalize a few details and respond to questions that have been raised related to right of way, pedestrian crossing analysis, traffic analysis, and turning movements before getting an official concept design approval.”
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is the biggest winner of a 2.5 cent tax rate increase being considered by City Council, but it still falls short of the budget voted on by the School Board.
The School Board voted earlier this year to request $384.4 million from the City Council — $21 million more than previous budgets and double the budget proposed by Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt. Mayor Justin Wilson previously said that fulfilling that budget request would require an unprecedented 6-cent tax increase.
Of the roughly $11 million the city would gain from a 2.5 cent increase, the current Add Delete being considered by the City Council would send $8.7 million to ACPS — $4.7 million for capital contributions and $4 million for the operating budget. The additional funding to ACPS comprises 2 cents of the 2.5 cent increase.
The next most expensive projects being considered are $3 million for affordable housing projects and $3 million in contingency funding for mental health staffing.
According to a budget request submitted by City Council member Alyia Gaskins:
Fully funding the School Board Approved FY 2025 – FY 2034 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding request would require the addition of $65 million for George Mason Elementary Hard Costs, Cora Kelly Elementary Soft Costs, and Cora Kelly Elementary Hard Costs. Budget memo #53 outlines that it would be possible to use a mixture of additional borrowing and pay-as-you-go cash capital to alleviate some of the longer-term cost burdens of borrowing. This $4.7 million is then intended to be used to increase cash capital to the Schools capital program and mitigate the amount of borrowing required for the additional $65.0 million.
Mayor Justin Wilson said there’s still uncertainty about how much ACPS will receive from the state budget.
The relationship between the City Council and the School Board has historically been tense, especially when it comes to budget discussions, and there was some reticence from the Council to hand over the majority of the tax rate increase to ACPS.
“Not to say that they don’t need it, but there’s need on the city side as well,” said City Council member Canek Aguirre. “There’s a lot of need on the city side we’re not addressing unless we kick it down the road to next year.”
Gaskins said she recognized that the funding to ACPS was a big ask, but that it’s one that’s desperately needed.
“I in no way deny that these are not significant increases,” Gaskins said, “but I think they’re trying two very important sides of what ACPS is dealing with on the capital and operating side.”
Budget adoption is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1.
Vermilion at 1120 King Street has some pretty prestigious fans.
Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema shared a list of his five favorite spots around the area with an emphasis on international cuisine.
The last location on the list was Vermiilion, an Americana restaurant in Old Town known for its wine pairings.
Sietsema particularly praised the work of head chef Tony Chittum:
Seemingly overnight, Chittum jump-started the Old Town stalwart with dishes that marry local bounty with practiced creativity.
Fried oysters? Been there, done that, but never where the crisp oysters are staged atop shells filled with what tastes like Waldorf salad. Chittum’s salads are beautiful haystacks, one night speckled radicchio with sheeps’ milk cheese, chips of fried Jerusalem artichokes and folds of country ham. Sweet scallops share their plate with fritters that mimic scrapple, and even steak — straightforward steak — is elevated when the beef comes with a bright salsa and blue cheese suspended in tempura.
Sietsema also praised the aesthetics of the restaurant, from the brick walls to flickering lanterns.
The restaurant is open nightly for dinner starting at 5 p.m. The bar opens at 4 p.m. Weekend brunch runs from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
Photo via Vermilion Restaurant & Bar/Facebook
Good Friday morning, Alexandria!
☀️ Today’s weather: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 66. Still mostly cloudy tonight with a low around 47, then cloudy again tomorrow.
🚨 You need to know
An Alexandria man was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing the scooter and phone of an Uber Eats driver in D.C., ABC7 reported.
The man and an accomplice approached a delivery driver outside of a Pizza Hut in Northeast D.C. last July. He and a few others surrounded the driver as he was putting his phone into the handlebars of his motorized scooter, then said that he had a gun.
The man took the driver’s phone and keys to the scooter, but tried and failed multiple times to start the scooter until he ended up dragging it away. ABC7 reported that the driver was able to flag down a police officer who, after a short pursuit, took the man into custody.
📈 Thursday’s most read
The following are the most-read ALXnow articles for Apr 25, 2024.
- Crumbl Cookies coming to the Bradlee Shopping Center (1,447 views)
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on today in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
- No events today. Have one to promote? Submit it to the calendar.
Alexandria Civil Rights leader Ira Robinson, the first Black man elected to the City Council after Reconstruction, died last Friday at his home in Temecula, California.
Robinson was 85 years old.
Robinson was elected to the City Council in 1970. Before the election, 19-year-old Robin Gibson was murdered at a 7-11, which sparked three days of rioting. Robinson was credited with settling the riots and, at one point, saving the life of an Alexandria policeman surrounded by an angry crowd.
Robinson served on the City Council for three years and was instrumental in working toward full compliance with desegregation laws.
During the many challenges in America at a time, Ira Robinson represented hope for a new America,” said McArthur Myers, who was the youth coordinator for Robinson’s campaign.
In a release, the City of Alexandria detailed some of Robinson’s history with the city:
During his three-year term on the Council, Robinson was instrumental in bringing about major changes in education, housing, and law enforcement, including a 1971 secondary school integration plan that brought the Alexandria public schools into full compliance with federal desegregation law. Nearly three decades after that plan consolidated three previous high schools into T.C. Williams secondary school, the turmoil of that period – and the resulting football championship that reunited the community – remained such a potent story that it became the basis of the Disney movie, Remember the Titans.
Also marking that era in Alexandra politics were the titanic, but civil, debates between Robinson, a Democrat, and Wiley F. Mitchell, a Republican, whose priorities for the city, though often at odds, led to steady increases in minority hiring, the distribution of moderate and low-income housing city-wide, the development of the Metro area transit system, and eventual redevelopment of the Potomac Railroad Yard, Cameron Station, and the neighborhoods along the Route 1 corridor and Mount Vernon Avenue.
Before his election to council, Robinson focused much of his activism on changing the face of policing in the city and on relations between police officers and Alexandria’s African-American youth. In 1968, he served on the Alexandria Crime Commission and, the following year, as adviser to a Michigan State University team, hired by the city manager to produce a “Study of Police Community Relations” in Alexandria. Robinson also served on the Alexandria Commission on Criminal Justice and the Metropolitan Council of Government’s Task Force on Drug Abuse. He also chaired the city’s Urban League voter registration drive, served on the boards of the local branch of the NAACP and the Boys Club, and was a member of the Alexandria Economic Opportunities Commission and the Mayor’s ad hoc Committee on Health Care. An avid sports fan, he advocated for young African American athletes who needed legal advice.
Here’s a roundup of all the events, live music, and entertainment happening around Alexandria this weekend; enjoy!
Are you organizing an event? Submit events to ALXnow.
Friday, April 26
Things To Do
- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Homeschool Day at Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House
- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Friends of Duncan Library Spring Book Sale at Duncan Library
- 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Military Children 2024 World Expo at Military Children’s Six Foundation
- 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: Alexandria Teen Science Cafe/Aerospace at Chinquapin Park Recreation Center
- 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Craft Beer Sail Featuring Port City Brewing Co. with Tall Ship Providence Foundation
- 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Carnivorous Workshop at PlantHouse
Live Music & Entertainment
- Alexandria Bier Garden: Secondhand Chaos at 9:30 p.m.
- Blackwall Hitch: Too Extra Band from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.
- Daniel O’Connell’s: Franklin Music Duo from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
- Evening Star Cafe: Cole Larravide at 8:30 p.m.
- Fish Market: DJ at 9 p.m.
- Galactic Panther: Rugan Lewis + Sol Reactor + The Orange Slices from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- Hops N Shine: Classic Rock & The Beatles Music Bingo at 7 p.m.
- Laporta’s Restaurant: The Satin Doll Trio from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- Lost Boy Cider: The Porch Lights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Murphy’s Grand Irish Pub: The Wavos & Pat Garvey at 9 p.m.
- Rock It Grill: Karaoke at 9:30 p.m.
- The Birchmere Music Hall: The Stylistics at 7:30 p.m.
- The Light Horse: Lloyd Braun Band at 9:30 p.m.
- The Study at Morrison House: Live piano music from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Two Nineteen Restaurant: Fat Chance from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Port City’s Optimal Wit, its most iconic beer, took home the gold medal at the World Beer Cup.
The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition hosted by the Brewers Association that breaks prizes down be categories of beer. The ceremony was held yesterday (Wednesday) in Las Vegas.
In the category of Belgian-style Witbier, Port City won out over 88 other entries.
Silver went to Belgian Wheat from Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Roseland Virginia, while bronze went to Upland Wheat from the Upland Brewing Company in Indiana.
OPTIMAL WIT JUST WON GOLD AT THE WORLD BEER CUP! IT’S THE BEST BELGIAN WIT IN THE WORLD!!!! https://t.co/euF8oWwkJU
— Port City Brewing Co (@PortCityBrew) April 25, 2024
