News

School Board restructuring plan is ‘dead’ as-is, says Alexandria City Council Member

By James Cullum
ACPS headquarters and clock (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Alexandria School Board’s preferred options to restructure itself are “dead” as-is, mostly due to a lack of engagement with the Alexandria City Council, City Council Member John Taylor Chapman told members of the School Board on Monday night.

“I think you’re losing Council by not really engaging with them right now,” Chapman told the City Council/School Board Subcommittee meeting Monday night. “Given the response I’ve seen from my colleagues, I think you have even more of an uphill battle than you had before, and that’s not a good thing if this is supposed to be a process that’s collaborative.”

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Hauntingly good times to be had in Old Town this Halloween

By Vernon Miles
Mourner at the Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden (image via Lee-Fendall House Museum and Garden/Facebook)

If you’ve binge-watched The Fall of the House of Usher and are in the mood for some Edgar Allan Poe readings, the good news is an acclaimed Poe reenactor is making his annual return to Old Town for a reading on Halloween.

The bad news: it’s sold out. But there are still plenty of other options to get your spooky fix in Alexandria on Halloween.

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City leaders push to accelerate stormwater infrastructure planning and get shovels in the ground

By Vernon Miles
Civil engineers work on new stormwater mitigation projects in Parkfairfax (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

A discussion of one of the city’s larger stormwater infrastructure projects spurred a question from city leaders: can the city do more to make these projects happen faster?

Adriana Castañeda said at a City Council meeting last night that the city is a little over halfway through the design process for the Commonwealth, Ashby, Glebe Flood Mitigation Project, one of the largest stormwater infrastructure projects in the city — outside of the immense AlexRenew project.

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Police: No injuries after shots fired outside West End apartment building

By James Cullum
Gunshots were reported in the 3200 block of S. 28th Street on Oct. 25, 2023 (via Google Maps)

There were no reported injuries after gunshots were reported early this morning in Alexandria’s West End, according to police.

The Alexandria Police Department was notified from multiple witnesses of two gunshots at around 12:15 a.m. today, according to the police scanner.

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Alexandria NAACP condemns ‘disturbing’ police video

By Vernon Miles
Alexandria Accountability footage of police vehicle with displayed pig wearing an 'I Can't Breathe' shirt (image via ALX Accountability/YouTube)

(Updated 10:20 a.m.) The Alexandria branch of the NAACP expressed condemnation of police activity in a video showing a toy pig in an Alexandria Police Department (APD) cruiser wearing an I Can’t Breathe shirt.

The video, posted this past weekend by the page Alexandria Accountability, shows a propped-up figure with a cartoon pig head, a black domino mask, and a shirt with the words “I Can’t Breathe.”

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Here’s Old Town Jeweler David Martin’s secret to staying in business for 35 years

By James Cullum
Alexandria jeweler David Martin at Art on the Avenue in Del Ray, Oct. 7, 2023 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria’s David Martin has spent the last 35 years making the city brighter, from creating jewelry at his Old Town shop to convincing city leaders to keep the holiday lights up year-round along King Street.

In 1989, Martin saw Old Town as a sleeping giant, especially on the block where his shop Gold Works USA would be located at 1400 King Street. The King St-Old Town Metro station had opened a few years before, and he sensed that the area would get busier.

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Affordable housing taking center stage in West End planning discussions

By James Cullum
The Stratford apartment complex at Southern Towers (staff photo by James Cullum)

The future of Alexandria’s West End is being reevaluated with a series of open houses in the coming days.

City staff are working to update Alexandria’s long-term vision for the  1992 Alexandria West Small Area Plan and integrate it with the 2012 Beauregard Small Area Plan.

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Panel discussion tackles timeline question for Alexandria’s zoning overhaul

By Vernon Miles
Agenda Alexandria panel discussion on Zoning for Housing (image via Agenda Alexandria/YouTube)

A panel last night on the city’s Zoning for Housing/Housing for All overhaul dived into the back and forth on the issue, including questions about the timeline from proposal to final review.

The proposal includes a number of changes to the city’s housing zoning, the most high-profile being allowing two-to-four-unit dwellings in formerly single-family residential zones. Other substantial changes include making it easier to build housing in industrial zones and eliminating minimum parking requirements for dwellings with up to four units in enhanced transit zones.

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Multi-use apartment building proposed in 1970s-era office in Old Town North

By James Cullum
720 N. Fairfax Street in Old Town North (via Google Maps)

A makeover has been proposed for a 53-year-old office building in Old Town North.

The owners of the former home of the Alexandria Community Services Board at 720 North St. Asaph Street want the building converted into a 12-unit multifamily apartment building with ground floor commercial space.

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Metro considering earlier closure, eliminating bus routes, and other cost cutting measures

By Vernon Miles
Metrobus near Potomac Yard (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

A particularly bleak budget prediction is forcing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to consider plans involving longer train waits, Metro station closures, and eliminating many bus routes, the Washington Post reported.

WMATA’s worst-case scenario plans, built on an assumption of no increase in funding from D.C., Maryland and Virginia, include layoffs of nearly 5,000 employees, closing 20-25 rail stations either permanently or on weekends, and closing stations at 9 p.m. WMATA said all but 37 Metrobus routes are also on the cutting board.

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