I have bad news for anyone else tired of reading about the Potomac Yard arena: the city announced a three-month schedule of public engagement for the project.
The schedule includes community engagement events, listening sessions, project briefings, site tours and more.
Good Wednesday morning, Alexandria!
🌤️ Today’s weather: Expect partly sunny skies and a high near 49, accompanied by a breezy southwest wind of 16-21 mph, gusting up to 39 mph. For Wednesday night, the sky will be mostly clear with a low around 31, as the west wind transitions from 8-13 mph to a light southwest wind after midnight, with gusts potentially reaching 18 mph.
(Updated at 11:30 p.m.) Tim Beaty, the retired former global strategies director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was declared the winner in tonight’s special election for the open School Board District A seat. He defeated Gina Baum, an Alexandria City Public Schools parent and former longtime member of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission, and will be sworn into office next week.
Beaty won the election 1,270 votes (56%) to Baum’s 962 votes (43%), and 5.5% of the registered voters in District A (41,335 voters) cast ballots on this rainy Tuesday. District A includes Old Town, Del Ray, Potomac Yard and Arlandria. The results will be certified in the Alexandria Voter Registrar’s office near City Hall on Friday.
Talk about a good pairing: An Ethiopian honey wine-tasting room just opened on Vine Street in Alexandria’s West End.
Gize Negussie has a steadily growing list of about 40 Ethiopian shops and restaurants that he sells wine to, and late in the fall opened Negus Winery and Meadery Tasting Room in a renovated space in an industrial area at 5509 Vine Street.
The impact that the proposed Washington Wizards/Capitals arena at Potomac Yard will have on local businesses will be discussed in a virtual town hall meeting this week.
Stephanie Landrum, CEO of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP), will speak about the ramifications in a Zoom meeting at noon on Thursday (Jan. 21).
Update at 1:45 p.m. — Alexandria City Public Schools has canceled all afternoon and evening activities. According to ACPS:
Due to the inclement weather forecast for our region, all afternoon and evening activities scheduled at Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) facilities are canceled at this time.
The Linder Academy, a private school that opened at 607 S. Washington Street in 2021, has applied to open a new location at Ross Dress for Less at 112 N. Washington Street.
The school, which currently has around 105 students at the existing location, is applying to have a maximum of 160 middle and high school students at the new location.
An Agenda Alexandria panel later this month will dive into how the city’s digital landscape isevolving and what it means for local residents.
In 2021, the city broke ground on a new municipal fiber optic network to boost internet speeds at city facilities and schools and earlier this year Internet provider Ting started to break Comcast’s hold over Alexandria’s internet.
Good Tuesday morning, Alexandria!
🌧️ Today’s weather: Rain will begin mainly after 9am, with a high near 56 and 100% chance of precipitation. Winds from the east will increase from 11-16 mph to 23-28 mph in the afternoon, possibly gusting up to 39 mph. Expect 1-2 inches of new precipitation. At night, rain will continue mainly before 1am, with a low around 44 and winds shifting from southeast to southwest at speeds of 15-20 mph after midnight. Winds may gust as high as 46 mph, and there is still a 100% chance of precipitation, with an additional half to three-quarters of an inch possible.
(Updated at 5 p.m.) One-on-one therapy, an art program and mental health first aid training are just a few of the new offerings in a proposed mental health program pilot at Alexandria recreation centers.
City Council will review the six-month, $75,000 pilot program with the city’s Department of Recreation, Parks, & Cultural Activities (RPCA) at its meeting Tuesday night. The program would run at three recreation centers — Charles Houston (901 Wythe Street), William Ramsay (5650 Sanger Avenue) and Patrick Henry (4650 Taney Avenue).
(Updated 1/10) Data in a new report shows a geographic and racial divide between which Alexandria students receive out-of-school services.
The Alexandria City Youth Report noted that the city’s out-of-school programs “tend to be clustered at schools and recreation centers, with fewer programs offered in the West End.”
