(Updated 9:40 a.m.) Alexandria City High School and the Minnie Howard Campuses are on lockdown and will have an asynchronus learning day.
According to the school’s website:
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News
School Board forum yields big turnout from District B constituents — “Alexandria City School Board candidates gathered in the second of two virtual forums last weekend to prepare for the Nov. 2 general election.” [Alexandria Times]
The Chamber ALX is hosting a wine and chocolate get-together for local businesswomen — “We’re excited to be back in person for our annual Evening of Perfect Pairings: Wine + Chocolate, Women + Business event! Join us in the beautiful back (heated) garden of Sonoma Cellar for a curated wine tasting/food pairing, networking and celebration of the year.” [The Chamber ALX]
A photo of a horse dead on the street, missives between sweethearts during the Civil War, a 1909 postcard for a local drugstore: OurHistoryMuseum is a digital gallery of local oddities from private collectors around town. It’s a love letter to the kinds of small local history that don’t make it into physical museums but might go unknown to the public as they gather dust on a local shelf.
Now, OurHistoryMuseum founder Ken Lopez is hoping to take his local project nationwide.
A man was unsuccessful in trying to walk out of the Restaurant Depot on Eisenhower Avenue with $1,851.73 using a discarded receipt, according to the Alexandria Police Department.
The incident at the store at 4600 Eisenhower Avenue occurred in August, and the suspect has not been arrested. He “passed all the points of sale without purchasing the store merchandise,” police said in a search warrant.
Halloween decorations are out, locals are buying pumpkins, and the leaves are starting to turn. It’s that time of year again, and starting next month, the City of Alexandria will be resuming its annual leaf vacuuming and leaf bag collection.
On Monday, Nov. 1, the city’s leaf vacuuming and bag collection starts for those residents that receive city trash and recycling collection, the city said in a press release. Leaf collection is slated to continue into January.
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After significant outcry from a school system concerned about weapons in schools, the Alexandria City Council took a dramatic 4-3 vote around 1 a.m. this morning (Wednesday) to temporarily return school resource officers (SROs) to two middle schools and Alexandria City High School until the end of this school year.
Councilman John Taylor Chapman was the lone vote to reverse course, going against Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker and Councilmen Canek Aguirre and Mo Seifeldein, who voted to keep away SROs.
It was barely a footnote in the six-hour City Council meeting, most of which was consumed with a tense discussion on School Resource Officers, but towards the end City Council meeting last night the group expressed widespread support for permanently making the 100 block of King Street a pedestrian zone.
The closure of the 100 block of King Street into a pedestrian zone was an idea that Mayor Justin Wilson and City Councilman John Chapman spearheaded before the pandemic, but was fast-tracked to benefit local restaurants and businesses that needed the outdoor space for social distancing. The closure has been popular with local businesses and the community at large, a survey put out by the city indicated.
New gift shop in Old Town helps people with disabilities — “B.E.S.T stands for ‘Building Employment Solutions Together’ and is a collaboration between the Joey Pizzano Memorial Fund (JPMF) and ServiceSource to provide meaningful employment for people with disabilities.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
Alexandria wins housing policy leadership awards — “Affordable and workforce housing policies and programs put in place by the governments of Alexandria, Virginia, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, have been selected as joint winners of the 2021 Urban Land Institute Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Awards.” [Urbanland]
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Kelly Carmichael Booz says experience matters, as the former Alexandria School Board member has thrown her hat in the ring to reclaim her former District B seat.
“I don’t think we can afford as a school district after this last year-and-a-half to have a board that doesn’t have experience coming to the table,” Booz told ALXnow in an interview. “If I’m elected and if the Alexandria citizens from District B support me, I can start on day one running with and understanding of the process.”
Utility company Virginia American Water announced today that it plans to replace approximately 1,700 feet of aging water mains through Old Town to boost local water service reliability in the area.
While there have also been stormwater investments in Old Town, the Virginia American Water upgrades are focused more on the consumer-end of reliable water service. According to the press release, the new water pipes will increase reliability, allowing for better water flows into households and improving fire protection.
As plans to redevelop the Oakville Triangle move forward, part of that revitalization could involve the resurrection of an older neighborhood name: St. Elmo.
There are remnants of the St. Elmo name, like the coffee shops in Del Ray and North Old Town, but by and large, it’s one that’s fallen by the wayside. According to an application, developer Stonebridge Associates is hoping to turn a road through the Oakville Triangle into St. Elmo Way as a tie to the old neighborhood.