What a hot week in Alexandria. Here is the rundown.
Our top story this week was on the five men arrested after shots were fired in Old Town last month. There were quite a few crime incidents to report on, in fact, including a man who was arrested in the Landmark area after shooting his cat and a man arrested for selling marijuana and illegally possessing a gun.
U.S. Housing and Ubran Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge was in Alexandria Friday to tour The Spire affordable housing complex and tout the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better agenda.
“There are so many people who live on the outskirts of hope in this country,” Fudge said. “I am in a community now… where the median value of a home is nearly $640,000. Most people can’t afford to live here. There is no place in this country today where a person making minimum wage can rent a two-bedroom apartment.”
As the city’s zoning ordinance nears the 30th anniversary of its last major overhaul, a new process starting this year will look at whether it’s worth continuing to edit and adjust the 1992 document or if the whole thing should be put to pasture with the city starting over fresh.
The zoning ordinance is the guiding document for the city’s approach to all-things-development, from parking requirements to environmental management.
The lunch hour around Potomac Yard restaurants could get a little busier this fall.
Two years after the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) first broke ground on its Potomac Yard headquarters, the national security nonprofit announced plans to move into the headquarters by the end of the year.
(Updated 11:45 a.m. — The Arlington Ridge Road bridge referenced by the mayor in the article is the Four Mile Run Bridge.) Arlington County is planning on fully reopening the Four Mile Run Bridge in the fall of 2025, which will be more than six years after it closed due to structural problems.
The bridge is one of the five bridges that connect Alexandria to Arlington, and along with the West Glebe Road Bridge has been earmarked for repair since November 2018. The western portion of the Four Mile Run Bridge has been closed off to pedestrians since January 2019, and structural problems have restricted vehicles under five tons at the Arlington Ridge Road bridge.
Bowl America agrees to sale — “Shareholders of Bowl America Inc. voted Wednesday to approve its $44 million sale to Bowlero Corp., which in turn, plans to go public through its own marriage with a blank-check company that values the larger company at about $2.6 billion. Bowl America (NYSE: BWL-A), the Alexandria-based operator of 17 bowling centers in the Greater Washington, Baltimore, Richmond and Jacksonville, Florida, areas, said it expects its sale to close Monday.” [Washington Business Journal]
McAuliffe and DNC Chair visit Alexandria — “Great event this morning at Port City Brewing Company with Terry McAuliffe and DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison! It’s clear that if we want to see Virginia’s economy continue to rebound we need Democratic leadership to build on President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan.” [Facebook]
The Alexandria Fire Department is buckling under the strain of a staffing shortage and forced overtime, as firefighters, EMTs and medics say that their operations are not sustainable.
Alexandria Fire Chief Corey Smedley says that staffing shortages within the department, which underwent a restructuring in June, is resulting in an uptick in holdovers (forced overtime).
The Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) is working through a new project that will help educate on a period of the city’s history rife with confusion and upheaval: last year.
In an office where items considered artifacts are usually arrowheads or ship timbers, City Historian Daniel Lee said his office has started a different kind of collection.
As Alexandria City Public Schools plans a systemwide reopening to full-time in-person instruction on August 24, staff will not be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
ACPS told ALXnow that there is not a vaccine requirement at this time.
Isabel likes things simple.
The 12-year-old black and white domestic shorted-haired cat is up for adoption with the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. Chilling out and get attention are always at the top of her to-do list.
An Alexandria man was arrested on July 29 after shooting and killing his cat during an argument with his girlfriend in their Landmark area apartment.
Alexandria Police responded to a call for shots fired at an apartment in the 6000 block of Edsall Road at around 1:15 a.m. The suspect’s girlfriend said she and her boyfriend got into an argument while watching television. The woman said that she recently bought a handgun after a destruction of property incident, and that her boyfriend took the gun and shot a round at their bed in anger.
