Like a ship during a storm, Canek Aguirre wants to guide Alexandria to more equitable waters.
The trick, though, is through proper communication.
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News
The city has opened up a little about plans to reshape a former slave trading headquarters in Alexandria into a museum centered around the Black Americans enslaved in early American history.
The reopening of the Freedom House Museum at 1315 Duke Street is planned for this fall — after it was originally planned for opening this spring.
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(Updated 4:40 p.m.) Alexandrians could see their wastewater bill go up an average $50 per year with a new rate adjustment aimed at funding the extensive RiverRenew program.
The adjustment has been in the works for a while but was delayed last year in light of the impact of COVID-19 on the local economy. The rate would be in place for two years to finance AlexRenew’s state-mandated efforts to overhaul the city’s sewer system.
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Affordable housing took center stage on Tuesday night, as Alexandria’s mayoral and City Council candidates participated in a long candidates forum hosted by the Departmental Progressive Club (DPC).
During the forum, former Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg praised the Tuesday unveiling of the Lineage affordable apartment complex in Old Town earlier that day. Silberberg voted against a rezoning for the project on one of her first meetings as mayor in February 2016. That vote was unanimously rescinded days later.
Want to go into business?
The latest listings on BizBuySell show businesses for sale in and around Alexandria. Many are restaurants, which have been heavily impacted by the pandemic.
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A number of Alexandria politicians support the guilty verdict against last year’s murder of George Floyd.
Mayor Wilson that Floyd’s memory will be honored in Alexandria when it improves the inequities associated to wealth, education, housing, health and injustice experienced by residents of color.
Spring2ACTion starts early giving — “Alexandria’s official Day of Giving is April 28, but early giving is open and residents are generously donating to more than 100 local nonprofit organizations.” [Alexandria Living]
Citizen group advicates to return to ward representation — “For most of its history since the early 1800s, the City of Alexandria had neighborhood-based representation on its city council. Now, a bipartisan coalition of residents is calling for a return to that type of government, arguing that ward representation would foster better service and accountability to residents.” [Alexandria Living]
Kelly Grant made it happen.
On Tuesday, Grant, the chief operating officer of the ALX Community coworking office in Old Town, received Volunteer Alexandria‘s business philanthropist of the year award.
The June 8 Democratic primary is only 49 days away, and Mayor Justin Wilson has raised the most money of any candidate in the city. Kirk McPike is also leading among City Council candidates.
Below are fundraising totals from the Virginia Public Access Project, as of March 31, 2021.
Four years of development came to a close Tuesday as the Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority cut the ribbon on Lineage, a 52-unit affordable apartment complex at the former Ramsey Homes site in Old Town.
“It’s about helping people that need affordable housing, and that’s the passion of mine, given that I’m a product of public housing,” ARHA CEO Keith Pettigrew said, adding that he thought the project would be easy when he started his job four years ago. “I was led to believe that Ramsey was easy, but it was anything but easy, and being in this industry for as long as I have I should have known better, but I didn’t.”
An urban design student at Alexandria’s Virginia Tech campus is gathering some local feedback on the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
The memorial — as longtime readers may remember from our short-lived local trivia series — was constructed in 1932 and was inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt.