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.
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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.
Alexandria’s initial (first-time) unemployment claims fell 90%, and continued claims rose 19% for the week ending April 10.
There were just 184 initial claims for the week ending April 10, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. That’s a 90% dip in the number of claims from the week ending April 3, which saw 1,806 initial claims.
Alexandria sixth most diverse midsize city in U.S. — “To determine the places in the U.S. with the most mixed demographics, WalletHub compared the profiles of more than 500 of the largest cities across five major diversity categories: socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household and religious. Alexandria ranks 18th overall but 6th among midsize cities.” [Alexandria Living]
Inova hosting virtual meeting on rezoning proposal — “Inova Health System will hold a third virtual community information meeting on May 3, from 6 – 7 p.m. to discuss the proposed master plan amendment and rezoning of the Inova Alexandria Hospital property at 4320 and 4250 Seminary Road. In order to facilitate the relocation of the hospital from its current location on Seminary Road to Landmark Mall, Inova will request to rezone the existing hospital site to allow for single family, duplex, and townhome residential uses.” [City of Alexandria]
To go along with a recent increase in the stormwater utility fee, Alexandria’s City Council is broadening the scope of what that can be covered by that fee.
At a City Council meeting on Saturday, the Council voted unanimously in favor of expanding the uses of the fee to help combat some of the rampant flooding that’s plagued the city over the last few years.
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Roman-style pizza is finding a permanent home in Del Ray.
Stracci Pizza submitted a special use permit (SUP) to run a restaurant out of the former Nectar Coffee & Wine Bistro at 106 Hume Avenue.
Alexandria is seeking state funding for a couple of transportation projects, but competition is fierce in a region full of localities hoping to overhaul their transit systems despite the pandemic’s dire financial ramifications.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) recently announced the shortlist of proposed transportation projects that could receive funding through the Commuter Choice program. Each project is scored based primarily on technical merit — like how many people benefit and how much travel time is saved — but also on criteria like cost effectiveness and interagency collaboration.
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After months of fine-tuning, the Alexandria City Council unanimously passed a collective bargaining ordinance on Saturday. Its passage was praised by Alexandria’s employee unions as a step forward in employee rights.
“I want to thank you, the members of the City Council, for moving for an ordinance that allows employees voices to be heard,” Josh Turner, president of the Alexandria Fire Fighters Inc. and International Association of Firefighters Local 2141, told Council.
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City Council unanimously approved the creation of an eight-member community policing review board [CPRB] at its public hearing on Saturday.
City Councilman Mo Seifeldein proposed the CPRB ordinance last year, and said that its creation is long overdue.