In a major reversal, Alexandria’s unions are pleased with the direction City Council took on establishing a collective bargaining ordinance at its meeting on Wednesday night.

Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker introduced amendments to the city’s manager’s proposed plan that expanded the scope of bargaining.


It’s the Kobayashi Maru of developing in Old Town: how do you simultaneously create a building that fits in seamlessly with the historic nature of Old Town without being seen as imitating it?

The issue was recently brought up at a Waterfront Commission meeting on Tuesday in a discussion about the proposed redevelopment of an existing parking garage at 101 Duke Street into townhomes.


The coronavirus pandemic has meant less traffic on Alexandria roadways, fewer accidents and collisions, although there is a noted increase in the number of reported reckless driving incidents.

There was a 67% increase in reckless driving tickets issued by the Alexandria Police Department in 2020 over 2019. There were 184 reckless driving tickets issued in 2019 and 307 in 2020. With 98 incidents so far this year, the city is on track to exceed last year’s number. However, APD started doing eCitations in late May 2019, and as such the 2019 Reckless Driving ticket numbers are incomplete. All other tickets before that point were filled out manually, skewing the numbers as they were not broken up by citation type.


Bonded buddies Cookie and Chispin are inseparable, and the pair are looking to be adopted from the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria.

Cookie, a 12-year-old terrier mix, reportedly likes nothing more than to hang out with her closest companion, Chispin, a 10-year-old female hound mix.


Usain Bolt compliments Alexandria’s running phenom Noah Lyles — “He talks the talk, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he’s going to match up – because he’s proven that he has the speed, just throughout the circuit and the way he’s running.” [USA Today]

City Council votes against Braddock West development — “A request by West Street Acquisitions, LLC to build a large multifamily residential building across the street from the Braddock Road Metro Station were denied in a 4-3 vote by City Council on Saturday.” [Alexandria Living]


The Alexandria School Board on Thursday, March 18, will conduct a public hearing on the proposed new names for T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.

The 5 p.m. public hearing will allow testimony from residents on what they think about proposals by Superintendent Dr. Gregory Hutchings to respectively rename them “Alexandria High School” and “Naomi Brooks Elementary School”. The two finalist names were chosen from a list that ACPS released last month.


The City of Alexandria has released more information on upcoming vaccination stages as the state begins to move forwards the phase 1c.

According to the City of Alexandria, Virginia could start to move toward Phase 1c in the next few weeks as vaccine supply starts to increase. The move towards 1c is complicated by the fact that there are still a several thousand Alexandrians in Phase 1b who haven’t been vaccinated, including teachers who are now expected to return to school and restaurant workers the city recently moved into Phase 1b.


The Water Taxi and other cruises are returning to the Alexandria waterfront on Friday (March 19), just in time for a trip down the Potomac to check out the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom.

Hornblower Cruises and Events just announced that it will resume its cruising operations along the Potomac River from Old Town to The Wharf in D.C., Georgetown and National Harbor. Sailing on the vessels was shut down during the pandemic.


(Updated 10:10 a.m.) If you’ve ever been frustrated by huge trucks taking up parking in business areas, a new city ordinance (item 19) should put you at ease.

A new city ordinance limits the ability of large trucks to park in Alexandria’s commercial business areas to a two-hour window unless they’re loading and unloading.


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