News | ALXnow - Part 939

City Leadership Says More Can be Done to Open Access to Summer Camps

Published June 25, 2020 at 5:15PM

The city is rationing out spots in summer camp programs reopening soon, but even some in the city’s leadership are unclear on why space will be so limited while the city has a preponderance of unused space and resources.

“Summer camp programs are starting,” said Jim Spengler, director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities in a recent joint meeting between the City Council and the School Board. “They are aimed at essential workers and will expand beyond essential workers based on enrollment.”

Alexandria Nonprofit Working to Strengthen Background Check System for Gun Buyers

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2020 at 4:30PM

Gun rights protestors at a rally organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League outside City Hall, June 13, 2020. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

An Alexandria nonprofit is working to get every state to improve its background checks on gun purchasers, and Democratic lawmakers are taking notice.

Safer Country was founded in 2019 by Alexandria attorney Paul Alan Friedman with the mission of taking firearms away from dangerous people. Friedman said that progress was made in the general assembly’s last session, but there is a ways to go.

AHDC Opening Waitlist on 87 Affordable Housing Units in Old Town

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2020 at 3:15PM

The Alexandria Housing Development Corporation is opening the waitlist on affordable rental units at The Bloom apartments at 930 N. Henry Street.

There are 87 units open to the public, and all are reserved for households making the following percentage of area median income:

King Street Metro Access Improvements Project Likely Delayed Past August

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2020 at 2:00PM

The completion of the King Street-Old Town Metro Access Improvements Project will likely be delayed past August, but it’s not clear for how long.

“This project is continuing forward,” Terry Suehr, the city’s director of the Department of Project Implementation, told City Council on Tuesday night. “The contractor continues to report that they are on schedule and are showing the schedule that shows them completing in August, but based on our observations of the progress that they’re making we suspect that they will not finish in August, so just notifying you all that we we do suspect that there will either be requesting extensions or we’ll be having to deal with contract measures to penalize them for not finishing on time.”

Poll: Should T.C. Williams High School be Renamed?

By Vernon Miles

Published June 25, 2020 at 11:30AM

The School Board will be taking up the question of renaming T.C. Williams High School this fall, but whether the school should be renamed is still undecided.

The school was built on land taken by eminent domain from a nearby black community and then was named in honor of Superintendent Thomas Chambliss Williams. Williams was an ardent segregationist who fought not only to keep the black and white students divided, but fired a school employee who tried to get her children sent to an integrated school.

Alexandria Now Has 50 COVID-19 Deaths, Cases Climbing by Double Digits Daily

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2020 at 10:20AM

The emergency room at Inova Alexandria Hospital. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

There has been another coronavirus-related death in Alexandria and the death toll now stands at 50, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

The death of a man in his 70s was reported yesterday, and is the latest fatality since Saturday, June 20. There are now 2,271 cases of the virus in the city, an increase of 13 cases since yesterday. There have also been a steady uptick with 143 new reported cases since Alexandria entered into phase two on June 12.

Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2020 at 9:00AM

Gade Wins Primary, Faces Warner in November Election — “Gade handily defeated Thomas A. Speciale II and Alissa A. Baldwin in Tuesday’s Republican primary with about two-thirds of the votes cast statewide. In the City of Alexandria, Gade received about 63 percent of approximately 2,100 votes cast.” [Alexandria Living]

The Birchmere Reopening in July — “The Birchmere on Mount Vernon Avenue announced that the Billy Price Charm City Rhythm Band will perform July 10… During the public health emergency, there will be a $25 food and beverage minimum and a $5 fee the venue is calling a ‘Covid fee.'” [WTOP]

Nonprofit ‘Heard’ to Teach Art and Creative Writing Classes on Zoom with Alexandria Jail Inmates

By James Cullum

Published June 24, 2020 at 4:30PM

The William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center (via City of Alexandria)

Creative writing nonprofit Heard is still finding ways to make noise. The three-year-old nonprofit had to shut down a number of its creative writing and art classes for the homeless, domestic violence survivors, and the incarcerated because of the pandemic. Now inmates at the Alexandria Detention Center will soon have back their creative outlet with Zoom classes.

“The jail did contact me and said they are in the process of getting more access to televisions and Zoom capabilities,” Collins told ALXnow. “And they asked me to put a proposal in so we could continue to offer creative writing poetry and visual arts classes.”

Large Residential Development in Braddock Goes to Planning Commission Tomorrow

By Vernon Miles

Published June 24, 2020 at 3:30PM

Concept rendering of 701 N. Henry Street project (photo via City of Alexandria)

After securing an endorsement at the Board of Architectural Review last month, the plan to turn 701 N. Henry Street into a 94 unit residential complex is headed to the Planning Commission tomorrow (Thursday).

The project will replace Alexandria Lighting and Supply with 94 unit residential building, 87 of which would be market-rate housing and 7 committed as affordable units.

Del Pepper Honored for 35 Years on Alexandria City Council

By James Cullum

Published June 24, 2020 at 2:00PM

Alexandria City Councilwoman Del Pepper never saw it coming.

At Tuesday night’s virtual City Council meeting, Mayor Justin Wilson diverted from the agenda and took a moment to reflect on an important year — 1985. It was the year that “Back to the Future” came out in theaters, Ronald Reagan was sworn into his second presidential term, and Pepper was elected for the first time to the Alexandria City Council.

Expecting Parents Turn to Old Town Midwife Service Amid Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Published June 24, 2020 at 11:50AM

When the pandemic hit in March, many mothers late into their pregnancies who were preparing to give birth in a hospital were left with difficult decisions.

For BirthCare & Women’s Health, a midwife service in Old Town, that meant a new wave of parents looking for alternatives.