A new advocacy group called the Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) is pushing for Alexandria to return to a wards/district system for City Council elections.
Currently, all members of Alexandria’s City Council are elected at-large. A ward or district system would, like the School Board, have City Council members elected from and represent certain neighborhoods.
CACC leader Tom Kopko said he formed the group after City Council voted to end single-family-only zoning last year. Kopko said his hope is a ward system would make city leaders more accountable to the residents of the city’s neighborhoods.
“We’re a group of people who are totally frustrated with the obvious intransigence and lack of accountability of City Council,” Kopko said. “There’s a long list of grievances, the latest is Zoning for Housing. They betrayed homeowners and, against massive opposition, passed [Zoning for Housing] unanimously.”
Kopko said the at-large system makes it harder to get city leadership to focus on neighborhood-specific issues.
“Citizens have no recourse against seven elected officials and staff, all because they’re elected at large,” Kopko said. “Who is the person who cares about your neighborhood?”
The current City Council expressed unanimous opposition to the idea of wards last year, with some saying it would create more infighting as City Council members worked to secure funding for their neighborhoods at the cost of others and to city-wide programs.
“I would not be supportive of returning to wards,” said City Council member Kirk McPike. “Wards tend to foster competition and division between parts of our city. A lot of challenges we face need to be a whole city effort to address them, not one part or another bearing more of the weight. Under the current system, we can take a broad view on issues such as some of the flooding issues that affect a small geographic area but are incredibly expensive to address.”
Mayor Justin Wilson said wards could backfire on those hoping for better neighborhood representation given that representatives of one neighborhood could still easily be outvoted by the rest of the Council, which would have no incentive to cater to the needs of a neighborhood outside of their ward.
“If anything, it could make the Council less likely to incorporate the concerns of localized opposition,” Wilson said.
A new piece of art is making an impact on Alexandria’s waterfront.
The art piece Interstellar Influencer (Make an Impact) was installed this week in Alexandria’s Waterfront Park. The work represents the asteroid that impacted with Earth 35 million years ago and helped shape the Chesapeake Bay.
The work was crafted by Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang. It’s the sixth piece of public artwork installed at Alexandria’s Waterfront Park and will be on display from March through November 2024.
“We want this representation of the asteroid and its impact to raise awareness of the fragility of our shared existence on this planet and the extraordinary (and sometime extraterrestrial) foundation of our modern cities and waterways.” Klimoski said on the project’s website. “We all share this one planet and live within the history of events that shaped it. Sometimes you have to look at it from the point of view of an asteroid hurtling through space 35,000,000 years ago to appreciate just how incredible it is we’re here at all.”
Scene from my Thursday morning run:
Is it an asteroid or a new approach to flood mitigation on our waterfront?
(It’s actually “Interstellar Influencer (Make an Impact),” our newest public art installation in Waterfront Park!) pic.twitter.com/e7pBm90E1I
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) March 21, 2024
The National Park Service tweeted out a bloom watch update: the cherry blossoms are at a phase called ‘peduncle elongation’ — roughly stage 4 of 6 for the blossoms — meaning peak bloom is just around the corner.
Cherry blossom season often evokes a mixed reaction in Alexandrians and others around the region.
On the one hand, it’s a marvel and a visually staggering experience to see the banks of the Potomac lit up in countless pink blossoms.
It's the #BloomWatch community's favorite announcement: we have Peduncle Elongation – the 4th of 6 stages on the path to peak bloom.
🌸🌸🌸🌸/🌸🌸
Follow online at https://t.co/h04Gu0ksc1#cherryblossom #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/WuqVlmIW0R— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) March 12, 2024
On the other hand, it has something of a Fleet Week reputation where the locals know to get out of town and avoid the dense tourist crowds.
That bloom is likely to hit peak this weekend or early next week. The Washington Post reported that the “indicator tree” at the Tidal Basin, which typically blooms a week ahead of the others, reached peak bloom this past weekend. During that time, the Tidal Basin will likely be packed with crowds enjoying the colorful bloom.
Of course: Alexandrians don’t have to go to D.C. to enjoy cherry blossom season. There are several events and cherry blossom tours around Alexandria, though many of the latter do involve trips to the iconic cherry blossoms along the D.C. side of the Potomac River.
Plans for an increase in Metro funding could be in peril as part of the battle over the new Potomac Yard arena.
This weekend, Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, stripped additional Metro funding from the State Senate’s proposed budget, the Washington Post reported.
Lucas said Metro has “not done a good job of managing their resources” and called for more reform within the transit organization before Virginia would increase its funding. It’s a position that ironically mirrors Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s before the Potomac Yard arena announcement. Since then, Youngkin has said he would be more amenable to increased funding to Metro — which currently faces a $750 million shortfall.
Metro leadership previously said the shortfall could lead to 67 bus routes being cut, 2,300 layoffs, and 10 closed Metro stations — including the Potomac Yard Metro station.
Metro General Manager Randy Clarke and Paul Smedberg, former Alexandria City Council member and Chairman of the WMATA Board of Directors, shared a picture earlier today of a meeting with Lucas and said they were continuing to engage in discussions about Metro.
Thx you @SenLouiseLucas for spending time with the @wmata team discussing the value Metro brings to Virginia. Appreciate you wanting to discuss the #wmata longterm funding model so we can be even more effective getting people to jobs, healthcare & education opportunities. pic.twitter.com/92q8gzhAMs
— Randy Clarke (@wmataGM) February 20, 2024
The deadline for a budget is — generally — the adjourning of the legislative session on March 9.
Two years after the School Board requested a new logo for Alexandria City Public Schools, rejecting an initial replacement, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt came back with a new logo recommendation earlier this month.
In a 5-3 vote, the School Board also rejected the new logo design.
The proposed logo featured the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, but drew criticism from some on the School Board who noted that the building, which honors George Washington and is styled after the Lighthouse of Alexandria, is more representative of the city’s past than its future.
Neither of the proposed logos were particularly popular on ACPS’ social media channels.
School Board member Meagan Alderton, however, said the logo fight is a distraction from meaningful work on addressing issues of racism and discrimination in the school system.
“While I appreciate all these symbolic discussions, I would love for people to start walking into this Board room and get on our case and blast us on that equity dashboard,” Alderton said. “That is the real work on racism. We have all these other little things that become distractions. It is 100% a distraction to the work, and I believe, at this point, it is a tactic.”
Abdel-Rahman Elnoubi proposed that the current logo be left in place, tabling the logo discussion indefinitely, but the School Board ultimately voted for Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt to return to the School Board with additional logo designs for the School Board to vote on.
Earlier today, officials announced plans to bring the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards to a new arena in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
The new $2 billion arena, leased to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, is scheduled to break ground in 2025 and open sometime in late 2028, a press release from the governor’s office said.
In addition to the arena — immediately adjacent to the Potomac Yard Metro station — the new development would include a concert venue, media studio, retail, residential, restaurants and more.
All of that’s still pending approval from the Virginia legislature and Alexandria’s City Council, but the project enjoyed bipartisan support from leaders like Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Senator Mark Warner, and Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson.
Less enthusiastic, however, were some residents outside of the building and much of the discussion online, and not entirely from traditional sources of arguments around density. Concerns were voiced online about the facility’s impact on both car traffic and Metro congestion’s impact on transit commuters and travelers to National Airport.
https://twitter.com/JBfromDC89/status/1734955017390497978
How do you feel about the proposed arena development at Potomac Yard?
With the advent of virtual learning in public schools during the Covid pandemic, it seemed like snow days would become a thing of the past.
In late 2021, Alexandria said remote learning would replace in-person classes during what, in the past, would have been a day away from school for children.
A bill was proposed in the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this year to make remote learning a mandatory substitute for snow days, though the bill died in the House Committee on Education.
Now, some localities are starting to reconsider that push to replace snow days with virtual learning.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced earlier this year that the school district would restore snow days and end the use of virtual learning.
“This adjustment aims to maximize in-person learning and to ensure equitable access to instruction and student services for all students,” FCPS said in a press release.
Alexandria City Public Schools’ website says, if there are sufficient calendar days, the school division will consider designating the day “as an actual snow day for all students and staff.”
It’s the day before Thanksgiving and travel has already been a mess for some people.
Travelers at National Airport this morning and last night found cars backed up down Route 1, with some missing their flights.
AAA said today (Wednesday) is the worst day to travel by car as well, especially between 2-6 p.m., NBC4 reported.
There are chances of rain today, though it should be mostly clear in the afternoon, and folks in the Alexandria area should enjoy sunny weather on Thanksgiving Day.
Photo via Sarah Lou/Flickr
Royal Restaurant, now under new ownership, is the latest Alexandria restaurant to seek permission to swap out some of its parking space for more outdoor seating.
The restaurant is hoping to trade 10 parking spaces for 60 outdoor seats. Another 30 seats will be added to an alley on the west side of the building.
The proposal would add an elevated deck outside the building on part of the parking lot.
Royal Restaurant isn’t the first to trade parking space for outdoor seating, several restaurants have turned parking areas into outdoor seating.
Outdoor seating took off in Alexandria during Covid, and the city has been working to make it easier for restaurants to make temporary outdoor seating permanent.
Reception to the change was mixed in the comments and on social media.
“Glad the restaurant is ‘evolving’,” one commenter said. “However I loved the small-town neighborhood feel of the restaurant… The parking really helped us. My parents are in their 80s and look forward to going to Royals. The changes will be hard for them.”
“How unfortunate,” a commenter on Facebook said, “parking was a major perk at the Royal since street parking options are limited.”
But others said the trade-off was a “no-brainer” and noted that there’s often ample street parking on N. St. Asaph Street and nearby streets.
“An additional 90 seats for paying customers at the expense of only a few parking spaces is a no-brainer,” one commenter said.
Image via Google Maps
Halloween is right around the corner and there’s no locality in the region that goes as all out for the year’s spookiest holiday as Alexandria.
There are events throughout the weekend, including multiple costume contests, and the Del Ray Halloween Parade on Sunday — noted as one of the best Halloween parades in the country.
When it comes to costumes and decorations, some fully commit while others mostly abstain. Where do you fall?
