Alexandria’s new City Manager James Parajon presented his proposed budget last night to the City Council. While real estate property assessments are still pushing local tax bills up, there’s no tax rate increase proposed in the budget.
The budget is $829.9 million, or a 7% increase from the previous year’s budget. The budget increase is largely funded by the increase in assessments revenue, which comes out to an average $445 increase for the average Alexandria homeowner.
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Putting aside some of the drama of his visit, Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke in Alexandria last week about a topic that even some local Democrats have expressed support for: eliminating the grocery tax.
Virginia has a 2.5% grocery tax that helps to fund public schools and transportation. One percent of that goes to local governments, while the rest goes to the state. This has created a sort of three-faction divide on the tax that doesn’t break evenly along party lines.
The Landmark redevelopment has a new name: West End Alexandria.
Developer Foulger-Pratt officially unveiled the new name earlier this week, though it was first reported in the Washington Business Journal in late January.
Should Alexandrians have the right to use gas-powered leafblowers to clear away their yards or are they a noisy nuisance that should be blown away?
Well, right now the city can’t ban them even if they wanted to, but the city’s legislative package includes a request for localities to get permission to prohibit the use of gas-powered leafblowers as both an environmental hazard and a nuisance for neighbors.
Alexandria has been bleeding hotels and local economic and tourism experts said if Alexandria wants to fully capitalize on a post-COVID tourism boom, it needs to pitch in on a new hotel.
At a meeting last week, the City Council expressed cautious enthusiasm about a proposal that Alexandria put a little of its tax revenue from the hotel back into the developer’s coffers. The proposal involves offering incentives to help finance the development of a luxury hotel at 699 Prince Street.
The twice-annual Alexandria Restaurant Week starts next Friday with some new options on the list of restaurants.
Restaurant week’s schtick is that each of the restaurants offers $35 per-person meals at various restaurants around the city, which is still a bit much for the $10-$20 restaurant-goers among us, but is discount at many of the restaurants in question.
It was the best of times and the worst of times for many Alexandrians this week.
Monday’s snowstorm shut down many services around the area — delaying trash pickup, canceling bus service, and more — but also offered some winter fun around Alexandria.
With the Omicron variant situation sending Alexandria’s COVID numbers skyrocketing, several New Year’s events like First Night are being canceled.
A majority of poll respondents last week said their holiday travel plans weren’t being affected by COVID-19 and they still planned to travel.
Has the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant affected your holiday plans?
The Omicron variant accounts for 73% of new coronavirus infections, federal officials said last week. In Alexandria, the city saw roughly 800 new reported cases within a week, though some of that comes from record-high levels of COVID testing ahead of the holidays.
The Campagna Center is hosting the 50th annual Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend with the iconic parade scheduled for Saturday, Dec.4.
The parade is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and will be marshaled by Sen. Mark Warner. The event is planned to start at St. Asaph and Queen Streets and end outside City Hall.
