Good Wednesday morning, Alexandria!
☁️ Today’s weather: Expect the day to start off mostly cloudy before transitioning to sunny conditions and reaching a high of around 82°F. There will be a northwest wind blowing at 6 to 8 mph. As for Wednesday night, the skies will be partly cloudy with temperatures dipping to around 60°F and a gentle breeze from the east.
Alexandria is set to gain from new transit projects planned for the I-395/95 corridor. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission is reviewing 14 proposals aimed at easing traffic congestion, with several directly impacting the city.
The I-395/95 Commuter Choice program, which uses toll revenue for transportation improvements, includes potential upgrades to Alexandria’s DASH bus service in its draft project list.
Among the movers serving Alexandria, VA, 495 Movers stands out for a simple reason: its local hourly rate includes packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and protection for floors, walls, and elevators. The company has been in business since 2009 and has completed more than 20,000 moves, a number that keeps climbing.
Anyone who has hired movers in the DC area knows the familiar pattern. A low hourly rate wins the call. Then the invoice arrives with a charge for boxes, a charge for taking the bed apart, a fee for the stairs, and another for the elevator. By the end, the number on the bill has little to do with the number in the ad. 495 Movers was built to avoid that.
495 Movers is a full-service moving company serving Alexandria and the rest of the DMV, founded in 2009 by people who had worked as movers for several other companies first. They wanted to do it differently.
“We wanted to take a different approach, offering a simple, honest, and transparent approach for the customer,” said Moti Kachlon, co-owner at 495 Movers. For local moves, that meant building the most common extras into the hourly rate. Seventeen years and more than 20,000 moves later, the company is still growing.
Alexandria is a hard place to move. A truck on an Old Town block gets watched by neighbors, property managers, and a family wondering whether the sofa will make the turn on a staircase built long before sofas got this big.
Old Town’s rowhouses have narrow staircases and tight turns, which is why large furniture often has to come apart to get out. Del Ray’s bungalows and rowhouses have basements that hold more than anyone remembers. And condo and apartment buildings in Carlyle, Potomac Yard, and the West End often require movers to carry a certificate of insurance and book the elevator, with building managers who care a great deal about scuffed hallways. The street adds its own complications, from cobblestones to limited curb space.
That’s the context for how 495 Movers prices its work.
For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:
Phoebe Coy of YIMBYs of Northern Virginia celebrates the Whitley Phase 2 housing approval but argues it exemplifies a flawed process in the following Letter to the Editor.
She contends that requiring City Council approval for nearly every housing project due to zoning, parking, or density bonus rules creates unnecessary delays and burdens the Council. Coy calls for zoning reforms to empower the Planning Commission to approve more housing directly, streamlining the response to Alexandria’s housing shortage.
The City of Alexandria’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities launched its 18th Annual Community Cookout series with a successful first event at Mount Vernon Recreation Center on Tuesday (April 29).
Hundreds of community members gather to connect with their neighbors and access city resources, all while enjoying free food and activities.
High school students from across the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region are invited to participate in Dialogue for Democracy at George Mason University!
Hosted by the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, this event offers high school students an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about democracy, civic engagement, and the importance of understanding different perspectives.
Need a massage, pedicure or refreshed hairstyle? There’s a new full-service spa for kids and adults in Old Town.
Last month, King’s Beauty Center and Nail Bar/King’s Men Spa fully opened at 1102 King Street. Until the end of May, they’re offering 20% off all their services.
It’s been a whirlwind month for Angelika O’Reilly.
Earlier this month, O’Reilly opened her first brick and mortar jewelry store Eliana Curated in Clarendon. Now she’s planning on a soft-opening for a second location at 1003 King Street next week, to be followed by a grand opening on Saturday, May 10.
On Sunday, April 27, at the Del Ray Garden Fest, Alexandria resident Bill Hendrickson received the Ellen Pickering Award for Environmental Excellence from the city.
Upon receiving the award, Bill made the following remarks about the city’s environmental plans and policies. Bill provided the remarks to ALXnow for consideration as a Letter to the Editor.
Last year’s win was unbelievable. Without coaching, organization, or outside help, Alexandria’s Harlow Babic and Andrew Bell won the Virginia High School League’s debate state championship.
This year, after spending hundreds of hours building arguments, the defending state champs from Alexandria City High School were gearing up for two wins in a row. Their hopes were dashed three days before the April 26 tournament at James Madison University when told that they missed the registration deadline and couldn’t participate.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) and Oscar-nominated documentary director Nisha Pahuja are hosting a special screening and Q&A session at Alexandria City High School on Friday (May 2). This event is part of a nationwide campaign to end gender-based violence.
Starting at 7 p.m., the event will show a modified educational version of Pahuja’s film “To Kill a Tiger,” followed by a panel discussion. Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, New York columnist, and author of “Being Mortal,” will moderate the discussion.
