The Alexandria City Council gets an update from the Alexandria Police Department Chief Tarrick McGuire, April 8, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)
Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire presented a comprehensive public safety update to the Alexandria City Council on Tuesday night (April 8), highlighting a 25% reduction in overall crime during the first quarter of 2025.
The Alexandria Police Department is reporting significant strides in reducing crime across the city, with violent crimes down 43% and property crimes down 23% in the first quarter of 2025, Police Chief Tarrick McGuire told Council.
Alexandria Police Department Chief Tarrick McGuire gives an update to City Council, April 8, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)
Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire is focusing on six “micro areas” throughout the city as part of a targeted approach to reducing crime.
McGuire, who just finished his first 100 days in office, spoke about his plans with ALXnow in an exclusive interview after his presentation to the City Council on Tuesday (April 8). The specific locations have not been revealed, except he said that they are well-known crime hotspots.
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 at a glance
In business since: 2009 (17 years)
Moves completed: more than 20,000, local and long-distance
Licensed in: Virginia
Serves: Alexandria and the rest of the DMV
Local hourly rate includes: packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and home protection on every move
No separate fees for: stairs or elevators
Also offers: junk removal, custom crating, and self-storage
Reputation: 4.7 stars across nearly 1,000 Google reviews
Who is 495 Movers?
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.
What makes moving in Alexandria different?
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.
What does 495 Movers include in its hourly rate?
For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:
Packing materials. Boxes, tape, paper, and wrap are provided at no additional cost, whether a move needs a few or a few hundred.
Furniture disassembly and reassembly. Beds, tables, desks, sectionals, and wardrobes are taken apart, moved, and put back together at the new home. In an Old Town rowhouse, that’s often the only way a dresser gets down the stairs.
☀️ Today’s weather: Expect sunshine and a high around 55 degrees, with light winds shifting to southwest at approximately 6 mph in the afternoon. Clouds will increase during Wednesday night, along with a low temperature of about 42 degrees. There is a slight chance of showers after 2 am, with a 20% probability of precipitation. The south wind will maintain a speed of around 6 mph.
If you are interested in learning more about Continuing Care Retirement Communities (also known as "Life Plan Communities"), whether for yourself or for a loved one, please join our free workshop on Wednesday, November 4 from 5:00-7:00 at the Arlington office of Long & Foster. We are hosting this workshop in conjunction with Lisa Bates of the Williamsburg Landing community, which is a particularly excellent model of the way these communities work, and one you may wish to consider!
– How do Continuing Care Retirement Communities work? – What do they offer? – How much do they cost, and what are the financial models offered? – How do you how to evaluate them, and choose the one that's right for you? – How do you make a plan for a move like this? – How do you handle a lifetime's worth of possessions?
A view outside the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Academic Building One in Alexandria. (Photo by Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)
Research colleges and universities in Virginia are at risk of taking significant cuts, state lawmakers in the House of Delegates and education experts revealed Tuesday, as the country’s executive branch continues to trim down operations and funding in the federal government.
According to data collected by the National Center for Science and Engineering, Virginia ranks 13th in the nation in research and development (R&D) performance.
Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Down The Rabbit Hole at Mount Vernon Community School, April 8, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)
Spoiler warning: Alice doesn’t make it back from her trip down the rabbit hole in the Alexandria Children’s Theatre’s (ACT) dual language production at Mount Vernon Community School (2601 Mount Vernon Avenue).
“Que curioso,” Alice says, bewildered. “Everything seems so much different since I fell into that rabbit hole.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement logo (via Facebook)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced this week the arrest of a 40-year-old Salvadoran woman in Alexandria on Feb. 25.
Silvia Lorana Bonilla-De Jandres was arrested as part of an investigation by the Virginia State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. She was arrested more than a month ago, on the same day that a 41-year-old Salvadoran woman was arrested by ICE in Alexandria.
The Franklin P. Backus Courthouse in Alexandria (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Alexandria Police Department is looking for multiple suspects who allegedly stole debit and credit cards from a woman’s wallet in an Old Town coffee shop.
The victim spent about five hours in the coffee shop on the afternoon of Feb. 7 (Friday), located across the street from the Alexandria courthouse in the 500 block of King Street, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit. The victim told police that she was in the shop from noon to 5 p.m. She put her purse on the chair and she had her back toward it while speaking with a friend sitting on the other side of her.