Good Tuesday morning, Alexandria!
🌧️ Today’s weather: Increasing clouds, with a high near 63 degrees. West wind 5 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Tonight, we’ll see isolated showers before 11 p.m. It will be cloudy, then gradually become partly cloudy, with a low around 40 degrees. West wind is around 6 mph and becoming light and variable. The chance of precipitation is 20%.
Think the decades-old food stamps program deserves to be in the callous, capricious cross hairs of Elon Musk, President Donald Trump and the latter’s spineless sycophants in Congress? Then you don’t know someone like Ndaneh Luseni.
The 34-year-old Alexandria woman, a single mother with three children, depends on the nourishment that food stamps provide. Luseni receives only $83 a month in benefits from what’s formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Yet, that money allows her to help make ends meet on a regular basis. SNAP pays for essentials like eggs, milk, bread and juice in her household.
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:
Alexandria’s Complete Streets program continues to spark debate among residents, with some praising its safety benefits while others criticize its impact on traffic flow. The issue took center stage at the Lyceum during an Agenda: Alexandria forum on Monday, March 24, where panelists representing various perspectives discussed the merits and challenges of the city’s approach to street design.
Complete Streets is a national movement adopted by over 1,500 communities across the United States, including Alexandria. The concept aims to design roadways that safely accommodate all users – pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and transit riders.
A number of drivers were doing donuts in the middle of Arlandria on Saturday night (March 22) and eluded the Alexandria Police Department.
According to radio dispatches, APD officers reported multiple vehicles performing donuts and a large group of people blocking police from the scene.
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.
Meet your new best friend, Benny – this week’s adoptable dog of the week!
Benny, an eight-year-old male mixed-breed, is available for adoption at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria.
Want to shake it off in style? Get in line.
Since opening earlier this month, it’s become common to see long lines of customers waiting to get into Eras, the new Taylor Swift-themed pop-up bar in Del Ray.
Any way you slice it, eating a tower cake at the Beeliner Diner is challenging, especially when a single piece can feed up to six people.
But what about baking one from scratch?
Lowery’s Dial, a beloved vintage store in Old Town, is moving to its own space on King Street.
The business shared the news on Instagram, revealing that the new location will double the shop’s size and allow for an expanded product range. Lowery’s Dial’s Instagram post captured their mix of emotions: “We’re excited, shocked, hopeful, dreamy, and maybe a little nervous about this new adventure.”
The Alexandria Film Festival is set to make MetroStage‘s new theater its permanent home starting in 2026.
According to a press release published by both organizations, this four-day event, which showcases independent features and short films from around the world, will be the first “In Residence” arts organization to share space with MetroStage.
