At a meeting on Saturday, the City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow City Manager James Parajon to reduce speed limits in Alexandria as low as 15 miles per hour.
The ordinance, unanimously approved by the City Council, allows the City Manager to “reduce posted speed limits to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour on any city street located in a business or residence district.”
Updated at 6:30 p.m. — The Alexandria School Board on Monday (March 14) was advised against talking to the media, as the Board received a refresher on their operating procedures.
Board members were told that they have to be careful of what they say out of concern for the division as a whole, prompting some members to question toeing the line of Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. and staff.
Alexandria already feels like home. It’s the trails you walk, the restaurants you return to, and the easy reach of D.C. that make it all work. The question is whether your home feels as right as the city around it. For those who love Alexandria but want more space, more privacy, and more choice, Van Metre at Banner Heights offers a new opportunity to have it all, just minutes from I-495, I-95, and Old Town Alexandria.
Every Van Metre homesite at Banner Heights has a backyard that doesn’t face into another homesite, so the space behind your home is entirely yours, and a deck or covered terrace makes it the spot for a quiet morning or a long evening with friends. Four levels offer up to five bedrooms and an optional elevator. From there, 20+ personalization options let you decide the rest: add a bedroom on the lower or fourth levels, a great room fireplace with ceramic detailing, or a wet or dry bar, plus upgraded flooring and packages for electrical, tech, and comfort.
With more than 70 years of building across Northern Virginia, Van Metre designs homes around the way people live. At Banner Heights, that means the T-27 townhome plan with 3-5 bedrooms, 3-4 full and 1-2 half baths, 3,014+ square feet, a 2-car garage, and 20+ personalization options, starting from the $1.25Ms.*
Van Metre at Banner Heights is now open for Early Access, giving interested buyers the chance to purchase before our grand opening, when initial homesites deliver.
*Pricing, offers, and availability are subject to change without notice. Some images and renderings may represent a similar home or may have been created or edited using artificial intelligence (AI), and may depict design elements, furnishings, finishes, landscaping, views, or other features that are not included in the home or may not be available. Please see a Van Metre New Home Advisor for details.
During the Civil War, the former home of Revolutionary War hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was converted into a hospital for wounded Union soldiers. On Saturday (March 19), the Lee-Fendall House will briefly be converted into a hospital with living history reenactors.
The home of the former Virginia governor, and father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was also the site of the first-known successful blood transfusion.
Revolutionary Fitness, the strength and longevity training studio for people over 50 at 215 N. Payne St., is opening 5 spots in its members-only year-end challenge.
Every year, the stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s knocks people off track. Workouts get skipped, schedules fill up, and the plan becomes “I’ll start in January.”
At the cusp of what should have been a crowning moment for Alexandria’s City Council — the long-awaited approval of broadband franchises to compete with Comcast — the city and the chosen internet providers appear to be having some network connectivity issues.
Last month, two companies were chosen to provide internet service piggybacking off the city’s new municipal broadband network. At a City Council meeting on Saturday, companies Ting and Lumos Telephone were given right-of-way franchises; seemingly one of the last major legislative hurdles.
Spend the evening with Washington Spirit alum and former USWNT player Joanna Lohman, a true DMV women’s soccer legend.
This is your chance to meet Joanna in person, hear the stories behind the career, the competition, and The Amazing Race, and experience the kind of sports moment you’ll still be talking about long after the night is over.
DASH looking for applicants to join Board of Directors — “The Alexandria Transit Company (DASH) has an exciting opportunity for anyone with a passion for public transit to become more involved in the community.” [Zebra]
It’s Tuesday — Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 65 and low of 40. Sunrise at 7:21 am and sunset at 7:16 pm. [Weather.gov]
There are major traffic delays leading up to Interstates 495 and 395 in Alexandria, as a trucker convoy protesting COVID-19 mandates has entered D.C. and created miles of backups.
Traffic snaked all the way down to Jefferson Manor, just south of Huntington, which is about a half-mile from the interstate.
Alexandria restaurant owners Larry and Kristine Ponzi plan on opening their newest St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Fairlington in mid-May. The couple, who own Cafe Pizzaiolo (1623 Fern Street) and two other St. Elmo’s shops, also just bought a family restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina.
The Ponzis shuttered their Cafe Pizzaiolo location in Shirlington in May 2020, and then entered 2022 strong with the opening of a second St. Elmo’s in Old Town North in January. The newest St. Elmo’s will open at 1536 Kenwood Avenue in mid-May — across the street from Cafe Pizzaiono, Ponzi said.
There were just 75 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Alexandria since this time last week, according to the Alexandria Health Department.
There are now 29,809 reported cases of the virus in Alexandria, up from 29,734 last Monday. The number of deaths remains at 184, and the seven day average of daily new cases is now 21, down from 84.5 this time last week.
No official announcements have been made, but D.C.-based bagel shop Call Your Mother Deli is not opening in Old Town.
The interior of the storefront at 128 and 130 N. Pitt Street is empty, and despite signing a lease last summer, staff at another location confirmed that the Old Town location is not happening. The brick and mortar has been vacant for more than two years since Helen Olivia Floral Design moved to Del Ray.
At its October general membership meeting, the NAACP Alexandria Branch 7043 Nominating Committee presented its slate for the 2027–2028 term and named John Hopkins-Gillispie as its nominee for Branch President.
Hopkins-Gillispie is a life member of the branch. He has chaired the Freedom Fund Dinner for the past two years, and this year’s dinner raised more than $40,000 for the branch. He serves on the Legal Redress Committee, reviewing discrimination complaints brought to the branch. He has provided input on issues from the Alexandria Police Department’s hate crimes policy to the proposed Edsall Road data center. He also represents the branch as co-chair of the host committee for the 2027 Virginia State Conference convention.
