Yesterday (Wednesday), the Alexandria City Council unanimously approved a request by the city’s police review board to continue investigating last summer’s in-custody death of Allan Tucker II.
Earlier this month, the Independent Community Policing Review Board voted to tell City Council that a report on the Alexandria Police Department’s response to the incident was incomplete and needed further investigation.
After the permanent closure of the 200 block of King Street to vehicular traffic was approved last year, Alexandria is making upgrades to the block.
The Alexandria Department of Transportation & Environmental Services announced plans to add permanent improvements to the pedestrian block. The last city budget allocated $350,000 to make improvements to the 200 block pedestrian zone.
City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, July 29 to approve more investigation into the August 2025 death of a man in Alexandria Police Department custody.
Earlier this month, the city’s Independent Community Policing Review Board (ICPRB) voted unanimously to send back an “incomplete” report on the death of Allan Tucker II. Board Chair Deborah Porter told City Council in a July 17 letter that it needs the council’s go-ahead to approve an additional investigation into a sergeant supervisor’s actions, more details on the auditor’s interaction with the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office and clarity behind Independent Police Auditor Ameratu Kamara’s decision to not publicly share disciplinary recommendations against the officers that she gave to Police Chief Tarrick McGuire.
With about four months to go until the City of Alexandria completely bans the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, the city government will hold a meeting Tuesday on specifics of the ban.
Residents, business owners, property owners and landscapers are invited to the meeting on the ban from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, July 21. There are options to attend in person at the Charles Houston Recreation Center in the preschool activity room or virtually through Zoom (meeting ID 972 6916 1416 and passcode 575982).
Alexandria’s 277th birthday ended with a bang and a fizzle on Saturday (July 11), as the evening of entertainment at Oronoco Bay Park was capped with a dazzling fireworks show and a brief rainstorm.
Raindrops started to fall just before 9:30 p.m. as the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra started to play Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, sending hundreds of people under cover of tents and umbrellas at the very start of the fireworks. The evening was otherwise overcast and cool, and city leaders, the town crier and poet laureate rang in the annual celebration onstage and handed out birthday cupcakes from Wegmans.
After climbing through Alexandria’s political spheres, it’s almost as if R. Kirk McPike is starting over.
The new 5th House District delegate to Virginia’s General Assembly resigned his seat on the Alexandria City Council just before winning a special election in February to fill the seat vacated by now-state Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-39). In order to comply with state law, the Democrat also had to quit his full-time job as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA).
Alexandria will rededicate a West End street this weekend that was named after a Confederate leader more than 70 years ago.
On Saturday (July 11), Mayor Alyia Gaskins will help rededicate Stevens Street as Moses Stevens Street for a Black entrepreneur who founded Mount Jezreel Baptist Church. Since 1953, the street was named after either Confederate Brigadier Gen. Clement Hoffman Stevens or Confederate Brigadier Gen. Walter Husted Stevens, the chief engineer of the Army of Northern Virginia.
After many of the D.C. region’s fireworks shows have come and gone, Alexandrians will have another to look forward to this weekend.
The Alexandria and USA Birthday Celebration is set for Saturday, July 11 at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street). This year’s event celebrates Alexandria’s 277th birthday and America’s 250th.
Alexandria City Council voted yesterday (Wednesday) to deny an extension of Virginia Paving Company’s operations in the West End.
The asphalt production plant, which has been at an 11-acre site at 5601 Courtney Avenue since 1960, had been given Jan. 1, 2027 as a date to clear out operations. The special use permit extension would have allowed it to continue to Jan. 1, 2032.
In recognition of Pride Month, Alexandria leaders joined hundreds of visitors in celebrating the city’s annual LGBTQIA+ Pride Fair on Saturday (June 27).
With City Hall in Old Town under renovation, this was the first time that the Pride fair was held at John Carlyle Square (300 John Carlyle Street). Dozens of vendors lined the park for the event, which was hosted by the city, the Del Ray Community Partnership, Inova Pride Clinic, Kindred Tree Healing Center and VEG ER for Pets.
Alexandria City Council voted Tuesday to create an ad hoc committee to discuss possible Alexandria City School Board election reforms such as terms and the size of the nine-member board.
City Council’s approval allows the committee to discuss term lengths, staggered term elections and overall board size and composition. The action comes after School Board Chair Michelle Rief requested the joint committee to seek city charter amendments on School Board terms. Specifically, the School Board is requesting moving members from three-year terms to four-year staggered terms, with one member from each of the three School Board districts being elected each year.
