The Alexandria City Council has approved a plan to convert a vacant lot and a one-story barbershop in the Parker-Gray Historic District into five four-story townhomes.
Despite a 6-0 approval from the Planning Commission, Council deferred the plan last month to have more discussions with the property owner about keeping neighborhood-serving commercial businesses on the site. A representative of the property owner told Council that the most interested buyers were townhome developers.
Alexandria City Public Schools faces a $17 million shortfall as it starts its 2028 fiscal year budget deliberations.
Dominic Turner, the school system’s chief financial officer, laid out a stark reality with rapidly rising expenditures on Wednesday night at Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard Campus.
Even as Alexandria’s office vacancies improve, city officials learned about a missed opportunity with Potomac Yard’s 0% vacancy rate.
During City Council’s Tuesday (Oct. 13) legislative meeting, Alexandria Economic Development Partnership staff briefed officials on economic progress since City Council in January approved ALX Forward, a framework for the city’s economic future.
Despite being recognized by the City Council and the city manager on Tuesday night, Renee Gordon didn’t seem surprised.
It’s not easy to rattle the city’s director of Emergency and Customer Communications. After 11 years leading the city’s communications center that handles 911, 311, emergency communications and non-emergency communications in the city, Gordon is retiring at the beginning of November.
After hosting its World Cup soccer team this summer, Alexandria is on the way to forming a formal bond with a Croatian city.
Without discussion, City Council on Tuesday (Oct. 13) approved the resolution to form a friendship city agreement with Osijek, Croatia. The agreement is for a one-year trial, and a task force will be formed to report on progress to City Council throughout the year.
Under mounting privacy fears from residents, APD has answered more City Council questions on Flock surveillance cameras and released a map of where 61 of the automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are located throughout the city.
The Alexandria Police Department made nearly 21,000 automated license plate reader queries between August 2025 and August 2026, directly leading to 72 felony charges and 65 misdemeanor charges. That would represent about 5% out of the total 2,694 criminal arrests made during that period. The Flock surveillance cameras also helped APD locate three missing persons and recover 35 stolen vehicles and four firearms, according to APD’s updated FAQ page on Flock cameras.
Independent Policing Auditor Ameratu Kamara has resigned amid several investigations into deaths in Alexandria police custody.
Alexandria City Council met this morning (Oct. 2) to accept Kamara’s resignation, effective Oct. 3. City Council’s 6-0 vote will provide Kamara with five months of salary as severance pay and payout of any unused leave.
Alexandria’s City Hall renovation faced a major challenge this summer with the removal of additional asbestos, city staff told City Council on Tuesday (Sept. 22).
Contractors working on the massive renovation project spent 10 weeks and more than $3 million in reserve funds to demolish and safely remove an entire section of asbestos-contaminated wall facing King Street that was installed in the 1960s.
Alexandria’s mayor wants to keep the connection going with Croatia after the city hosted the Croatian National Football Team as its World Cup home base.
At Alexandria City Council’s meeting Tuesday (Sept. 22), Mayor Alyia Gaskins proposed a memo to establish a friendship city with Osijek, Croatia.
The Alexandria City Council on Tuesday night (Sept. 22) deferred a plan to restrict public behavior in Council Chambers.
City Council took the advice of City Attorney Cheran Ivery to defer the plan, which states that Mayor Alyia Gaskins can oust any public speaker who makes “personal attacks” against City Council members, makes “off-topic” comments or participates in political campaigning. Other amended rules limit the size of signs residents can bring to City Council meetings and ban selfie sticks.
As it weighs the city’s future with automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology, Alexandria City Council got an earful from residents on the subject at Saturday’s public hearing.
One speaker peered at City Council through binoculars and asked how they liked being watched.
