Alexandria City School Board members are asking the public to help push for reforms to the nine-member board, including staggered elections, higher salaries and more.
The clock is ticking, School Board Members Ashley Simpson Baird and Kelly Carmichael Booz wrote in a recent blog post. The pair wrote that City Council must act this year by beginning a process to amend the City Charter — a change that would need to go to the Virginia General Assembly’s 2027 session for approval.
Tuesday, April 21 marks Election Day in Alexandria for a statewide redistricting voter referendum and a special election for a City Council seat.
Candidates in the City Council special election are Democrat Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon. Marks is the former chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee, Fannon is a former Republican member of City Council from 2009 to 2012, and O’Connell is a founding member of Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights.
A majority of Alexandria’s City Council won’t support City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposal for paid parking on Sundays, but the door to increasing parking meter rates and fines is still open.
City Council had first reading on a number of parking-related ordinances yesterday (Tuesday), which, if approved later this month, would increase parking meter rates and parking ticket fines and add paid parking to metered spots on Sundays.
Alexandria City Council unanimously approved moving forward with an increase to the city’s stormwater utility fee yesterday (Tuesday).
City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposal increases the city’s stormwater utility fee rate from $340.30 to $357.40 per billing unit, equating to a roughly $26 addition to tax bills. City Council’s first reading vote sets the ordinance to go before a public hearing on Saturday, April 18, followed by a second reading before Council at its budget adoption meeting on Wednesday, April 29.
Alexandria City Council members have submitted their proposed additions — and one deletion — in their Fiscal Year 2027 budget deliberations.
The proposed additions to the budget include a 5-cent increase to the city’s Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax; $200,000 for a jail operational efficiency study; and $350,000 for improvements to the pedestrian zone in the 200 block of King Street.
With less than two weeks until the April 21 special election, candidates for an open seat on Alexandria City Council made their pitches to civic association members yesterday (Wednesday) at a forum.
Democratic candidate Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon joined the forum, held during Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations’ monthly meeting. Candidates answered questions on topics the civic association leaders selected, along with a lightning round of policies they would support or oppose.
The three candidates running for an open seat on Alexandria City Council will meet in two forums this week.
For most voters, the upcoming appearances on Wednesday (April 8) and Saturday (April 11) are the last opportunity to see the candidates together before the special election on Tuesday, April 21. The candidates, who last appeared together at a forum on March 26, are Democratic candidate Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon.
Three weeks before the April 21 special election, more than 9,000 votes have been cast through in-person early voting and mail ballots, according to the Alexandria Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
According to data through Sunday (March 29), 4,245 people have voted early in person. General Registrar Angie Maniglia Turner told ALXnow another 244 early votes were counted through 3:30 p.m. Monday (March 30).
Clear distinctions were made Wednesday night among the three candidates running in the April 21 special election for an open seat on the Alexandria City Council.
For an hour and a half on Wednesday night, Democratic candidate Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon discussed a wide range of topics, including taxes, the controversial bike lane proposal for Braddock Road, the pump station at Waterfront Park, federal immigration enforcement and more.
Alexandria City Council directed staff on Tuesday to pursue a new preferred option to combat flooding along the Alexandria waterfront — one that does not involve a pump station.
City staff presented the council with a number of options in the wake of the National Park Service’s denial last month of the city’s plan to build a pump station at Waterfront Park. The city’s preferred option, Option 3, is an enhanced gravity storm sewer system, with “automated back flow prevention devices.” Option 3 also means that infrastructure improvements to Point Lumley Park and the bulkhead would be deferred.
Alexandria City Council approved a $4 million loan yesterday (Tuesday) for Naja, the second and final phase of Housing Alexandria’s affordable housing project being built at the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and Glebe Road in Arlandria.
The $4 million City Housing Opportunities Fund loan is the final installment of the city funding package for Sansé and Naja, which will have 495 affordable housing units and more than 20,000 square feet of commercial space. City Council also approved $400,000 in rental subsidies for eight units at Naja. Before Tuesday’s approval, the city’s funding support for the project had totaled $79.7 million, according to a city staff memo.
