Downed trees and thousands of Dominion Energy customers with power outages were without power in Alexandria after a strong thunderstorm system that rocked the region overnight into Friday.
Most power outages had been restored. More than 2,300 customers were without power at 10 a.m., and that number dropped to about about 400 by 4 p.m.
Alexandria officials gathered yesterday (Sept. 2) to mark the topping out of the reconstructed George Mason Elementary School, the latest of Alexandria City Public Schools’ modernization projects.
Monday’s topping out ceremony represented the installation of the final structural steel beam on the school. The school at 2601 Cameron Mills Road in the North Ridge neighborhood is being rebuilt to address capacity needs and replace an aging facility, according to ACPS. Built in 1939, the school was renovated before in 1949 and 1977.
As residents received their latest car tax bills in the mail starting last week, they were surprised to find their residential parking permit stickers have not arrived.
Vehicle owners used to receive permit stickers at the same time as personal property tax bills. But that did not occur this year when the tax bills arrived.
The City of Alexandria is formally intervening in the proposed merger of Dominion Energy with Florida-based NextEra Energy under consideration by state and federal regulators.
The city government has filed as a participant in the case under review by Virginia’s State Corporation Commission. Along with the SCC, the $67 billion merger proposal is under consideration at the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Public Service Commission of South Carolina, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Alexandria City Public Schools welcomed students back for the first day of school today (Monday) as the district implemented a stricter student cell phone policy and new school boundaries.
More than 15,000 students started school at ACPS, from the incoming kindergarten class who will graduate in 2039, to the seniors graduating next year. Acting Superintendent Grace Taylor, Mayor Alyia Gaskins, School Board Chair Christopher Harris, Alexandria City High School Principal Michael Burch and Police Chief Tarrick McGuire visited classrooms at ACHS’s King Street Campus on the first day.
As recent ICE activity spurred concerns about ICE utilizing Flock cameras, Alexandria’s mayor is saying the city’s camera data is not shared with federal immigration officers.
The immigrant advocacy group ICE Out of Alexandria had called on City Council to ban automatic license plate readers like Flock cameras over the concern of ICE using them for surveillance of immigrants. That came after the group reported ICE’s apparent detainment of four residents on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 8 at the Eaton Square apartment complex and two more at 7/11 on W. Glebe Road in Arlandria on the morning of Monday, Aug. 10.
Alexandria City Council has joined a growing number of local residents asking Fairfax County to deny a substation associated with data center development just outside city limits.
In a letter to the Fairfax County Planning Commission, City Council cited “the incompatibility of heavy industrial use” near densely populated Alexandria. The letter was sent by Mayor Alyia Gaskins on behalf of the entire City Council.
Data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits has raised concerns among residents and officials.
Starwood Capital Group filed the permit application and building plans to Fairfax County for the 34-acre Plaza 500 site at 6299 Edsall Road in Lincolnia. The application is for Plaza 500 South, the first of two data center buildings it is seeking.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins has been chosen to join 21 other rising Democratic state and local leaders from around the country to trade ideas on local governance.
Gaskins is joining NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders), a network of center-left elected officials, for a year. The mayor will participate in virtual webinars to share ideas and discuss challenges such as rising costs, housing, energy and childcare. She will also take part in the NewDEAL Annual Conference from Nov. 18-20 in D.C.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins has joined other local leaders in opposing a potential merger of bus operations across multiple Northern Virginia localities.
Gaskins told ALXnow she is strongly opposed to the idea that Alexandria’s free DASH bus system should merge with Arlington Transit, the Fairfax Connector and CUE (City of Fairfax). Between now and November, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) is compiling a report as part of the recently adopted biennial budget to consider cost savings and rider impacts of merging the local bus systems.
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.
