Participants in Alexandria’s Summer Youth Employment Program got a pleasant surprise at their closing ceremony on Thursday — free Dell laptops from Comcast.
The program, which started on June 30 and pays $12.41 per hour, recognized nearly 100 students Thursday night (Aug. 7) at the Virginia Tech Innovation campus. Katrina Ashmore, chief of the city’s Workforce Development Center, said that the program is more than just a summer job.
Alexandria’s “Colored Rosemont” neighborhood will be recognized in September with the dedication of a Virginia State historic marker. The neighborhood was home to the first Black homeowners in the city in the early to mid-20th century.
The marker is a reminder of racial segregation in Alexandria. It will be dedicated at 3 p.m. near the corner of Wythe and N. West Streets — across from the Braddock Road Metro station — on Sept. 13 (Saturday). Mayor Alyia Gaskins, representatives of the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) and former and current residents of the neighborhood will attend the ceremony. The event is free and open to the public.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins has been chosen to participate in the ninth class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a prestigious executive management training program designed to strengthen municipal leadership.
Gaskins joins 47 mayors from 17 countries in a nine-month professional development program, a collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. The initiative was created to address the gap in executive development opportunities for public sector leaders.
Alexandria celebrated its 276th and the U.S.’s 249th birthday in style along the Potomac River at Oronoco Bay Park on Saturday (July 12).
Thousands attended the annual event. For about four hours, the park was turned into a maze of beach blankets, lawn chairs, and barefoot kids with lightsabers and bubble guns. Flanked onstage by City Council and city staff, Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Poet Laureate Maria Cristina Donoso made brief remarks before the program was turned over to the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, which wrapped up in time for a spectacular fireworks show (see video below).
It’s been a busy week in Alexandria! Here’s our recap of the most-read stories.
This week’s top story is on an Inova Alexandria Hospital employee getting fired after allegedly stealing a patient’s credit cards from a room at the hospital and using them at a nearby store.
Last month, Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins was interviewed by the New York Times about the challenges of running a city under the Trump administration.
After a little more than six months in office, Gaskins was one of 16 mayors interviewed by The Times at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Tampa, Florida. She said that the biggest challenges the city faces is uncertainty of federal funding, that recent political violence in Minnesota forced her to change her habits, and more.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins sharply criticized the Trump administration’s decision to slash $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next decade, calling the cuts to food benefits for working families, seniors and children “not just bad policy” but “cruel.”
The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s tax legislation that passed Congress by razor-thin margins—51-50 in the Senate with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote, and 218-214 in the House.
A sweeping redevelopment promises to bring fresh amenities and improved access to Eugene Simpson Stadium Park, but staff at the Alexandria YMCA say that the project will have a severe impact on the nonprofit.
Plans presented at a recent community meeting reveal that 53 city-owned parking spaces in front of the YMCA, located at 420 E. Monroe Avenue, have been designated as a construction area. The actual construction of the project, which was unanimously approved by the City Council in 2023, is scheduled to begin this month and is expected to be completed by September 2026, with a phased reopening of the park starting in August 2026.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins said the city is prepared to accommodate thousands of incoming federal workers while working to prevent the displacement of a major science agency during her monthly conversation with ALXnow on Tuesday.
The federal government recently announced that over 2,700 HUD employees will relocate to the National Science Foundation building in Alexandria, potentially displacing 1,800 NSF workers who currently occupy the space.
Alexandria’s plan for the development of its West End just won a top award from the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).
After years of discussion, the City Council adopted the AlexWest Small Area Plan last December. With the massive WestEnd mixed use development working to unveil several new buildings, and Inova at Landmark poised to open in 2028, the plan recommends significant expansion of Dora Kelley Nature Park, a new public park adjacent to the Winkler Botanical Preserve, and a new park at the corner of Seminary Road and N. Beauregard Street.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins will join ALXnow for a live one-on-one virtual video conversation on Tuesday, July 1, at 11 a.m.
