The price of riding on the Metro might go up and so could your tax bill.
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson said that the region will experience collective pain by bailing out the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from its projected $750 million budget deficit.
Wilson said there are no solutions that the city can afford to take off the table.
“We will have to determine ways to reduce the cost structure, the stakeholders will have to chip in and riders will likely bear some of the cost,” Wilson told ALXnow. “It’s going to involve some pain all around.”
WMATA gets billions annually from Alexandria, D.C., Maryland, other Northern Virginia jurisdictions and the federal government. Alexandria’s commitment this year is $56.6 million in operating dollars and $16.6 million in capital contributions.
“Following the exhaustion of federal relief funding in FY2024, Metro expects an operating deficit of $750 million in FY2025,” Metro announced in a budget presentation. “This is more than a one-year challenge. The deficit is projected to continue its growth through FY2035 even with continued ridership recovery.”
Metro Board Chair Paul C. Smedberg, a former member of the Alexandria City Council, said that the region needs a reliable transit system.
“Customers would see longer waits, constant gridlock, higher fares and reduced operating hours and the region’s economy could stagnate,” Smedberg said.
Without a funding increase from Alexandria and its neighbors, WMATA reported “unprecedented operating deficits” will force it to make drastic cuts to rail, bus, and paratransit services across the region.
“Balancing the budget with service cuts would require eliminating two-thirds of Metro’s existing service, with no service after 9:30 p.m.,” WMATA announced last month. “All but 37 of 135 bus lines would no longer operate, customers would wait 20-30 minutes for trains on all lines, and MetroAccess would serve a much smaller area with less hours.”
In his monthly newsletter, Wilson said a “reckoning is afoot” for the transit system now that federal subsidies have dried up and ridership is inching toward pre-pandemic levels.
As of May, Metrorail and Metrobus ridership was 50% and 88% of pre-pandemic levels, respectively, according to WMATA.
“Transit is essential to our region’s economy and our quality of life, but the financial model that has supported its existence for a generation is upside down,” Wilson wrote. “The work ahead requires defining a new model to sustain transit for another generation.”
Metro laid out these drivers for the $750 million deficit:
- Jurisdiction Subsidy Credit: At the onset of the pandemic, Metro provided support to jurisdictions in the form of a subsidy reduction and forgone three percent increases. Had Metro not provided this support, the jurisdictional subsidy would be $196 million higher in FY2025.
- Decreased revenue since the pandemic: Overall ridership is forecasted to be approximately 25 percent below pre-pandemic levels in FY2025. In addition, shorter distance and weekend trips, which result in less revenue than long distance weekday trips, have seen the fastest recovery. These changes and related impacts to parking and advertising revenues are expected to continue to keep revenue below pre-pandemic levels in the short and medium term. FY2025 total revenue is expected be approximately $288 million below pre-pandemic levels.
- Inflation and collective bargaining agreements: Historic inflation caused by the pandemic and related supply chain impacts made everything more expensive, raising Metro’s personnel and non-personnel costs. The vast majority of Metro’s workforce which operates and maintains the system participates in collective bargaining. Metro must comply with mandated annual increases under the terms of the respective collective bargaining agreements, which indexes compensation levels to inflation. This cost growth is responsible for $266 million.
Alexandria and Arlington police are searching along Four Mile Run for a grand larceny suspect who fled from officers near the West Glebe Road bridge.
Alexandria Police spokesman Marcel Bassett said the department requested assistance from Arlington police to search along both sides of Four Mile Run.
Bassett said the suspect fled from officers. Scanner traffic indicated the suspect is wanted for grand larceny and, at one point, went into the creek under one of the bridges to cross into Arlington.
Police are searching along underpasses and through homeless encampments along Four Mile Run, per scanner traffic. K-9 units were called in to search through vegetation.
An 18-year-old Alexandria man suspected of robbing a juvenile of his Nike Air Jordan sneakers and bicycle at gunpoint was tracked down by the victim on social media, according to police.
The victim was robbed on April 10, in the 4500 block of 31st Street South, per a recently released search warrant affidavit. He told police that he was walking his Mongoose BMX bike up a hill when two suspects approached him.
One suspect asked the victim “why he was looking at him so seriously,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “The same male got closer to the victim, opened his jacket and showed him the handle of a handgun that was concealed in an interior jacket pocket.”
The suspect then allegedly asked the victim his shoe size, to which the juvenile replied he is a size 9.
“This suspect then demanded the victim’s tennis shoes while threatening to physically assault him,” the affidavit says. “The victim complied. The suspects then took the victim’s bicycle and fled down the hill out of the area.”
A week and a half later, on April 21, the victim texted police that he identified the man who allegedly took his shoes and bike on Instagram.
Police found that the robbery suspect bore a close resemblance to Jose Santos Giron-Munoz, who was already in jail for a separate crime committed around the same time. He was arrested on April 17 for carrying a concealed handgun and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He is being held without bond.
A booking deputy at the Alexandria jail told police that Giron-Munoz wore black and blue Nike Air Jordan 5s on the day of his arrest. Police said that the shoes were “identical to the shoes stolen from the victim,” according to the affidavit.
Giron-Munoz is being held without bond and goes to court on May 31 for a hearing on drugs and weapon charges.
Just after midnight this morning, the Arlington Police Department arrested a wanted suspect with some help from Alexandria and Fairfax police.
The suspect was located in the area of King Street and S. Wakefield Street. Scanner traffic indicated the incident may have been related to an armed carjacking around three days before.
POLICE ACTIVITY: A police helicopter was used to assist with locating a wanted suspect in the area of King Street and S. Wakefield St. The suspect was located and taken into custody. Police remain in the area investigating. pic.twitter.com/jewTsb4BOR
— ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) May 3, 2023
Alexandria Police Department spokesman Marcel Bassett said Ky-Jai Banks-Ross, 18, of Alexandria was arrested — though a tweet from the Alexandria Police Department last night noted “all suspects have been located and apprehended” and scanner traffic indicated three suspects fled from a car.
A Fairfax County helicopter was also involved in the search.
Notification:: In response to assisting an outside agency locate suspects of a crime, there is a helicopter and moderate police presence near and around the 3500 block of King Street. pic.twitter.com/6Il3Q84bq3
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) May 3, 2023
update: All three suspects are in custody. h/t @autism_mommie cc: @ARLnowDOTcom @AlexandriaNow https://t.co/hJUD85Ikmi
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) May 3, 2023
A 47-year-old Alexandria man was arrested last month for allegedly stealing an Amazon package after delivering food to an Arlington apartment complex.
On Saturday, March 18, the victim reported to APD that a pink Amazon package containing a silver Apple keyboard was stolen from the mailbox area of an apartment in the 2900 block of S. Columbus Street in Arlington.
Police reviewed security footage “that clearly shows a delivery driver entering the complex at approximately 0100 hours and exiting with the package in question,” police said in a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The suspect was identified “after viewing a mugshot from a previous arrest that matched with the suspect in the video,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
Police then met the suspect on March 19, and he wore an outfit that matched what he allegedly wore the previous night. The suspect was arrested on March 24, charged with petit larceny and released on $1,000 unsecured bond.
The suspect goes to court for the misdemeanor on April 28.
After the Arlington County Board voted this week to allow multifamily structures in single-family home zoning, some Alexandrians looked north as a hopeful example and others as a warning of what could be ahead.
The Missing Middle vote — referring to the multi-family structures that proponents hope will help make housing more affordable — created nearly unprecedented levels of controversy in Arlington County.
Just hours after the vote, leading advocates in favor of eliminating single-family zoning said the next step of the fight is in Alexandria.
The next big upzoning fight will be in Alexandria, let's check in on the local NIMBYs: "How about a population cap?" pic.twitter.com/yQIgvG7mtN
— Luca Gattoni-Celli (@TheGattoniCelli) March 23, 2023
Alexandria just launched a major new affordable housing initiative this week called Zoning for Housing/Housing for All, aiming to reshape parts of the city’s zoning code from the ground up to further emphasize affordable housing, but those plans stop short of eliminating zoning for single-family housing.
Luca Gattoni-Celli, founder of YIMBYs of NoVA, spoke at the City Council last year and argued in favor of reform to single-family zoning. But while Alexandria’s generally been a regional leader in pushing for affordable housing, city leaders have been reticent to jump onto the “eliminate single-family housing zoning” bandwagon.
Alexandria’s Mayor Justin Wilson said it won’t be as simple as copying and pasting Arlington’s approach into Alexandria. According to Wilson:
While Alexandria and Arlington are similar communities, there are clearly big distinctions as well. When crafting answers to our shortage of housing and inequitable access, we must develop an Alexandria approach. Arlington’s actions offer some lessons as well as urgency for our work.
Bill Rossello, a former City Council candidate and current President of the Seminary Hill Association, said his biggest concern is that a similar “Missing Middle” debate would be just as divisive in Alexandria as it has been in Arlington.
Rossello said he is concerned the Housing For All initiative could take Alexandria in a similar policy direction as Arlington and eliminate single-family home zoning. But like Wilson, Rossello said Alexandria’s housing landscape is different enough from Arlington that the housing affordability issues can’t be approached in exactly the same way:
The communities are fundamentally different even though they’re next-door neighbors as it relates to housing. We have a much wider array of housing than Arlington does. We’re more urbanized already and much more densely populated. Our single-family home housing stock is much lower. The detached single-family housing stock in Alexandria covers about 29% of the land parenthetically… and only accounts for about 12% of the housing units. In Arlington it’s the reverse, more than 70% of the land is within single-family home zones.
Rossello said in some ways, the land constraints already make questions about single-family homes moot.
“We just don’t have enough land to build single-family homes,” Rossello said. “But where we get chunks of land to satisfy the economic objectives of a developer while not creating crazy amounts more density [is] probably townhouses… I actually think the answer might be more townhouses as opposed to apartments.”
Rossello said Alexandria also needs to do more to explore three-bedroom opportunities.
“A lot of homes on Seminary Hill are small single-family homes,” Rossello said. “We need more of those opportunities so people who are 30-35 can find something they can afford but also meets their needs so they can have a baby and two dogs. What’s our missing middle? Our missing middle is that.”
A virtual community listening session for Zoning for Housing/Housing for All is scheduled for tonight (Thursday) from 6-8 p.m. A presentation on the initiative is scheduled for the start of the meeting, with captioning and interpretation services in Spanish, Amharic and Arabic. The Webinar ID for the Zoom meeting is 960 0721 3678 and the passcode is 727732.
The West Glebe Road bridge partially reopened yesterday, though pedestrian and bicycle traffic will have to wait to make use of the bridge.
The bridge was previously in a severely deteriorated state, necessitating partial closures over the years until the bridge fully closed last summer.
The bridge partially reopened yesterday (Wednesday) with one lane open in each direction.
According to the Arlington County website:
As of March 8, 2023, the West Glebe Road bridge is open to motor vehicle traffic, with one lane open in each direction. Pedestrian and bike traffic will continue to detour on the temporary bridge to the east of the main bridge.
The bridge is expected to fully open in summer of 2023, after completion of work on parapets, substructure, and streetlights.
The Arlington County website said the next phase of construction will see the bike lane, curb and sidewalk put into place.
The Four Mile Run Trail underpass on the north end of the bridge remains closed until reconstruction is completed.
Some breaking news on the West Glebe Bridge: pic.twitter.com/QQV38teGd2
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) March 9, 2023
(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) An Arlington defense attorney has been arrested and charged with allegedly stealing credit cards from an Alexandria office building multiple times last year.
The attorney is charged with credit card theft and credit card fraud, both as felonies, and another credit card fraud misdemeanor charge.
“The charges arose from the alleged theft of credit cards from an Alexandria office building on multiple occasions in 2022,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter said in a release, “and the alleged subsequent use of the cards at multiple locations in Alexandria and Arlington.”
The attorney was arrested in February for the fraud charges, along with charges from Arlington County including grand larceny with intent to sell, possession of stolen property and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The total maximum penalty for all charges would be around 96 years if found guilty.
The attorney was suspended by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board in November and now faces a disciplinary Bar hearing hearing for misconduct.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Alexandria is handling the prosecution of both Alexandria and Arlington’s charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 19.
A 21-year-old Arlington man faces multiple charges and is being held without bond after last Friday’s shooting in Arlandria.
Tyayre Reynolds was charged with malicious wounding, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, according to the Alexandria Police Department. He was arrested by the Arlington Police Department in Arlington, and APD will not disclose the date and time of his arrest.
A 30-year-old man was shot in the upper body and suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack, which occurred in the area of West Glebe Road and Russell Road at around 1 p.m.
“The victim sustained non-life threatening injuries and is expected to recover,” APD spokesman Marcel Bassett told ALXnow.
The arrest was first reported by Patch. Reynolds goes to court for the incident on March 17.
Anyone with additional information on this incident can call the Alexandria Police Department non-emergency number at 703-746-44444. Callers can remain anonymous.
An Alexandrin man with a long history of credit card theft has been arrested after a string of recent incidents at local businesses in the city.
The 60-year-old suspect was arrested on Feb. 4, and is being held without bond on numerous credit card theft charges, as well as other larceny charges.
The Alexandria Police Department was dispatched to the CVS at 1680 Duke Street on Sunday, January 8, at around 4:45 p.m. for a call referencing stolen credit cards being used. Police saw surveillance footage showing the suspect allegedly trying to buy gift cards with credit cards that were stolen from a purse in Theissman’s Restaurant (1800 Diagonal Road), according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The man was also caught on surveillance footage stealing a purse at Piece Out Del Ray (2419 Mount Vernon Avenue) on Jan. 15, and then another purse at Matt & Tony’s (1501 Mount Vernon Avenue) on Jan. 21. He is also accused of stealing a backpack from Delia’s (209 Hoffman Street) on Jan. 22, and then using keys from inside the backpack to allegedly steal the owner’s 2020 Toyota Corolla, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The stolen car was found parked in front of the suspect’s car at his home, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The suspect was convicted of credit card theft in 2014, and spent nearly four years in jail before being released in July 2018.
The suspect was charged with multiple counts of credit card fraud, obtaining credit card numbers, five counts of petit larceny, grand larceny and grand larceny auto. He goes to court on March 1.
