It was quite a weekend in Alexandria.
Alexandria’s Scottish Christmas Walk weekend started Friday (Dec. 6), where hundreds attended the decadent annual Taste of Scotland fundraiser for the Campagna Center at The Atrium building in Old Town.
City Council
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Getting $500 a month from Alexandria with no strings attached is nice, but participants in the city’s guaranteed basic income pilot say things are still tough.
The news comes from a new report and brief on the impact of the first year of the city’s two-year Recurring Income for Success and Equity (ARISE) program.
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Pretty soon email inboxes won’t get those monthly newsletters from Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson. It’s the end of an era in the city, as Wilson leaves office in January.
Wilson is looking forward to it.
Two popular Alexandria parks on the waterfront are about to close for a while, and the city is soliciting feedback on their redevelopment.
Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street) and Point Lumley Park (1 Duke Street) in Old Town are prone to frequent flooding. Both will be redeveloped as the city plans on rebuilding segments of sea wall and installing a pumping station at Waterfront Park to move floodwaters back out to the Potomac River.
Alexandria City Public Schools is ramping up efforts to make sure its more than 15,000 students getting free education actually live in the city.
The School Board and City Council, on Monday (Nov. 25), received a report from ACPS staff on the plan.
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Last week, Alexandria’s City Council voted to move forward with a plan to convert the four-lane S. Pickett Street near Cameron Station to one lane in each direction for much of the road, adding bike lanes and on-street parking.
The plan created considerable consternation among neighbors who expressed concerns that the changes would create cut-through traffic in the Cameron Station neighborhood. The outrage was reminiscent of the response to Seminary Road bike lane changes.
The holidays officially brightened up in Alexandria with the annual lighting of the city’s Christmas tree on Saturday night.
Mayor Justin Wilson joked with Santa Claus onstage in front of City Hall (301 King Street) before the official countdown to spark the 40,000 lights on the 40-foot-tall plastic tree.
There’s a lot that people want to see out of the renovations to City Hall and the adjacent Market Square. Fundamentally, though, most respondents to the city’s survey want Market Square to continue operating as a real market.
Market Square regularly hosts activities on the plaza, including the ever popular Old Town Farmers’ Market — the oldest farmers’ market in the country continuously held at the same site.
Outdoor dining is officially coming to Oakville Triangle.
On Saturday, City Council unanimously an ordinance to allow outdoor dining on the sidewalk at 461 Swann Avenue for Founding Farmers.
The Alexandria City Council on Saturday unanimously approved a measure banning new vape and smoke shops from opening 1,000 feet from schools and daycare centers with minors.
Council’s approval of the text amendment follows a bill by Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3) that was approved by the General Assembly in April.
Go to Alexandria bans new smoke and vape shops 1,000 feet from schools and daycare centers
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Get your walking shoes on, because the Alexandria City Council voted Saturday to shut down the 200 block of King Street this holiday season, as well as next spring and summer.
The unanimous vote was made without discussion, and the closure will happen in two phases. The 200 block will first close from Nov. 22 to Jan. 6, and the second phase is from March 14 to Sept. 30.