(Updated 3:40 p.m.) To get a business improvement district (BID) approved for Old Town, proponents will need the support of 60% of properties in the proposed zone. But a new change could cut property owners who don’t engage at all out of that 60% requirement.
City Council member John Chapman said after outreach was done for the Old Town BID there were over 200 property owners that never responded either in favor or against the proposal.
A local nonprofit is donating a $50,000 scoreboard at the Kelley Cares Miracle Field outside the Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center in Old Town.
The scoreboard is a gift to the city from the Miracle League of Alexandria and it will be presented to City Council for approval on April 2. Additionally, the $3,000 installation for the scoreboard’s support beams is being donated by the Simpson Development Company.
Alexandria City Council members and candidates are opening up about their positions on the city backing out of the Potomac Yard arena deal.
Mayor Justin Wilson said that the city will be spending a lot of time unpacking what led to the announcement that it was backing out of a plan to move the Washington Wizards and Capitals from D.C. to a new arena with an entertainment district in the city’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon is asking City Council to increase penalties for late personal property tax payments.
The news comes as City Council considers a real estate tax increase to fund a significant budget request from the Alexandria School Board.
Jonathan Huskey’s campaign to be a member of Alexandria’s City Council is centered around his opposition to the Potomac Yard arena development.
Huskey says that the city government failed residents with last December’s surprise announcement that Monumental Sports & Entertainment reached a deal with Governor Glenn Youngkin to move the home of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals from D.C. to Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
After months of discussion, Alexandria’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) voted in favor of a recommendation that City Council pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The workroom in City Hall was packed to standing-room-only with supporters of the ceasefire resolution who have been active for months in both Human Rights Commission meetings and City Council public hearings calling for a ceasefire resolution.
(Updated 9:20 p.m.) After a prolonged battle between a Del Ray homeowner and his neighbors over a proposed accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and a single-family home, Alexandria’s City Council struck the plans down in a meeting earlier this week.
The plan (docket item 11) was to create a two-story, single-unit ADU to 404 E. Alexandria Avenue along with a single-family home. The unit would be set off the main street on a vacant lot and accessible by a public alley.
Alexandria’s City Council set a maximum tax rate at 4 cents higher than the current $1.11 tax rate — a significant increase, but less than the 6-cent increase proposed earlier in last night’s (Tuesday) meeting.
The maximum tax rate, as was emphasized several times in the meeting by nearly everyone on the City Council, does not reflect what the tax rate will be in the final budget, it is only the highest tax rate the City Council can possibly go to in its budget.
It was standing-room-only at a City Council budget hearing yesterday (Monday) and most of the speakers had one of two things on their mind: affordable housing and fully funding Alexandria City Public Schools.
The push for more funding to the city’s affordable housing programs came from a mix of housing nonprofit leaders and residents from neighborhoods like Arlandria/Chirilagua staring down the barrel at gentrification.
Neighborhoods next to the proposed $2 billion arena at Potomac Yard are against the project, according to results from a recent poll.
Of the 496 survey respondents from the Del Ray Citizens Association, Hume Springs Civic Association, Lynhaven Civic Association and the Rosemont Citizens Association, 58% oppose the project, 29% support it, 12% have mixed feelings and just under 1% aren’t sure.
The Alexandria City Council will consider making electric scooter rides cheaper in the poorest areas of the city at its meeting on Tuesday night (March 12).
Council will vote at City Hall (301 King Street) on allowing staff to apply for a $200,000 grant from the Better Bike Share Partnership’s Living Lab Program. The city would have to contribute $20,000 toward the effort, which is intended to increase the ridership with an outreach campaign and by lowering prices for electric scooters and e-bikes in Arlandria and the West End.
