Jubal Early was a Confederate military leader who not only fled the country to avoid surrendering but eventually came to be one of the early vocal proponents of the Lost Cause myth and an outspoken white supremacist.
N. Early Street — a road between Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard Campus and, ironically, the Union’s Fort Ward — honors Early. It is one of the 41 roads throughout Alexandria confirmed in a new report to be named for a Confederate leader.
After years of planning, the flood mitigation plan for Alexandria’s waterfront is making some progress.
The Waterfront Implementation Program is heading to a public hearing for procurement and proposals on Tuesday, May 23 — the next major step along the costly road toward getting a new bulkhead and other waterfront infrastructure built.
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Alexandria is one step closer to the demolition of the NRG Potomac River Generating Station site in Old Town North.
On Saturday, City Council unanimously endorsed the plant owner’s Coordinated Sustainability Strategy, which outlines a plan to electrify the future mixed-use development slated to be built there.
In April 1979, the City of Alexandria listed 114 N. Payne Street in Old Town as a historic building due to its unique architectural roofline.
One month later, the city approved a permit to destroy that roofline.
Alexandria’s transient lodging, from Airbnb to hotels, famously took a hit back in 2020, but there’s some good news.
At a meeting of the City Council last night celebrating some of the work of Visit Alexandria, Mayor Justin Wilson noted that transient lodging has continued to climb and overall consumption tax revenue now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
After years in development, a new agreement was released between Alexandria City Public Schools and the Alexandria Police Department to provide school resource officers (SROs) at the city’s high school and middle schools.
The new memorandum of understanding between ACPS and APD has been a long time coming. SROs were defunded by the City Council in last year’s budget, and Alexandria City Public Schools spent the first few months of the 2021-2022 school year without the officers in its high school and middle schools. The officers were returned after ACPS pleaded with Council for their return in the wake of multiple incidents with weapons in schools.
Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon’s $884.3 million fiscal year 2024 budget was unanimously approved by City Council Wednesday night (May 4), backing citywide pay increases, a fully funded school system and collective bargaining agreements with the police and fire departments.
While the real estate tax rate remains unchanged at $1.11 per $100 of assessed value, city residents will have to pay $308.70 annually for the stormwater utility fee — an increase from $294 last year. The budget, which goes into effect July 1, is an increase of 5.4% over last year’s $839.2 million budget. About 47% of it ($398 million) is dedicated to paying the salaries of 2,765 city employees.
Alexandria’s drinking water has an “actionable” level of Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), and the City Council just endorsed a plan to help clean it up.
The long-lasting substances, also known as “forever chemicals,” are hard to break down and pollute Alexandria’s drinking water to an “actionable” degree, Mayor Justin Wilson wrote in a letter unanimously supported by Council. PFAS are proven to weaken immune response, increase cancer risk and liver damage, and pose a risk to pregnant women and their babies.
Personal security cameras, speed cameras in school zones, summer youth employment programs and eviction prevention funding are just a few of the final additions included in the fiscal year 2024 budget by the Alexandria City Council on Tuesday.
Council approved funding a $20,000 program to encourage businesses and homeowners with a “small incentive” to set up security cameras to deter crime, as well as increase their coordination with the Alexandria Police Department.
Five years after extensive flooding severely damaged parts of the Holmes Run Trail, a staff report to the City Council this week indicated that repairs could take even longer than expected.
Parts of the trail have been inaccessible since the flooding in 2018. Earlier reports estimated the trail would be repaired by this spring, then by late fiscal year 2024, but the newest Capital Projects Status Report (item 10) indicated a new estimated substantial completion as the second quarter of fiscal year 2025.
During a City Council meeting last night, discussion of a new report shed light on property owners discriminating against residents who received eviction protection aid — a move the city says is illegal.
Helen McIlvaine, director of the Office of Housing, and housing analyst Kim Cadena shared a report on the specifics of where the city’s housing investments are going.
