Former Alexandria Mayor Kerry Donley died unexpectedly at his home in Alexandria on Wednesday, July 13.
Donley was 66 years old and died of a heart attack, according to the Alexandria Times. He lived in the city for nearly six decades.
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City Council
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Alexandria firefighters say the city and its mutual aid partners in neighboring jurisdictions were left unprepared in the event of an emergency last week, but the Alexandria Fire Department says everything was covered.
In a tweet on July 7 (Thursday), the International Association of Firefighters Union 2141 issued a public safety announcement that the city had only two fire trucks and no rescue apparatus in operation.
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With fireworks, cupcakes and music, Alexandria celebrated its 273rd birthday on Sunday, July 10.
Thousands were in attendance for the free party, which also celebrates America’s birthday and was supposed to be held on Saturday (July 9), but was held off due to rain. What resulted was a less crowded event than years past — with performances by Town Crier Ben Fiore-Walker, Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam, and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO).
ALXnow had another slightly shortened week thanks to Fourth of July celebrations.
The big news this week is the GenOn Power Plant redevelopment plans moving forward despite pushback from local tenants and worker unions and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).
Earlier this week, Alexandria’s City Council approved two major steps forward for plans to redevelop an abandoned power plant at the north end of Old Town’s waterfront.
The project faced some pushback from tenants and worker unions and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), but ultimately the city voted to approve a master plan amendment for the site and a coordinated development district (CDD) to encompass the project. The master plan amendment was unanimously approved, but the CDD was approved in a 6-1 vote with Council Member Alyia Gaskins voting against it.
Even after pushback by groups ranging from tenants and worker unions to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), Alexandria’s City Council approved a major step for the GenOn Power Plant redevelopment’s Coordinated Development District (CDD) in a 6-1 vote at a meeting last night (Tuesday).
As with earlier contentious developments, City Council members said they acknowledged concerns about the project, but Mayor Justin Wilson said the prospect of finally cleaning up the power plant site eclipsed those issues.
Alexandria is developing a request for proposal (RFP) to potentially sell a tiny parcel of land at 2 King Street on the Alexandria waterfront.
The 1,825-square-foot property is between Waterfront Park and The Strand Street, and has been rented out as a parking lot for neighboring businesses since it was acquired in the 2014 land swap with the Old Dominion Boat Club.
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Updated 4:30 p.m. — A spokesperson representing Hilco Redevelopment Partners shared an email with WMWAA indicating that the Airports Authority “is comfortable that the City of Alexandria does not need to ‘defer’ decisions slated for this Application today; instead, the Authority welcomes the City’s expressed commitment in its decision to require increased coordination between MWAA and the City as this Application moves forward.”
The spokesperson also said that because no specific building heights are proposed, the building heights cannot be considered a threat to DCA safety
The Alexandria City Council is poised to approve an amended plan to build a 473-unit affordable housing complex in Arlandria, now that St. Rita Catholic Church has signed off on the project.
Citing safety concerns for parishioners and children, St. Rita Catholic Church and the Catholic Diocese of Arlington sought legal action against the City and the Alexandria Housing Development Corporation when the development was approved in January.
The topic of Business Improvement Districts (BID) is back at Alexandria’s City Council and five years after one proposal was crushed, there are signs BIDs could be seen more favorably by a new Council.
BIDs are self-taxing districts established by property owners that aim to boost the economic vitality of the commercial area. There are a handful of BIDs in Arlington in areas like Crystal City, Rosslyn and Ballston. The BIDs organize activities and events in those districts, as well as handle amenities above and beyond what the city (or county, in Arlington’s case) would typically provide. The possibility of a BID in Old Town proved unpopular among many local businesses, however, who were concerned about the additional tax.
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More than a dozen anti-abortion activists were individually led out of Alexandria’s City Council Chambers on Tuesday night (June 28), as Council unanimously approved a resolution to protect access to abortions in the city.
Members of the California-based group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust sat in Council Chambers holding signs depicting graphic photos and drawings of aborted fetuses. The group spent the last several days demonstrating outside the U.S. Supreme Court leading up to last week’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, banning abortion in more than a dozen states.