Alexandria City Councilman Mo Seifeldein has abandoned his recently announced campaign for mayor and will not seek reelection.
The news came out Monday night in a tweet from Seifeldein’s now-locked Twitter account.
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City Council
Virginia Launching Statewide Vaccine Pre-Registration System — “The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will launch a statewide system to help citizens pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine. The new system will supersede the Alexandria Health Department’s own pre-registration form. It will be operational on Tuesday, Feb 16 at 8 a.m.” [Zebra]
Alexandria Firefighters Oppose Collective Bargaining Agreement — “Employees and labor unions within the City of #Alexandiava attempted to sit down with the City Manager to come up with fair Collective Bargaining agreement. He ignored the employee’s voices and made a management friendly agreement.” [Twitter]
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It was a cold week in Alexandria.
With bits of snow and temperatures hovering at around freezing, our top story this week was on Allison Priebe, the local business owner who was robbed while pumping gas in Old Town. Police later released suspect photos and advise anyone pumping gas to keep their keys with them and lock their vehicles.
Even as more age groups get inoculated against the coronavirus, Alexandria’s Health Department director told City Council on Tuesday that the pandemic is far from over.
For one thing, it’s estimated that variant strains of the virus with up to 45% greater transmissibility will be the primary type of the COVID-19 virus by March.
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Alexandria’s City Council and Mayoral races are starting to heat up as new candidates throw their hats into the ring.
With Councilwoman Redella “Del” Pepper and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker announcing that they will not be running for reelection — with the latter running for the 45th District House of Delegates seat — there are at least two guaranteed new City Council members that will serve on the six-person body.
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Alexandria’s DASH bus service is at 40% of pre-pandemic ridership, and near-term changes include bringing back fare collection and adding a partition protecting drivers from passengers, according to an annual presentation given to City Council by the transit system on Tuesday night.
“We have some exciting things going on,” DASH Board Chair David Kaplan told Council. “We have been creative, we have worked together with other departments, with the health department and others to ensure that it is safe to use transit.”
Beyer Says Images of Capitol Siege Should be Viewed by Everyone — “These images of one of the darkest days in our nation’s history are disturbing. But these things happened, and we cannot erase these events, their causes, or their meaning. Everyone should watch this.” [Twitter]
Pat Malone, Cancer Survivor to ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ for 24 Hours Straight — “Patrick J. ‘Pat’ Malone, a seven-year cancer survivor, and 20-year Air Force veteran will ‘stand up to cancer’ for 24-hours straight, during his Seventh Annual Stand Up To Cancer.” [Zebra]
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Community activist and attorney Sarah Bagley just filed paperwork to run for City Council.
Bagley, who launched a campaign Facebook page and website, filed her paperwork to run in the June 8 Democratic primary with the city’s registrar on Feb. 5.
What was meant to be a fun, wholesome Super Bowl watch-party with City Councilman John Chapman this weekend was briefly derailed as the meeting was stormed by newcomers with Nazi profile pictures spouting racist slurs.
The meeting was hosted as part of Chapman’s reelection campaign. The event was open to the public and had fairly lax restrictions on who could speak.
What a news-filled week in Alexandria.
Things got off to a snowy start on Monday and Tuesday, as the city was under a winter weather advisory.
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James Lewis, a longtime democratic staffer on Capitol Hill, has joined the race for the Alexandria City Council.
The 33-year-old democrat has lived in Alexandria for more than a decade and is the vice chair of the city’s Traffic and Parking Board. He filed his statement of organization on Thursday, according to the city’s registrar of voters. He will also soon launch a campaign website, he said.