City Council | ALXnow

Citizens Group Vilifies Heritage High Rise Project in Old Town

Published January 26, 2021 at 11:40AM | Updated January 29, 2021 at 12:27AM

Old Town residents have banded together against what they say is overdevelopment with the planned construction of the 750-unit, seven-story Heritage apartment buildings.

Made up of more than 80 neighbors, the Citizens Association of the Southwest Quadrant (CASQ) launched a website, sent emails to news organizations and created an online petition against the development, which they say will result in hundreds of additional vehicles on area streets, affect property values and destroy the historic charm of the area.

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Swamp Fox Road Gone, but City Council Leaves Door Open for Eventual Return

By Vernon Miles

Published January 25, 2021 at 11:30AM

Though barely more than five minutes on a in a nearly six hour meeting, on Saturday the City Council finally did away with one of Alexandria’s more bizarre street names.

Toward the end of the meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to replace Swamp Fox Road with Hoffman Street, celebrating local developer Hubert Hoffman Jr., founder of the The Hoffman Company that developed much of the nearby area and for whom much of Eisenhower East is named.

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ALXnow’s Top Stories This Week in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published January 22, 2021 at 3:30PM

It was a short, but news-filled week in Alexandria.

With Monday off in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we started the week running with a COVID-19 update. Cases of COVID-19 in the city now stand at 8,975 and fatalities are at 99. That’s an increase of three deaths and 165 cases since Tuesday, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

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Alexandria Mayor Formally Requests Dominion Energy Step Their Game Up

By Vernon Miles

Published January 22, 2021 at 1:15PM | Updated January 22, 2021 at 2:07PM

Dominion employees (image via Dominion Energy/Facebook)

(Updated 2:05 p.m.) Alexandrians have had to deal with a frustrating uptick in power outages this year, and Mayor Justin Wilson said locals are getting tired of it.

The city has faced several large-scale power outages in 2020 — including a particularly large one in October that hit 12,750 residents in Del Ray, North Ridge, Rosemont, Seminary Hill and Potomac Yard. Dominion representatives said the outage was a fluke, but city representatives pointed to the recent spate of outages as evidence to the contrary. In a letter sent yesterday, Wilson outlined local concerns and what Dominion can do to improve the situation.

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Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published January 22, 2021 at 9:00AM

Four Mile Run at the Alexandria and Arlington border, January 2021. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

Beyer Says Congress Needs to Pass COVID-19 Relief Bill — “Last week was the 44th week in a row in which more Americans filed new unemployment claims than in any week on record prior to 2020. Damage from delaying relief still hitting American families, which shows how important it is for Congress to move quickly on the next relief bill.” [Twitter]

Mayor Says Alexandria Needs More COVID-19 Vaccines — “My friend @JeffreyCMcKay is absolutely right. NoVa jurisdictions have been planning for administration of vaccinations for months. We have the staffing, volunteers, processes and community partnerships in place to vaccinate our population. We just need more vaccine doses.” [Twitter]

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Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson Announces Reelection Bid

By James Cullum

Published January 21, 2021 at 2:30PM

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson speaks at a vigil against police brutality at the Charles Houston Recreation Center in Old Town on June 4, 2020. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson announced his bid for reelection to a second term this morning. He currently stands unopposed in the Mayor’s race, according to the city’s office of Voter Registration and Elections.

Wilson, who defeated then-Mayor Allison Silberberg in the democratic primary in June 2018, has presided over an unprecedented period in Alexandria’s history that has been marked by social strife and a pandemic.

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City Council Endorses Police Review Board Option, Plan Going Out for Community Review

By James Cullum

Published January 20, 2021 at 4:45PM

The Alexandria City Council has chosen a hybrid approach as its preferred option for a Community Police Review Board. It’s a contentious move that, if approved next March, will allow independent civilian oversight over multiple aspects of the police department.

In a 4-3 vote last week, Council chose option “C” out of the four alternatives presented by staff. Each of the options will now be presented to the community in a two-month-long public feedback process that will ultimately lead to a council decision in March. The dissenting votes were cast by Mayor Justin Wilson, Councilwoman Amy Jackson and Councilwoman Del Pepper.

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Del Ray Business Association Presents Star Award to Councilwoman Del Pepper

By James Cullum

Published January 20, 2021 at 2:30PM

Outgoing Alexandria City Councilwoman Del Pepper received top honors from the Del Ray Business Association on Tuesday, as Pepper and a number of notable Alexandrians were virtually presented with the community’s annual Star Award.

DRBA ended up tricking Pepper by telling her that they wanted her to briefly speak to the association about Del Ray’s finer qualities. Instead, Pepper arrived at the virtual meeting to find herself the recipient of the neighborhood’s greatest annual honor.

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Police Chief: Many Recent Shootings in Alexandria Are Related

By Vernon Miles

Published January 20, 2021 at 11:45AM

In an update to the City Council, Police Chief Michael Brown said many of the recent shots fired incidents in Alexandria are related.

It wasn’t exactly surprising news, given that many of the shootings took place in the same concentrated areas — two this month took place less than a block apart — but it was a rare glimpse into investigations where local police are keeping their cards close to their chest.

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Alexandria Sheriff Joins Outraged Chorus, City Council Defers Plan to Double Stormwater Utility Fees

By James Cullum

Published January 13, 2021 at 4:45PM | Updated January 13, 2021 at 5:02PM

Alexandria City Hall (staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne joined his neighbors in criticizing City Council’s plan to double the stormwater utility fee, and asked at last night’s meeting that the matter be deferred to give the community more time.

Lawhorne, who lives in Del Ray, said that his home flooded multiple times last year and is frustrated with what he called a lack of progress to solve the problem. A number of heavy rainstorms in 2020 resulted in dangerous flooding situations, revealing a besieged stormwater management system that left many homes damaged throughout the city. There were more than 500 requests for service through the City’s 311 system due to extreme rain events this year, according to a city memo.