city government | ALXnow

Outgoing members say Alexandria’s Independent Community Policing Review Board is still not functioning

Published June 26, 2024 at 1:30PM | Updated June 27, 2024 at 12:50AM

Police at shooting scene near 5563 Holmes Run Parkway (staff photo by James Cullum)

Three years after being established by City Council, Alexandria’s Independent Community Policing Review Board is still not up and running. Now after another delay, the board will have to postpone investigating hundreds of allegations of police misconduct until at least the fall.

It’s been more than four years since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin. The event sparked international outrage, also resulting in protests in Alexandria where Mayor Justin Wilson and city leaders called for police accountability.

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Council to consider moving dozens of city staff to AlexRenew headquarters

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2024 at 3:30PM

AlexRenew headquarters (via Alexandria Renew Enterprises/Facebook)

City Council will consider a lease agreement tonight to move a portion of the Department of Transportation and Environmental Services to a 5,600-square-foot office space at AlexRenew Headquarters.

The city’s wastewater authority at 1800 Limerick Street finished construction of its headquarters in 2016, and was designed for expansion on the fifth floor.

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City manager asking Council for $900K to solve Alexandria’s mental health staff shortage

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2024 at 2:30PM

Alexandria City Hall sign (staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria is experiencing a shortage of mental health staff, and City Manager Jim Parajon is asking City Council for $900,000 to solve the problem.

Tonight Council will consider releasing the funds from contingent reserves to pay for strategies to hire and retain the city’s mental health staff.

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Alexandria no longer wants to sell this tiny parcel of land on the waterfront

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2024 at 1:30PM

Alexandria is rethinking selling 2 King Street on the Alexandria waterfront. (Via City of Alexandria)

Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon is recommending that City Council not sell a tiny parcel of land at 2 King Street on the Alexandria waterfront.

Last year, the city issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the 1,825-square-foot property between Waterfront Park and The Strand Street. The city received two responses from the RFP, and since then Parajon’s office and the city’s Real Estate Committee came to the conclusion that it should cancel solicitation of the project until the waterfront mitigation project is completed.

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Anti-Zoning for Housing advocate Roy Byrd announces Independent campaign for Alexandria City Council

By James Cullum

Published June 20, 2024 at 2:30PM | Updated June 20, 2024 at 2:47PM

Roy Byrd, chair of the Coalition for a Livable Alexandria, speaks at a rally at City Hall on Aug. 28, 2023 (staff photo by James Cullum)

A major critic of Alexandria’s residential zoning reforms has thrown his hat into the ring as an Independent candidate for City Council.

Roy Byrd, the co-founder of The Coalition for a Livable Alexandria, made the announcement in a press release.

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BREAKING: Alyia Gaskins wins Alexandria’s mayoral Democratic primary

By James Cullum

Published June 18, 2024 at 9:18PM | Updated June 27, 2024 at 12:56AM

Alyia Gaskins accepts the Democrat nomination for Alexandria Mayor, June 18, 2024 (via Eli Wilson)

Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins defeated her two Democrat rivals on Tuesday, effectively becoming mayor-elect as she faces no opposition in November.

The win makes Gaskins the first Black woman to be mayor of the city.

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Nine new townhomes and four semi-detached dwellings proposed in Old Town Historic District

By James Cullum

Published June 17, 2024 at 3:45PM

Illustrative rendering of the corner of Cameron and N. West Streets (via City of Alexandria)

Nine new townhomes and four semi-detached dwellings are being proposed for a half-acre property used for an office building and warehouse in the Old Town Historic District.

The Alexandria Planning Commission will be presented with the proposal to build on the two parcels at 107 and 125 N. West Street. The location is about a half-block from King Street, and is near Jefferson Houston Elementary School and the King St. Metro station.

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Alexandria Mayor admonishes Vice Mayor for using picture with former fire chief in campaign mailer

By James Cullum

Published June 12, 2024 at 10:30AM | Updated June 12, 2024 at 2:15PM

Mayor Justin Wilson speaks at the City Council meeting on June 11, 2024 (via City of Alexandria)

Outgoing Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson publicly criticized a mailer for Vice Mayor Amy Jackson‘s mayoral campaign that used a photo of former Fire Chief Corey Smedley with her at a city event.

Wilson said at the end of last night’s City Council meeting that the integrity of the city government is at stake, and that it should be insulated from the “vagaries of politics to the extent possible.” Without calling out Jackson by name, he described the mailer and said that former Chief Smedley did not give his permission to be in the ad.

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Alexandria City Council candidates announce how they will tackle climate change

By James Cullum

Published June 7, 2024 at 9:30AM

Waterfront Park along the Potomac River in Alexandria, with National Harbor and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the background. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

A majority of Alexandria’s Democrat candidates for City Council rank climate action high on their priority lists.

A number of candidates recently expressed their opinions in a Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions and Build Our Future questionnaire.

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Developer wants three-year extension to finish mixed-use project on Eisenhower Avenue

By James Cullum

Published June 4, 2024 at 2:30PM

The mixed-use Rushmark Eisenhower South Tower project at 2921 Eisenhower Avenue is the bottom building in this rendering (via City of Alexandria)

The owner of a nine-acre property says that their mixed-use development on Eisenhower Avenue was held up by the pandemic, and is asking the city for a three-year extension.

The development special use permit (DSUP) on the property at 2927 Eisenhower Avenue expires later this month.

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Bishop Ireton High School wants new bell tower for its chapel

By James Cullum

Published June 3, 2024 at 2:50PM | Updated June 3, 2024 at 4:11PM

Construction plans for the chapel renovation at Bishop Ireton High School include a new tower and a new roof (via Bishop Ireton)

After extensive modernizations the last seven years, Bishop Ireton High School (201 Cambridge Road) now wants to add a new bell tower and new roof to its chapel renovation project.

There’s no word in the proposal as to whether the bell tower (on top of which would sit a three-foot-tall crucifix) will include a bell, if it will ring, how loudly and when.