(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) By the time this story is published, candidates will have just an hour-and-a-half to file the necessary paperwork to run in the Jan. 9 special election to fill the vacant seat on the Alexandria School Board.
The deadline is 5 p.m. to file the following with the city’s Office of Voter Registration & Elections:
(Updated 9:35 p.m.) It was overcast and cool — the perfect weather for the Campagna Center’s 52nd Scottish Christmas Walk Parade.
The parade is one of the most popular events in the city, bringing thousands of participants, including Irish dancers, historic reenactors and the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums. It is considered the highlight of a weekend full of events.
Mayor Justin Wilson isn’t the only one leaving city government: after 25 years working for the city, Senior Community Liaison Elaine Scott is retiring.
Scott has run the City Academy — a nine-week program that teaches anyone interested in city government the ins and outs of city departments and operations — since 2009.
The City of Alexandria is hosting a public hearing tonight on plans to rename streets that honor Confederate leaders.
Last month, the city identified six streets that could be renamed early next year.
Updated at 11:45 a.m. Alexandria Fire Chief Corey Smedley announced his retirement today, and that he will leave the top job on Friday, Jan. 12.
After more than three years at the helm of the department, the 51-year-old Smedley did not say what his next move would be after his retirement. He’s the city’s first permanent Black fire chief, and led the department through the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as negotiated the AFD first-ever collective bargaining agreement with the fire department’s union.
(Updated 11/26) In true Alexandria fashion, a contentious debate over city zoning policy led to some unorthodox and occasionally offensive arguments, from calls for public officials to be spanked to an argument that affordable housing should go to “deserving blacks.”
Almost all of the five-hour public comment period, a follow-up to a six-hour public comment session from last week, was a civil — if heated — discussion over the merits of Zoning for Housing/Housing for All.
Alexandria just hired Cheran Cordell Ivery as the city attorney, replacing outgoing City Attorney Joanna Anderson.
Ivery, who starts work on Jan. 8, has been the city attorney in Hampton, Virginia, for the last five years. She replaces City Attorney Joanna Anderson, who has had the role since 2018, and announced her retirement in June.
All arguments aside, Alexandria’s equity standards and economic prospects have been declared sound.
Yesterday, the city announced that S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service reaffirmed Alexandria’s ‘AAA’ bond rating. The city has maintained the designation since 1992, and it equates to a good credit rating for the city to get low-interest rates from bond investors to provide funding for multiple projects.
With food insecurity in more than 30% of Alexandria households, the city wants feedback on food access for its residents.
In a new survey, the city’s Department of Community and Human Services is working with a consulting firm to get the latest on food access for residents. The effort is part of an effort to develop a citywide food security strategic plan.
Few speakers at a six-hour City Council meeting last night seemed fully satisfied with the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative, but the public comment was divided between those who saw the proposal as a good first step and those who thought it threatened the city’s character.
While nearly all speakers at a six-hour public hearing last night said they supported affordable housing, opinions on the city’s Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative varied widely.
The City of Alexandria is hosting a community meeting on plans to reshape the West End.
The Alexandria-West Planning processes is an update to a plan drafted in 1992. The new planning process kicked off back in November 2022.
