city government | ALXnow

Officials Say Gulf Between City and School Planning is Still Too Large

Published October 24, 2019 at 3:15PM

Councilman John Chapman pushes for more co-located school and city facilities at a joint session (photo via Alexandria City Public Schools)

Gone are the days when the Alexandria City Council and School Board’s joint meetings were bloody affairs where both sides would haggle over monumental budget gaps. But under the surface, members of the City Council were dubious at last night’s (Wednesday) joint session that enough is being done to align city and school interests when it comes to new development.

One of the most-discussed goals of the collaboration between the city and schools is co-locating facilities — moving away from new developments being single-use and towards projects that might include a school along with recreational facilities or housing.

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Geofencing Leads to Dramatic Decrease in Scooters Parking on the Waterfront

By Vernon Miles

Published October 21, 2019 at 12:45PM

While geofencing for scooters generally means blocking them from scooting through an area, new geofencing measures in Alexandria are aimed at keeping scooters parking in certain places.

New scooter regulations have blocked scooters from parking in a multi-block stretch east of N. Union Street, between Oronoco Street and Prince Street. The result has been an 80 percent decrease in scooter parking on the waterfront, staff told the Waterfront Commission at its meeting last week.

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Part of King Street Could Close to Vehicle Traffic as Early as April

By Vernon Miles

Published October 16, 2019 at 4:15PM

The City of Alexandria is once again preparing to shut cars out of the end of King Street and convert it into a pedestrian-only walkway.

A plan is currently in the works to close the 100 block of King Street to car traffic on weekends to turn the area near the waterfront into a pedestrian boulevard. At the Waterfront Commission meeting yesterday (Tuesday), city staff presented the timeline for when that closure could happen.

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What the City Is Doing About Abandoned Scooters

By Vernon Miles

Published October 16, 2019 at 9:45AM

Bird scooter abandoned in the Four Mile Run wetlands (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

When Alexandria officials said they hope to see birds return to the Four Mile Run wetlands, they weren’t referring to Bird scooters — but yet, there was at least one there, in the water.

Concerns about scooters on sidewalks have dominated the local debate about the personal mobility devices, but the issue of abandoned scooters is nonetheless something with which Alexandria policymakers will have to grapple.

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Newly-Minted WNBA Champ Elena Delle Donne Also Won a Fence Encroachment in Alexandria This Year

By Vernon Miles

Published October 11, 2019 at 10:30AM | Updated May 4, 2021 at 8:59AM

(Updated 4/5/21) Elena Delle Donne from the Washington Mystics has had two big wins this year.

The team won the WNBA championship last night (Thursday), but earlier this summer Delle Donne won city approval to bump the fence of her Old Town home further into the public right of way.

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City Government Offices Closing for Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday

By ALXnow.com

Published October 10, 2019 at 4:30PM

This coming Monday, Oct. 14 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Alexandria and a number of city government offices and facilities will be closed.

Thanks to a recent Alexandria City Council vote, the second Monday in October is now known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the city, though it is still a state and federal holiday known as Columbus Day.

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Tree Sale Underway to Help Restore Alexandria’s Native Tree Canopy

By Vernon Miles

Published October 8, 2019 at 12:45PM

Alexandria wants you to plant a tree.

Specifically, the city needs some help to get 40 percent of the city covered with trees by 2035, a goal expressed in the city’s Environmental Action Plan.

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Zoning Language for Alexandria Trellises is No Longer on the Fence

By Vernon Miles

Published October 8, 2019 at 9:30AM

If you were one of the Alexandrians building 18-foot high fences and justifying them as “trellises,” your days of evading local ordinances are numbered.

As part of an ongoing effort to update Alexandria’s zoning ordinances from the 1990s — which a report noted contains errors and inconsistencies — city staff is updating the city’s rules regarding fences and structures on residential and commercial properties in the city.

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New Security Measures Incoming for City Hall Include Armed Security Guards

By Vernon Miles

Published October 4, 2019 at 11:30AM

In response the June 6 shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Alexandria is preparing to install tighter security measures at City Hall in Old Town.

A suite of new security measures was approved at the Sept. 24 City Council meeting, less than two weeks after the City Council prohibited firearms on city property.

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Planning Commission Recommends Sale of Old Town Parking Lots

By Vernon Miles

Published October 4, 2019 at 9:45AM

Draft proposal for 912-920 King Street (image via City of Alexandria)

A set of surface parking lots in the heart of Old Town could become a new set of retail and residential buildings — with no public parking lost.

The Planning Commission voted last night to recommend approval of the sale of 912, 916 and 920 King Street, along with 116 S. Henry Street just around the corner, to local investment firm Galena Capital Partners, LLC for $5.3 million.

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City Staff Mulls Public Funding for Landmark Mall Redevelopment

By Vernon Miles

Published October 3, 2019 at 9:35AM

Alexandria’s City Council approved an ambitious master plan for Landmark Mall in April, but it’s city staff that’s been doing the delicate behind-the-scenes work of making that a reality.

After a long decline, Landmark Mall in Alexandria’s West End finally shut its doors for good in 2017 — though its corpse was briefly gussied up to play a 1980s shopping mall for Wonder Woman 2 in 2018.