The long-vacant Victory Center (5001 Eisenhower Avenue) has found new, temporary life as a major vaccination hub for Inova Health System that will open by the end of March.
The new center is the end result of what officials described as a “Herculean effort” at collaboration between Fairfax County, the City of Alexandria and Inova.
Alexandria students on Monday asked City Council to reallocate funds intended for school resource officers at public schools.
Francis C. Hammond Middle School eighth grader Karen says school resource officers make her uncomfortable. Karen is a youth organizer with Arlandria-based Tenants and Workers United, and was also joined by a number of other students in voicing their discontent at City Council’s public hearing on the budget.
Restaurant workers in Alexandria just got moved up in the vaccination line thanks to a new prioritization from the Alexandria Health Department.
The change comes with recognition that many restaurant workers are unable to maintain safe distances from customers, putting them at increased risk of COVID-19.
City Applies for Grant to Reimagine King Street — “The project runs from the six-way King Street-Braddock-Road-Quaker Lane intersection west past the Bradlee Shopping Center to Menonkin Drive, which is just before the I-395 interchange on King Street — about a 0.5 mile stretch of heavily-used roadway. The City Council granted permission for city staff to apply for the grant in March 2020, along with approval to apply for grants for the Duke Street Transitway and Landmark Transit Center. The King Street project would be funded in the 2026-27 fiscal year.” [Alexandria Living]
Pandemic Forces ‘Mom Made Foods’ to Close — “Mom Made Foods, an Alexandria-based company providing children’s frozen meals and snacks in stores and online, announced its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” [Patch]
There have been seven more coronavirus-related deaths in Alexandria, bringing the death toll from the virus to 126.
Alexandria’s caseload now stands at 10,456. That’s 114 more cases since this time last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Northam Remarks on a Year of Coronavirus — “For far too many people, life will never be the same again. It has been a hard year, but I have been encouraged by the strength of Virginians in every corner of our Commonwealth.” [Patch]
Beyer Remarks on a Year of Coronavirus — “A year ago today Virginia’s first case of coronavirus was confirmed at Ft. Belvoir in Fairfax County. I remember it like it was yesterday, a frightening time. We’ve lost so many people since then, as the country endured misery and hardship. But we are going to beat this virus.” [Twitter]
What a busy week in Alexandria.
Our top story this week was on Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Old Town shop fibre space on March 3. It was Harris’ first official visit outside of the White House since she was inaugurated, and she spoke about the American Rescue Plan with shop owner Danielle Romanetti.
Post-holidays, Mayor Justin Wilson said in a town hall last night that Alexandrians have done a good job adhering to COVID restrictions and it’s shown in slowly declining deaths and hospitalizations.
On paper, Alexandria has seen its death toll increase over the last week to a total of 123 deaths, but the Alexandria Health Department and Wilson noted that this was due to figures from the holidays being adjusted to include additional deaths believed to be caused by COVID-19.
Regional losses to tourism and the hotel industry could be an unexpected windfall for Alexandria’s ongoing efforts to find affordable housing.
During a presentation to the City Council last week, Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP) President and CEO Stephanie Landrum said that the city could look at streamlining some rezoning to help transform hotels emptied by COVID into affordable housing units.
Nine-year-old Luis Aleman had a hard time learning at home, and was happy to be back at Mount Vernon Community School on Tuesday.
It was a far from ordinary school day for the fourth grader, with plexiglass screens at desks that are spread apart, kids distancing from each other, and even walking a socially distant mile for recess instead of playing on the monkey bars.
Some parents and teachers are facing uncertainty and lingering questions in the days and weeks before ACPS returns to in-person school on March 16.
While ACPS has regularly put out newsletters on the plan for reopening, some in the community are still unsure if their teachers will be back in the classrooms or whether teachers who have been unable to secure a vaccine amid a hectic rollout will be forced to return.
