With President Joe Biden announcing last week that he would not be running for reelection, it’s worth examining the somewhat understated impact Biden had on Alexandria.
Though most of its discussion was relegated to long City budget meetings, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that Biden helped spearhead had a significant impact on Alexandria’s recovery from Covid.
Alexandria is still working out the kinks in its short-term rentals policies, but rentals on sites like Airbnb have already taken over a considerable amount of the city’s transient lodging market.
In a newsletter, Mayor Justin Wilson said there are over 700 short-term rentals in Alexandria, comprising less than 1% of the city’s housing stock, but that those rentals account for over a quarter of the city’s transient lodging tax revenue — a market traditionally defined by hotels.
(Updated 4:40 p.m.) The large office building in Carlyle containing the Motley Fool headquarters is heading to a foreclosure auction.
The 164,407-square-foot office building has a stately appearance at the northern entrance to the Carlyle neighborhood — with the iconic lion statues out front and a distinctive circular turret design — but the building has been the victim of market upheaval since the pandemic devastated office real estate.
(Updated 12/27) An economic impact report released last Friday said the new Potomac Yard arena would create 30,000 jobs and more than double the economic output of previous development plans.
The report came from HR&A Advisors, a consultant hired by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership AEDP in June as a technical advisor.
Six months in, participants in a new guaranteed income pilot aren’t diving into pools of money; it’s just helping them tread water a little easier.
While there aren’t restrictions on what the money can be used for, Economic Mobility Program Officer Julie Mullen said most of the money distributed in the city’s ARISE Guaranteed Income Pilot is helping those in need with basic necessities.
The City of Alexandria has a new tool that highlights areas where income levels vary significantly by racial and ethnic groups.
The new Equity Index Map map isn’t a chart of levels of poverty across Alexandria, as some of the wealthiest and poorest communities across Alexandria have low levels of disparity. Instead, it highlights census tracts where race and indicators of economic inequality are closely linked.
Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon released his proposed $881.1 million fiscal year 2024 budget at City Hall on Tuesday night, and it includes an option to raise taxes by 1 cent.
The budget also reflects $8.1 million in collective bargaining agreement funds that will go to the Fire and Police Departments.
At a City Council retreat, Alexandria leaders met with some of the city’s leading budgetary advisors to discuss some dire signs of what one staff member called a “pasta bowl recession.”
The city’s top finance experts said the city should be cautious as it potentially heads into a period of stagnant economic growth — if not outright decline.
As the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership works through programs aimed at helping to strengthen the city’s business communities post-Covid, some in the organization and partnering groups are working to ensure there’s a greater diversity of voices in the new order.
A new grant program, the ALX B2B Business Association Grant Program, aims to help prop up business associations across the city to make them more active and helpful for their communities. The city-funded grant program is in the process of distributing $535,000 in grant funding across eight associations.
Alexandrians making less than half of the region’s area median income could qualify for a new program that will give them $500 per month with no strings attached.
Those living alone and making less than $49,850 per year are eligible, with the income scaling up based on the size of the household.
With Labor Day coming up on Monday, a couple of the leading unions and labor organizing groups in Alexandria say they’ve seen substantial gains but there’s still work to be done.
Collective bargaining for public safety agencies was one of the leading issues early in late 2021 and early 2022. Labor activists were also critical of the city’s involvement in financing the development of the Hotel Heron in Old Town, saying the city should leverage its position to ensure better wages and treatment of employees.
