Monday night was a clinic in anti-establishment thinking, as the final group of City Council candidates opined on such issues as transparency, the Seminary Road Diet, the elimination of school resource officer funding and shifting from an at-large to a ward system.
It was the third and final Council forum with the Seminary Ridge Civic Association, which last week featured two virtual panels with the other candidates.
On January 6, Alexandria City Council candidate Kirk McPike was sheltering in place at the U.S. Capitol with his boss, Democratic Congressman Mark Takano.
Suit alleging admissions discrimination at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology moves forward — “More than 70 percent of the student body at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is Asian American; Black and Hispanic students have been woefully underrepresented there for decades. At a hearing Friday in Alexandria, lawyers for the Fairfax County School Board urged a judge to toss out the lawsuit. They argue that the new admissions policies are race-neutral. But the judge ruled that the parents’ group made a compelling claim that the board’s true motivation was to increase Black and Hispanic representation at the expense of Asian Americans.” [WAVY.com]
Alexandria Symphony Orchestra extends contract for Maestro James Ross — “The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO) announced that Music Director James Ross received a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. Ross has been at the helm of ASO since 2018. He is the fifth music director in ASO’s 78-year history.” [Zebra]
It was another busy week in Alexandria.
For the second week in a row, our top story was on T.C. Williams High School teacher Gregory Elliott, whose D.C.-based go-go band Experience Unlimited was featured at the Oscars.
(Updated 5 p.m.) Statements on the Seminary Road Diet and government transparency were the highlights of Thursday night’s Seminary Ridge Civic Association candidate forum.
Thursday night’s forum (the second of three events) included City Councilman John Taylor Chapman, former School Board Member Bill Campbell, Meronne Teklu, Republican candidate Darryl Nirenberg and Bill Rossello.
The Seminary Road Diet took center stage Tuesday night, as City Council candidates met in the first of three West End forums.
City Council candidates Canek Aguirre (incumbent), Alyia Gaskins, Kirk McPike, Patrick Moran and Sarah Bagley were the first batch of candidates to speak at the Seminary Ridge Civic Association candidate forum.
It’s been nearly 150 years since Alexandria elected its last Republican mayor.
The year 1872 was big for Republicans. President Ulysses S. Grant won his second term in office, and it’s also the last time that Alexandria elected a Republican as mayor.
What a week in Alexandria.
Our top story this week is on Gregory Elliott, a special education teacher at T.C. Williams High School. Elliot also goes by the name of “Sugar Bear” for the D.C.-based go-go band Experience Unlimited, and their song “Da’ Butt” from the Spike Lee movie “School Daze” was featured at the Oscars, along with actress Glenn Close dancing to it.
(Updated 5:30 p.m.) Most of Alexandria’s City Council candidates met in person for the first time in Arlandria on Thursday night, and affordable housing, school resource officers and access to health care led the bilingual discussion to a mostly Spanish-speaking audience.
The forum was hosted outside by Tenants and Workers United and Grassroots Alexandria.
Both figuratively and literally, last night’s mayoral debate brought brought longtime rivals Justin Wilson and Allison Silberberg back to their old turf.
The Del Ray Business Association debate touched on new issues, like recovery from pandemic, but some of the more telling moments were when host Julie Carey reopened old wounds from 2018 that had never healed. The debate also focused on several issues around Del Ray, where Mayor Wilson began his civic career and where former Mayor Silberberg frequently hosted many of her campaign kick-offs and rallies.
While much attention has been paid to the ongoing Democratic primary for the City Council election, a small but growing pool of Republican challengers for the general election has gotten slightly larger with the addition of Darryl Nirenberg.
Nirenberg, a partner with the law firm Steptoe & Johnson in D.C., joins Mayoral candidate Annetta Catchings as the Republican candidates currently filed for the local elections.
