What an interesting week in Alexandria. Here’s the rundown.
World champion sprinter Noah Lyles brought home his bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. In a frank, TED Talk-like speech at Alexandria City High School, Lyles talked about the importance of mental health as he struggled to perform at the games.
Ahead of a public meeting tonight (Wednesday), Mayor Justin Wilson outlined what’s being proposed and next steps.
“The plastic bag tax has long been floated,” Wilson said in a town hall last week, noting that a similar tax is already in place in D.C. “Senator [Adam] Ebbin, who represents the east end of Alexandria, proposed legislation that allows local governments to opt in for the plastic bag tax.”
Alexandria’s seven-day average of positive COVID-19 tests is now the lowest in Virginia.
The percentage was 3.1%, as of Tuesday, September 7, even though the city is experiencing a high level of transmission for the third straight week, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Local school systems face bus driver shortages, but say they’re ready to roll — “ACPS recognizes there is a national shortage of school bus drivers, making it challenging to recruit and fill bus driver positions. ACPS has about 90% of our drivers available and 100% of bus monitor positions filled…” [Alexandria Living]
Alexandria recommends cooling centers during heatwave — “The next few days are going to be hot and humid. The City offers several locations as options to those without cooling in their homes, including rec centers and libraries, as well as assistance for adults 60+ and some low-income households. Learn more at alexandriava.gov/122602.” [Twitter]
What a week in Alexandria.
Public uproar over Sunday’s flooding spilled out throughout this week, which continued to be threatened by near-daily flash flood advisories from the National Weather Service.
Today on WAMU’s The Politics Hour, Mayor Justin Wilson laid out plans for flood infrastructure work, predicted a decision this fall over whether recreation centers will require proof of vaccination, and tacitly endorsed the Arlington-Georgetown gondola.
The discussion of the mayor took up the back half of the hour-long program hosted by Kojo Nnamdi and Tom Sherwood. As fitting the program’s name, the show started with a question of politics and whether Mayor Justin Wilson is planning to debate Republican candidate Annetta Catchings.
Alexandria’s COVID transmission levels have been upped from “substantial” to “high”, and the city’s Health Department is recommending that severely immunocompromised residents get a third vaccine shot.
Alexandria now has 12,490 cases of COVID-19 reported since the first case in March 2020. That’s an increase of 40 reported cases since Monday.
A vaccine mandate for Alexandria government employees will be ready for implementation by this fall, according to Mayor Justin Wilson.
“The policy is being finalized in place right now and should be in place in the September/October timeframe,” Wilson told ALXnow. “This will likely not come before Council as this is in the City Manager’s purview. Although he is of course keeping us up to date.”
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) Alexandria is under a Flash Flood Watch until 3 p.m. Monday (August 16), after areas of the city were hit by a massive rainstorm Saturday.
The National Weather Service reports that up to four inches may fall during the late morning and mid-afternoon, resulting in “rapid rises on streams and creeks and in urbanized and poor drainage areas.”
U.S. Housing and Ubran Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge was in Alexandria Friday to tour The Spire affordable housing complex and tout the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better agenda.
“There are so many people who live on the outskirts of hope in this country,” Fudge said. “I am in a community now… where the median value of a home is nearly $640,000. Most people can’t afford to live here. There is no place in this country today where a person making minimum wage can rent a two-bedroom apartment.”
The Alexandria Fire Department is buckling under the strain of a staffing shortage and forced overtime, as firefighters, EMTs and medics say that their operations are not sustainable.
Alexandria Fire Chief Corey Smedley says that staffing shortages within the department, which underwent a restructuring in June, is resulting in an uptick in holdovers (forced overtime).
