Justin Wilson | ALXnow

Inova Alexandria Hospital Has COVID-19 Tests for Those Meeting Symptom Criteria

Published March 19, 2020 at 2:00PM | Updated March 20, 2020 at 11:40AM

Patients exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms are tested in this tent at Inova Alexandria Hospital (Staff photo by James Cullum)

Inova Alexandria Hospital has an “adequate supply” of COVID-19 testing kits for anyone meeting the criteria of symptoms recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital President Dr. Rina Bansal told City Council on Wednesday night.

The hospital, which has restricted visitation, is also asking that anyone feeling symptomatic should call ahead to warn staff. Uninsured patients will also be admitted, as their costs will fall under charity care for the nonprofit hospital system.

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City Council to Suspend Dining Tax and Transient Lodging Tax Penalties

By James Cullum

Published March 19, 2020 at 11:45AM | Updated March 19, 2020 at 4:13PM

The Alexandria City Council will suspend the city’s dining and transient lodging taxes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

City staff said at an emergency meeting last night (Wednesday) that they will present the Council with legislation to not penalize businesses for not paying their dining tax and/or transient lodging tax, and would then work out a payment plan for missed months at a later date.

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Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published March 17, 2020 at 9:00AM

AFD Extinguishes Fire on N. West Street — “Engine 205 and surrounding companies made quick work of a small kitchen fire in the 300 Block of N. West Street.” [Twitter]

Health Department Warns Against Misinformation — “Along with our city partners and fantastic Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, we need you, community members, to help share accurate information and dispel the fear that can be seductive and paralyzing.” [Alex Times]

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Mayor Announces Nearly 40 Streets Chosen for Repaving This Year

By Vernon Miles

Published March 3, 2020 at 11:45AM

Construction workers repave a street in Old Town Alexandria (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Long-running efforts to address the condition of Alexandria’s roads will continue this summer with a new set of local roadways set for repavings.

Roads were prioritized for repaving based on the Pavement Condition Inventory, according to a newsletter put out by Mayor Justin Wilson. The study done last year showed roads throughout the city score poorly, particularly the side streets through neighborhoods.

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Elimination of Spring Trash Day Turns Listserv into a Dumpster Fire

By Vernon Miles

Published February 26, 2020 at 3:15PM | Updated February 26, 2020 at 3:31PM

Taking out the trash in Old Town (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Spring Cleaning Day has become an annual tradition in the Beverley Hills neighborhood, but a change that makes every trash day its own Spring Cleaning Day has left some residents fuming.

“The Spring Clean Up has always occurred one magical Saturday a year, where people can put bulk trash and oversized items at the curb for trash pick up,” local blog Tales from the Beverley Hills Listserv recounted in a post. “BevHills residents gleefully turn into Sanford and Son-esque trash pickers, slowly trawling the neighborhood in their cars to scavenge bulk items like used furniture, gallons of old paint, half-destroyed kid toys, and broken Lime scooters (lol). It’s like Santa, but in reverse.”

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City Threatens to Go ‘Back to Market’ Over Southern Access at Potomac Yard Metro

By Vernon Miles

Published February 26, 2020 at 11:45AM | Updated February 26, 2020 at 12:05PM

After months of stalled discussions over the cost of adding southern access to the Potomac Yard Metro station, Mayor Justin Wilson said the city could start the process of financing it over again.

The Potomac Yard Metrorail Implementation Work Group “expressed a great amount of frustration at the amount of time we have spent working with WMATA and their contractor to come to an agreement on a potential change order for improved southwest access,” Wilson said at the City Council meeting last night (Tuesday). “The message that was crystal clear from PYMIG was to set a date to have pencils down regardless of where we’re at and pursue going back to market to bid out the improved southwest access.”

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Defeat Nears for the Last Confederate in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published February 12, 2020 at 10:30AM | Updated February 12, 2020 at 9:12PM

"Appomattox," the Confederate statue at Washington Street and Prince Street in Old Town, after being hit by a car over the weekend (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

With both the Virginia House and Senate approving legislation to allow localities to remove Confederate statues, it would seem the Appomattox statue’s days are numbered.

The statue sits in the center of the intersection of S. Washington Street and Prince Street, where it’s been occasionally struck by cars.

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Wilson: Affordable Housing Legislation in Richmond ‘Well-Meaning’ but Misses Mark

By James Cullum

Published February 3, 2020 at 10:55AM

Andrew Adkins, an affordable housing neighborhood in Braddock (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

It’s widely accepted that localities throughout Virginia face an affordable housing crisis, but is the new Democratic majority in Richmond missing the mark on addressing the issue?

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson said that a swath of bills addressing the issue hurts rather than helps. Wilson, in a recent op-ed in the Alexandria Gazette Packet, instead recommended an increase in state funding for affordable housing instead of bills forcing localities to meet development and zoning benchmarks.

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WMATA and City Haggle Over Potomac Yard Metro Southern Access Costs

By Vernon Miles

Published January 30, 2020 at 3:25PM | Updated January 31, 2020 at 9:01AM

Pedestrian ramp variant of southern access to Potomac Yard Metro station (photo via City of Alexandria)

(Updated 1/31) While construction is underway on the Potomac Yard Metro station, progress on the station’s planned southern access point is being stalled by a financing squabble between the city and WMATA.

The original southern entrance to the Metro station was cut from early plans to save money. As something of a consolation prize, a path to a pedestrian bridge, from neighborhoods to the south to the entrance on the north side of the station, was added.

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Justin Wilson Named One of Six U.S. Mayors ‘Making a Difference’

By ALXnow.com

Published January 23, 2020 at 9:25AM

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson is one of six mayors who are making a difference and “shaping urban America,” at least according to The Hill newspaper.

Wilson made the list, which was published Wednesday, alongside the mayors of Kansas City (M0.), Tampa, Brooklyn Park (Minn.), Minneapolis and Phoenix.

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Morning Notes

By ALXnow.com

Published January 23, 2020 at 8:00AM

New Office to Residential Conversion — “A Mark Center office building in Alexandria is now set to be converted into apartments. D.C. real estate investment firm PRP LLC plans to convert 4900 Seminary Road, a 12-story, 209,000 square foot building, into residential… PRP wants to put 213 market-rate units into the building, which also has room for about 4,100 square feet of ground-floor retail.” [Washington Business Journal]

Mayor Reacts to Retrocession Suggestion — “With Democrats now in control of the Virginia Statehouse, Republican Delegate Dave LaRock says he is concerned that liberal values are taking over so he’s calling for Arlington and Alexandria to be split off and given to D.C… Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson calls LaRock’s statements a ‘comical clown move.'” [Fox 5, Twitter]