It has been years since the City Council has been giddy during a meeting discussing its state legislative package.
For the first time in decades, there is a Democratic majority in the Virginia legislature, which is a boon to the city’s all-Democrat council.
Wilson Skeptical of ‘National Landing’ Name — “For Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson, the term National Landing was always meant to help streamline the Amazon bid. He joked that he was a resister to the name, adding he still used Potomac Yard because that’s how his constituents know the area. ‘If we talk 10 years from now, will people be calling it National Landing? I don’t know. I doubt it,’ Wilson said.” [Washington Business Journal]
VT Grad Students Helping Plan Alexandria Campus — “Fresh off of four years in Blacksburg earning a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at Virginia Tech, Logan Eisenbeiser moved to Northern Virginia last year to pursue his master of computer engineering at the university’s Falls Church campus. Little did he know that he would be helping to set the stage for future Hokies who also will study in Northern Virginia at Virginia Tech’s future Innovation Campus.” [Virginia Tech]
The City of Alexandria is inviting companies to bid for the construction of a municipal fiber network, putting the city one step closer to breaking the current monopolies on television and telephone services in Alexandria.
It’s an early Christmas for Alexandria leadership, with Democrats taking control of the Virginia legislature opening the door for efforts to assert local control of several key policy questions.
Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, which means that localities like Alexandria can only exercise powers expressly granted by the state. In practice, Mayor Justin Wilson said this leaves localities forced to seek approval from the state for basic city policy questions, particularly on fiscal issues. Under a Republican majority, Alexandria struggled to have many of its legislative priorities addressed.
A new noise ordinance could impose Old Town’s decibel limits citywide, but one local restaurant isn’t taking the news lying down.
Lost Dog Cafe, a popular restaurant at 808 N. Henry Street near the Braddock Metro station and part of a regional franchise, expressed frustration at the proposed limits on Twitter.
Voter Registration Deadline Today — “FYI: The deadline to register to vote in Virginia’s Nov 5 General Election is Oct 15.” [Twitter, City of Alexandria]
Alexandria’s Top Nats Fan Weighs In — Mayor Justin Wilson tweeted during last night’s Nationals win to pull to 3-0 in the NLDS series with the Cardinals: “This is exhilarating and so foreign to me… 27 more outs. #nats” [Twitter]
ALXnow Launches Today — This is the first post on the first day of ALXnow. Our goal is to bring Alexandria timely, relevant and useful local news coverage that uncovers unreported stories and drives community conversations. We hope you like it.
About the Morning Notes — Morning Notes posts like this one will be published on most weekday mornings and will highlight notable social media posts, press releases and the reporting of other news outlets. Most posts will be shorter than this one — we’re catching up! Each Morning Notes post will also feature a photo from around town, often from our staff photographer, Jay Westcott. You can submit photos for possible publication too: email us at [email protected] or tag us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
