Attention Del Ray dog owners: The Eugene Simpson Park will reopen to the public in the beginning of next year at the end of more than a year of redevelopment.
The formerly dusty, not-grassy park at 521 E. Monroe Avenue will be closed for the last three months of the year to allow for a “sod establishment period,” according to the city.
As the new Patrick Henry Recreation Center (4653 Taney Avenue) wraps up some of the final improvements, the city is putting together a new advisory council to shape what’s next for the rec center.
Recreation Parks and Cultural Activities (RPCA) is hosting a meeting early next month to determine interest in a new Council to shape the future of the Patrick Henry Rec Center.
Those hoping to spend an afternoon at one of Alexandria’s recreation centers next week might be disappointed: centers around town are shutting down for an end-of-summer clean.
The annual cleaning comes at the end of the summer camp programs to prepare the facilities for fall.
If you’re looking to escape the heat in one of Alexandria’s public pools, time is running out.
Starting in two weeks, Alexandria’s pools will start to close. The first to go is Memorial Pool at 901 Wythe Street, which is open through Sunday, Aug. 20.
Eugene Simpson Stadium Park is going from natural turf to artificial turf, and feelings in the community seem decidedly mixed.
At a meeting this past Saturday, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of a new plan that will replace the field with synthetic turf. Sentiment in the public hearing was mixed, with some concerned about issues like creating a heat island and others saying the synthetic turf will make the fields more usable.
Eugene Simpson Park is getting a set of synthetic turf fields as part of a broader overhaul with city leaders saying the added usability outweighs the detriments of the artificial grass field.
At a meeting this past Saturday, the City Council unanimously voted in favor of a large-scale renovation (item 20) to eugene Simpson Stadium Park (426 East Monroe Avenue).
Get your lawn chairs and picnic blankets ready for fireworks, because Alexandria’s 274th birthday celebration is happening in Old Town on Saturday, July 8.
The event at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street) draws thousands of people every year. It’s always held the first Saturday after July 4, and features performances from the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, a declaration from Town Crier Ben Fiore-Walker, a poem from Alexandria’s Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam and brief speeches by city leaders.
The Alexandria City Council on Tuesday will consider naming a one-acre park in Old Town after a local champion of parks, Judy Guse-Noritake.
The open space, a few blocks from the Braddock Road Metro station at 600 N. Henry Street, is currently named Braddock Interim Park. After the city acquired the land in 2010, it developed the property as part of the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan with gathering areas, a ping pong table, a bocce ball court, horseshoe pits and seating.
The city is a victim of its own bureaucracy when it comes to parks, but a new zoning change (docket item 8) essentially lets the city get out of its own way to make park improvements.
A staff report said that the city is currently hamstrung by requirements that virtually any type of improvement or change at a park must go through the city’s special use permits (SUP), a lengthy process that involves public and city leadership hearings and review.
Five years after extensive flooding severely damaged parts of the Holmes Run Trail, a staff report to the City Council this week indicated that repairs could take even longer than expected.
Parts of the trail have been inaccessible since the flooding in 2018. Earlier reports estimated the trail would be repaired by this spring, then by late fiscal year 2024, but the newest Capital Projects Status Report (item 10) indicated a new estimated substantial completion as the second quarter of fiscal year 2025.
A set of bleachers built for the 2023 George Washington Birthday Parade earlier this year could end up at an Alexandria athletic field.
At a City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, the city is scheduled to accept the donation of the bleachers from the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association.
