It’s been a hot few days in Alexandria, and it doesn’t seem to be cooling down soon.
This weekend, the Portside Festival was canceled due to the extreme heat. The region hit 100 degree temperatures over the weekend.
poll
How many dogs should be allowed to live in Alexandria households?
Since 1995 it’s been illegal to own more than three dogs in Alexandria. The ordinance was passed with cat hoarding in mind, however, and the limit on cats as pets is remaining unchanged at four.
This Friday (May 17) is Bike to Work Day, an annual event that encourages locals to bike to the office.
The city and community organizations will operate pit stops around the city with giveaways, coffee and more.
A new advocacy group called the Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) is pushing for Alexandria to return to a wards/district system for City Council elections.
Currently, all members of Alexandria’s City Council are elected at-large. A ward or district system would, like the School Board, have City Council members elected from and represent certain neighborhoods.
The National Park Service tweeted out a bloom watch update: the cherry blossoms are at a phase called ‘peduncle elongation’ — roughly stage 4 of 6 for the blossoms — meaning peak bloom is just around the corner.
Cherry blossom season often evokes a mixed reaction in Alexandrians and others around the region.
With the advent of virtual learning in public schools during the Covid pandemic, it seemed like snow days would become a thing of the past.
In late 2021, Alexandria said remote learning would replace in-person classes during what, in the past, would have been a day away from school for children.
Royal Restaurant, now under new ownership, is the latest Alexandria restaurant to seek permission to swap out some of its parking space for more outdoor seating.
The restaurant is hoping to trade 10 parking spaces for 60 outdoor seats. Another 30 seats will be added to an alley on the west side of the building.
Halloween is right around the corner and there’s no locality in the region that goes as all out for the year’s spookiest holiday as Alexandria.
There are events throughout the weekend, including multiple costume contests, and the Del Ray Halloween Parade on Sunday — noted as one of the best Halloween parades in the country.
Hilco Redevelopment Partners said a new mixed-use development at the former GenOn Power Plant site takes inspiration from the Renaissance Revival-style Flatiron building in New York. Reception online was mixed.
The Flatiron, built at the start of the 20th century, is an iconic design at 175 Fifth Avenue. While the proposed developments at Block B have a similarly tall and narrow shape, the Alexandria building still has strong elements of the fast-casual architecture style dominating recent development around the region.
Despite some pushback from city leaders this weekend, the name WestEnd is likely here to say for the redevelopment at the former Landmark Mall site.
City Council members said the name is a baffling choice given that the project is located within the larger West End neighborhood.
The Zoning for Housing/Housing for All proposals were finally unveiled last night and opinions have been decidedly mixed.
The plan focuses on incremental changes in zoning policy that weren’t quite as ambitious as some hoped and others feared.