Putting aside some of the drama of his visit, Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke in Alexandria last week about a topic that even some local Democrats have expressed support for: eliminating the grocery tax.
Virginia has a 2.5% grocery tax that helps to fund public schools and transportation. One percent of that goes to local governments, while the rest goes to the state. This has created a sort of three-faction divide on the tax that doesn’t break evenly along party lines.
Should Alexandrians have the right to use gas-powered leafblowers to clear away their yards or are they a noisy nuisance that should be blown away?
Well, right now the city can’t ban them even if they wanted to, but the city’s legislative package includes a request for localities to get permission to prohibit the use of gas-powered leafblowers as both an environmental hazard and a nuisance for neighbors.
Alexandria has been bleeding hotels and local economic and tourism experts said if Alexandria wants to fully capitalize on a post-COVID tourism boom, it needs to pitch in on a new hotel.
At a meeting last week, the City Council expressed cautious enthusiasm about a proposal that Alexandria put a little of its tax revenue from the hotel back into the developer’s coffers. The proposal involves offering incentives to help finance the development of a luxury hotel at 699 Prince Street.
The twice-annual Alexandria Restaurant Week starts next Friday with some new options on the list of restaurants.
Restaurant week’s schtick is that each of the restaurants offers $35 per-person meals at various restaurants around the city, which is still a bit much for the $10-$20 restaurant-goers among us, but is discount at many of the restaurants in question.
It was the best of times and the worst of times for many Alexandrians this week.
Monday’s snowstorm shut down many services around the area — delaying trash pickup, canceling bus service, and more — but also offered some winter fun around Alexandria.
With the Omicron variant situation sending Alexandria’s COVID numbers skyrocketing, several New Year’s events like First Night are being canceled.
A majority of poll respondents last week said their holiday travel plans weren’t being affected by COVID-19 and they still planned to travel.
Has the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant affected your holiday plans?
The Omicron variant accounts for 73% of new coronavirus infections, federal officials said last week. In Alexandria, the city saw roughly 800 new reported cases within a week, though some of that comes from record-high levels of COVID testing ahead of the holidays.
Thanksgiving is scheduled for later this week, so do you have any travel plans for this upcoming week?
Last year, during some of the peak COVID-19 numbers, a majority of poll respondents said they weren’t planning to travel for the holidays. Last year, the vaccines had not been approved yet and daily cases were trending upwards. The latter is true again this year, but it’s generally much safer to be around family provided everyone takes some precautions.
Electric buses have had a big boost this past month in Alexandria, with DASH laying out future plans for its all-electric fleet and Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) welcomed five new electric buses to the school’s fleet.
But electric buses have also faced some technological hurdles as well. DASH leadership noted that the buses struggle with hills and highways, and they also lack some of the heating of traditional diesel buses where the heat is supplied by the output from the engine.
The city is moving forward with a pilot program that could — deliberately — make traffic slower on residential streets near Duke Street to push more drivers onto the main arterial roads.
Phase 1 of the new program, scheduled to start in January and run through March, would change signal timing along Duke Street and nearby roads, punishing drivers using residential streets to get to Telegraph Road and I-395 beyond that with longer wait times. Phase 2, which would start next fall, would prohibit access to Telegraph Road from West Taylor Run Parkway.
Months after the majority of Alexandria residents were fully vaccinated, coronavirus precautions now turn toward booster shots aimed at keeping those vaccinations effective.
A Pfizer vaccine booster has already been approved and yesterday a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel authorized booster shots for Moderna’s vaccine.
