An Alexandria City Council member has a way to convince downstate lawmakers of the importance of funding Northern Virginia transit.
Councilman Canek Aguirre wants to take them for a ride.
Sarah Bagley
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Alexandria has operated its jail for nearly 200 years, and now the city is asking residents whether it should stay in operation.
The city’s survey on whether to continue operating the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center or consider other options is available online until Nov. 20. Meanwhile, city staff have spent months working on the $200,000 jail study, with a goal of presenting City Council a report by the end of the year.
The Alexandria City Council will start its annual budget deliberations with a retreat in the West End on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Council will meet with city departments and get a revenue forecast, expenditure overview and other preliminary budget gap information. Alexandria City Public Schools, for instance, takes up nearly 30% of the city’s budget and faces a $17 million budget gap and is working toward a collective bargaining agreement the School Board wants approved before the next fiscal year starts on July 1, 2027.
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Even as Alexandria’s office vacancies improve, city officials learned about a missed opportunity with Potomac Yard’s 0% vacancy rate.
During City Council’s Tuesday (Oct. 13) legislative meeting, Alexandria Economic Development Partnership staff briefed officials on economic progress since City Council in January approved ALX Forward, a framework for the city’s economic future.
Despite being recognized by the City Council and the city manager on Tuesday night, Renee Gordon didn’t seem surprised.
It’s not easy to rattle the city’s director of Emergency and Customer Communications. After 11 years leading the city’s communications center that handles 911, 311, emergency communications and non-emergency communications in the city, Gordon is retiring at the beginning of November.
A key Alexandria leader wants the planned Route 7 bus rapid transit (BRT) network to serve as a statewide transportation blueprint.
Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley said the Tysons to Alexandria BRT initiative represents a “landmark project” others will be able to learn from.
Alexandria’s City Council, on Saturday (Sept. 19), deferred a plan to convert a vacant lot and a one-story barbershop in the Parker-Gray Historic District into five four-story townhomes.
If approved, the plan would convert 724, 726 and 728 N. Patrick Street into five four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom homes with one-car garages and roof decks. City Council decided to defer the item to its public hearing on Oct. 17, during which time the city will talk with the property owner about keeping neighborhood-serving commercial businesses on the site.
As the state studies a potential consolidation of several Northern Virginia bus systems, year-over-year data showed Alexandria’s DASH continues to see ridership growth.
The data presented to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission on Sept. 3 focused on transit providers in Northern Virginia — Arlington Transit, City of Fairfax CUE, Alexandria DASH, Fairfax Connector, Loudoun County Transit, Metro and Virginia Railway Express.
Alexandria City Council voted yesterday (Wednesday) to deny an extension of Virginia Paving Company’s operations in the West End.
The asphalt production plant, which has been at an 11-acre site at 5601 Courtney Avenue since 1960, had been given Jan. 1, 2027 as a date to clear out operations. The special use permit extension would have allowed it to continue to Jan. 1, 2032.
A CSX train commemorating America’s 250th birthday traveled through Alexandria to Washington, D.C. today (June 30).
The train features two America 250 locomotives, two heritage units in original 1827 Baltimore & Ohio colors, and 10 historic executive business cars used for presidential movements, according to CSX. It left Alexandria’s Union Station shortly after 11 a.m., crossing the CSX Long Bridge over the Potomac River and arriving at Union Station in D.C.
In recognition of Pride Month, Alexandria leaders joined hundreds of visitors in celebrating the city’s annual LGBTQIA+ Pride Fair on Saturday (June 27).
With City Hall in Old Town under renovation, this was the first time that the Pride fair was held at John Carlyle Square (300 John Carlyle Street). Dozens of vendors lined the park for the event, which was hosted by the city, the Del Ray Community Partnership, Inova Pride Clinic, Kindred Tree Healing Center and VEG ER for Pets.