(Updated at 9 p.m.) Virginia’s House of Delegates voted to pass the arena bill 59-40, sending the proposal to an uncertain future in the Senate.
Earlier this week, the Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate voted not to table the bill on the arena’s stadium authority for a hearing.
(Updated at 12:05 p.m.) The Virginia House of Delegates on Friday printed an updated version of the bill establishing the Virginia Stadium Authority, which would own and finance construction of the $2 billion Potomac Yard arena and entertainment district.
While the Senate version of the bill is still in the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the House version stipulates that a 15-member Virginia Stadium Authority board would be made up of:
Alexandria City Council members are crying foul over the proposed makeup of the Virginia Stadium Authority, which would finance construction of the $2 billion Potomac Yard arena and entertainment district.
Both the proposed Virginia House and Senate bills establishing the authority stipulate that the nine-member Virginia Stadium Authority board would be comprised of six members appointed by the governor and three from Alexandria.
Bills have been introduced in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly for a crucial piece of the Potomac Yard arena plans.
The arena requires a state-created Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority to finance the arena’s construction and nearby buildings.
Alexandria is urging the state to fund an e-bike rebate program.
The Virginia Mercury first reported that a city report looked into using grant funding and developer contributions to pay into an e-bike rebate program as early as this coming summer.
Alexandria State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-39) will reintroduce a bill defeated last year to create a marketplace for legal sales and purchasing of cannabis.
Ebbin hopes the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature will approve his bill to create a regulatory and licensing structure for the market, and “wholesale of marijuana and marijuana products to be administered by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.” The legislation was killed in committee by the House of Delegates last year.
(Updated at 1 p.m.) Alexandria won’t meet its state-mandated July 2025 deadline to complete its massive RiverRenew Tunnel Program, and two local members of the Virginia General Assembly will introduce bills this month extending the deadline by a year.
Virginia Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30) and Delegate David Bulova (D-11) are planning to introduce bills extending AlexRenew’s deadline to July 2026.
Before heading back down to Richmond in January, Alexandria’s state-level elected officials are hosting a townhall to hear from locals.
State Sen. Adam Ebbin, Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Del. Charniele Herring and Del. Alfonso Lopez are hosting a pre-legislative town hall on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 6:30 p.m. in Alexandria City Hall.
(Updated 9:55 p.m.) Bailing Metro out of its $750 million budget shortfall is going to sting the budgets of localities next year, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) expects to release a plan addressing it next month.
COG Director Clark Mercer said that the organization’s Chief Administrative Officers (CAO) Committee work group on Metro’s cost structure will release a report next month outlining three options for Metro to consider. One of those options includes a one-time option to use Metro’s preventative maintenance fund against the balance for the next year or two, potentially cutting the shortfall by hundreds of millions of dollars.
About 30% of Alexandria voters are expected to turn out at the polls on election day today, Nov. 7.
As of 10 a.m. — four hours after polls opened — 21,661 voters cast their ballots, which is about 23% of the city’s 96,232 active registered voters. A vast majority of those ballots, 13,927 votes (64%), are from absentee voters. Also as of 10 a.m., 7,734 voters cast their ballots in person, according to the city’s Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, which brings to an end an entire season of voting that kicked off in September.
Alexandrians voting on Tuesday will face few decisions tomorrow, as the only contests on the ballot are for the 39th District of the Virginia State Senate and three House of Delegates districts.
