What a hot week in Alexandria.
With temperatures hovering in the mid-90s, the week started with a power outage at a 17-story apartment building in Landmark area. The outage lasted five days and residents had to find accommodations until the building reopened Friday afternoon.
After an underground electrical malfunction caused an early morning power outage on Monday, July 12, the management of the 17-story Key Towers Apartments says the building is likely to reopen at the earliest on Friday, July 17.
Until then, residents in the 140-unit Landmark area building have to find alternate accommodations, and its owner is advising residents to keep their receipts.
It’s not Pacific Northwest-bad, but the National Weather Service is warning that that Alexandria could reach a heat index of 105 or higher over the next few days.
The NWS has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the next few days, with high temperatures estimated for Wednesday afternoon.
Alexandria City Public Schools will continue providing free meals this summer.
There will only be one holiday over the summer break — on July 5. Curbside breakfast and lunch deliveries and pop-up locations will be closed that day. The service will reopen on July 6 and all distribution sites will resume on July 7.
As temperatures start to go up, Alexandria’s annual program aimed at helping residents without home cooling make it through the summer is coming back.
The Summer Cooling program allows residents to beat the heat at several recreation centers and libraries around the city. The program came in handy for residents last summer during a heat wave. Like last year, however, there are some capacity restrictions due to COVID-19.
A new city announcement today is already making waves: outdoor pools will open next month.
According to the city website, the city’s outdoor pools will reopen on Saturday, June 26, through Labor Day, September 6.
Want your kids to attend in-person classes school this summer or fall? Today is the deadline for families to tell Alexandria City Public Schools whether they want their kids to participate in either in-person or virtual instruction.
While the Learning Choice Form informs ACPS on a family’s preferences, the school system is filtering students allowed for in-person instruction with a prioritization matrix.
(Update at 10:30 a.m. Blue and White Carryout is still open. The tweet from a local news outlet was incorrect.)
City Council Rescinds Vote on Braddock West Development — “The matter will be taken up again for public hearing and vote on May 15, but a pending lawsuit by an Alexandria resident may delay a final decision.” [Alexandria Living]
The City of Alexandria has released more information on upcoming vaccination stages as the state begins to move forwards the phase 1c.
According to the City of Alexandria, Virginia could start to move toward Phase 1c in the next few weeks as vaccine supply starts to increase. The move towards 1c is complicated by the fact that there are still a several thousand Alexandrians in Phase 1b who haven’t been vaccinated, including teachers who are now expected to return to school and restaurant workers the city recently moved into Phase 1b.
Like thousands of Alexandria City Public School Students, Robasson, who wants to be a doctor or lawyer when she grows up, has had to adapt. She’s learning in a house with her parents and Maxwell, her six-year-old brother. And although the school year officially ended in June, she is participating in summer school.
“Summer school is going well,” Robasson said. “We are relearning in summer school the things that we already have, and that’s because we don’t really have time to waste, and we need to have that fresh in our minds so that when we do get back to school we can get back to the things we need to.”
The city is rationing out spots in summer camp programs reopening soon, but even some in the city’s leadership are unclear on why space will be so limited while the city has a preponderance of unused space and resources.
“Summer camp programs are starting,” said Jim Spengler, director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities in a recent joint meeting between the City Council and the School Board. “They are aimed at essential workers and will expand beyond essential workers based on enrollment.”
