All of Bishop Ireton High School skipped classes today for a good cause.
More than 700 students, teachers and administrators participated in a cleanup of 30 sites in and around Alexandria, including along the city’s waterfront, Holmes Run and Four Mile Run Park.
Sophomore Trevor Pickard spent four hours picking up trash along the Potomac River waterfront. He said he picked up a lot of plastic bottles, tennis balls, diapers, cigarette butts and a lot of disposable vaporizers.
“Obviously not going to school is nice, but it was good to help on our community and beautify these parks for the people in Alexandria,” Pickard said.
B.I.’s Head of School Kathleen McNutt said that the school’s theme this year has been about giving back, and that the cleanup will be repeated next year. The effort meant 25 buses full of students, as well as coordination with parks and churches in the city, Fairfax County and Arlington.
“We wanted to be able to go out into the community as an entire group,” MCNutt said. “We feel like we’ve accomplished that today.”
Senior Zoe Falcone said that the effort was a fun reminder to not litter.
“I think it’s important that everybody start thinking about that, because it’s like a communal area and a shared space,” she said.
Bishop Ireton’s cleanup included:
- Holmes Run
- Ben Brenman and Booth Parks
- The Old Town Waterfront (Windmill Hill Park, Point Lumley, The Marina, Oronoco Park)
- Fort Ward Park
- Four Mile Run Park
- Chinquapin Park
- Dora Kelly Nature Center
- Gil McCutcheon Park (Fairfax County)
- Franconia Recreation Center (Fairfax County)
- Rising Hope Mission Church
- St. Martin de Porres Senior Center
- Sunrise of Springfield (Fairfax County)
- Good Shepherd Parish (Fairfax County)
- Community Lodgings
- Alternative Paths Training School (Fairfax County)
- Arlington Cemetery Kitchen Gardens (Arlington County)
Incidentally, Alexandria’s Earth Day celebration is this Sunday.
The conversion of some King Street blocks to pedestrian zones has been a fairly popular move. Now, the city is merging those long-term planning efforts with waterfront flood mitigation, hopefully streamlining improvements to the 100 and unit blocks of King Street.
A report prepared for a Traffic and Parking Board meeting later today (Monday) said the city is looking at long-term plans for the pedestrian zones as well as incorporating the project into the broader waterfront flood mitigation plans.
“Staff have been working closely with the Department of Project Implementation and representatives from the community to advance the Lower King Street Long Term Closure Project,” the report said. “The long-term project seeks to create a more active and engaging pedestrian and user experience in the heart of Old Town Alexandria.”
The report said combining the projects should help streamline various design elements and run a little more efficiently.
“By combining the two projects into a single delivery, the City will ensure the design, stormwater, utility, infrastructure elements, and construction sequencing of the two projects are fully coordinated to maximize efficiency and reduce costs and risks to the City,” the report said.
Design for the Waterfront Flood Mitigation Project — now including the Lower King Street Long Term Closure Project —Â is scheduled for design in the summer and fall 2025, with construction to start in fall 2025.
A public presentation and open house on the projects is scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Charles Houston Rec Center (901 Wythe Street).
(Updated 11:15 a.m.) A new ‘windowfront exhibit’ about the Buried Ships of Robinson Landing is coming to Old Town early next month.
The exhibit features scale models of four 18th and 19th-century ships discovered during excavations of the Robinson Landing Site.
According to an event listing:
In 2018, archaeologists excavated the three historic vessels from the Robinson Landing Site, on the same block as the new exhibit. The scale models show what these ships may have looked like in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Archaeologists will join City officials to speak on the exhibit’s debut.
The exhibit is set to open on Saturday, April 6, at the corner of the Strand and Pioneer Mill Way. The ribbon-cutting will be that day at 1 p.m.
The models will be on display in Old Town. Three of the original ships have re-sunk in the pond at Ben Brenman Park as part of a preservation effort, while the third is still at Texas A&M undergoing conservation work.
Black History Month kicks off next week and events around Alexandria throughout February will explore, commemorate and celebrate Black history in the city.
One of the biggest new additions is the “African American Waterfront Heritage Trail” running along the waterfront.
The trail previously existed as a self-guided tour driven by a website, but next month, there will be a ribbon cutting for new signs marking the trail.
Eleven new signs have been added to the trail, detailing the city’s Black history across centuries.
The ribbon cutting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 10.
“The 11 signs and two orientation panels illuminate the history of the African American community in Alexandria over the span of several centuries,” a release said. “The event will begin at 11 a.m. at the new Fishtown sign on the river side of Founders Park (351 N. Union Street).”
A reception after the ribbon cutting will be held on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory.
The list of events celebrating Black History Month, put together by Visit Alexandria, is below:
After years of stalled planning, the Washington Business Journal first reported that Robinson Terminal North redevelopment could be revived.
The Journal reported that a new development concept plan has been filed with the city’s planning department. The plan will include multifamily residential, ground-floor retail and a restaurant, with mixed-use residential buildings straddling N. Union Street.
The Rooney Properties website said the goal is to complete the project by 2025.
Robinson Terminal North was previously used as a warehouse for the Washington Post until 2013, according to Alexandria Living Magazine, and the Washington Business Journal noted that development plans surfaced in 2015, 2017 and 2019 but never moved forward.
Robinson Terminal North was once the site of warehouses before being torn down to make way for RiverRenew work. The northern edge of the property is planned as a promenade with benches and space for programming.
The Journal noted that Robinson Terminal North has long been a thorn in the side of the city’s efforts to make a comprehensive, walkable waterfront.
Image via Google Maps
Patrick O’Brian enthusiasts rejoice: another Age of Sail replica ship is coming to Alexandria.
The schooner Pride of Baltimore II, a replica of the 1812 ship Pride of Baltimore, will be docking at Alexandria’s marina later this month.
The ship will be in Alexandria for a three-day visit from Friday, Oct. 20, to Sunday, Oct. 22. During that time, free deck tours will be available from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
“Tickets are not required for the free deck tours,” the release from the City of Alexandria said, “and will include a chance to talk with deck crew and a National Park Service (NPS) ranger to learn more about the War of 1812, Thomas Boyle, privateers, and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.”
The Pride of Baltimore II was “hoisted aloft and launched from her Inner Harbor birthplace on April 30, 1988,” the release said. Since then, the schooner has sailed 275,000 nautical miles and visited 200 ports in 40 countries, the release said.
Image via Pride of Baltimore II/Facebook
Alexandria’s waterfront turns 293 this year and, may we just say, it doesn’t look a day over 200.
A symposium called The Alexandria Forum is returning next month to look back those nearly 300 years of history at the edge of the Potomac River. This year’s theme is The Waterfront Revisited: Birth and Rebirth, 1730-2023.
While Alexandria’s coastline as it exists today wouldn’t be built until a few years later, tobacco warehouses built in 1730 near the river’s edge turned Alexandria into a flourishing port.
The city was officially founded as a city in 1749, two years before Georgetown, and in the 1780s, the city began a massive project to replace the cliffs along the water’s edge with several more city blocks, creating the coastline as it exists today.
The Alexandria Forum will dive into this history, with new information from excavations and more.
According to the release:
The Alexandria Forum is returning! On October 20th, the Office of Historic Alexandria will host this day-long conference, launching with the theme – The Waterfront Revisited: Birth and Rebirth, 1730-2023. The program will be held at the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum and explore the theme of revealing the history of the Alexandria Waterfront through new research lenses, technologies, excavations, and sources.
Presentations will weave together the many strands of historical evidence currently under examination, from deeds to store ledgers, from manifests to material culture, and provide new insights. The event’s keynote speaker is Dr. Abby Schreiber, sharing her recent research on a comprehensive documentary study of the waterfront. Event speakers also include Molly Kerr, Audrey Davis, African American Heritage Trail Committee Members with Committee Chair Dr. Krystyn Moon, Blake Wilson, Dr. Garrett Fesler, Dr. Ben Skolnik, and Dr. Tatiana Niculescu.
The symposium is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 20, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum (201 S Washington Street). Tickets are $60 per person, or $40 for Office of Historic Alexandria members, volunteers and students.
Changes are coming to Chart House, the popular restaurant with panoramic views of the Alexandria Waterfront.
The restaurant at 1 Cameron Street filed a special use permit request to modestly increase the footprint of the outdoor dining terrace and install a motorized retractable pergola.
Per the application, Chart House serves an average of 3,000 customers weekly, and the construction would increase the square footage of the property from 41,422 square feet to 43,213 square feet.
The application was received by the city on July 24 and the last day of public comments on the proposal was August 8. It will now go before the Planning Commission and then City Council for final approval.
The restaurant is owned by Texas-based Landry’s Inc., and there are 24 Chart House restaurants located along waterfronts across the country.
A new report on the city’s Floodplain Management Plan offers a look at what’s ahead for flood mitigation projects around the city.
Two items in the report highlight progress on flood mitigation along the waterfront. Two parts of the mitigation plan are re-grading sections of lower King Street and nearby streets to improve drainage and minimize flooding and the construction of an elevated walkway along the waterfront.
“The city is currently in procurement of a Progressive Design-Build contract and is scheduled to have a contract in place in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024,” the report said. “The city intends to make improvements to the waterfront area and protect to elevation 6.0’ (NAVD88) between Duke Street and Queen Street including lower King Street, Union Street and The Strand.”
The report says the 10-year budget for the project is $48.2 million, with a total of $108.6 million appropriated for the project.
For the elevated walkway, the report says the current schedule is to have a contract in place in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024.
The report also said excavation of sediment from the channel bed of Cameron Run is scheduled for Fiscal Year 2024.
The report said four additional projects are currently under contract and in the design stage:
- Mount Vernon Avenue cul de sac storm sewer improvements ($1.4 million) — flood mitigation for townhomes on Mount Vernon Avenue, including alley grading, drainage improvements and more. Construction is scheduled to start in February 2024 and be completed by November.
- Hume Avenue storm sewer bypass project ($2.5 million) — flood mitigation for homes on Hume Avenue. A storm pipe will be installed to bypass the existing storm pipe. Construction is scheduled to start in June 2024 and be completed by March 2025.
- Hooffs Run Timber Branch Bypass project ($60 million) — construction of a new storm sewer pipe system to transport stormwater from Timber Branch away from Hooff’s Run Culvert. Construction is scheduled to start in September 2026 and be completed by June 2028.
- E. Glebe, Commonwealth, Ashby storm sewer capacity project ($50 million) — a conveyance capacity, storage, and green infrastructure upgrade for the often-flooded intersection. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2026 and be completed by January 2028.
Thousands attended Alexandria’s birthday celebration on the waterfront on Saturday.
For a minute it seemed that rain on Saturday would result in a washout, like last year when the event was postponed. But skies cleared and grass dried enough for the event to continue as planned.
The annual event at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street) is always held the first Saturday after July 4, and this year featured performances by Three Man Soul Machine, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, a declaration from Town Crier Ben Fiore-Walker, a poem from Alexandria’s Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam and brief speeches by city leaders.
City leaders also handed out more than 3,000 cupcakes before the grand finale fireworks display with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra performing the 1812 Overture accompanied by howitzers from the 3rd US Infantry Regiment.
Happy 274th Birthday to the best City on the planet! pic.twitter.com/hAHScp8GRK
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) July 9, 2023
Happy 274th birthday to Alexandria and 247th birthday to the USA!
(Fireworks footage taken from a previous year). pic.twitter.com/TOlJCQK4nj
— Visit Alexandria VA (@AlexandriaVA) July 9, 2023
#DCBravest providing support for the city of Alexandria fireworks celebration. Fire boat #2 was on hand and ready for any activity. pic.twitter.com/0VBDtHxi6a
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) July 9, 2023
Fireworks, cannon fire from the Army's Old Guard, free cupcakes served by Alexandria City officials on the Potomac River. #betterThanDC #Alexandria #AlexandriaSymphonyOrchestra #celebration #fireworks pic.twitter.com/GZ5oXDoogI
— Elissa Hackerson (@yankee_girl) July 9, 2023
