2014 Alexandria Beautification Awards
The Alexandria Beautification Commission announced the 2014 Alexandria Beautification Award winners in a ceremony held on Sept. 15, 2014 at the Little Theatre of Alexandria. The Commission, Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg and Councilman Paul Smedberg presented 25 awards.
Bio and Q&A with Gerry Connolly
Q: What do you think are your top three accomplishments in office? A: * The Silver Line. I wasn’t alone, but I'm very proud of my championship of the Silver Line and the fact that it's up and running and succeeding. It took 19 years to sort of get people to reimagine it and get it built. It was a long, tough struggle.
Pounding the Pavement
First annual 5K raises awareness of teen driving safety.
Robin Wallin of Alexandria has been training for this day at Cameron Run Regional Park for three months. She and sister-in-law Carolyn Wiser of Baltimore used a seat-to-5K app on their smartphones to prepare for the Oct. 4 race, encouraging each other through Facebook messaging.
Going, Going, Gone
Contents of Old Town Theater auctioned off.
The entertainment phrase “bringing down the house” held a different meaning this week as the contents of the Old Town Theater were dismantled and auctioned off Oct. 7 after the landmark venue dimmed its marquee lights for good earlier this summer.
La Zona Rosa
NVFAA benefit held at historic Athenaeum.
The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association held its second annual La Zona Rosa reception Oct. 5 at the historic Athenaeum in Old Town. “This is a way for us to thank our supporters and board members as well as to welcome our incoming board,” said NVFAA board chair Amy Heiden. “This is the second year for this fundraiser and a fun way for us to say ‘thank you’ to our members.”
Art on the Avenue
Record crowds attend Del Ray festival.
A record 55,000 people took to the streets of Del Ray Oct. 4 for the 19th annual Art on the Avenue, one of Alexandria’s premiere events and largest arts festivals in the mid-Atlantic region.
Bishop Ireton QB Dickinson Finds Success on the Move
Senior signal caller has Cardinals at 5-1 after transferring from El Paso.
Joe Dickinson has passed for 1,391 yards and 14 touchdowns in six games after transferring from Chapin High School in El Paso to Bishop Ireton in January.
Letter
Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.
Dear Chairman and Board Members: The Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations (the Federation) appreciates the many years of support that the Board of Supervisors (BOS) has provided to the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL). Recently, the FCPL introduced new policies that the Federation decided to examine.
Focus on Transportation
Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance presents regional priorities at 10th annual event.
“What You Need to Know about Transportation in Five Minutes or Less” was the working title of this year’s Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA) seminar and reception held on Sept. 30 at Capital One’s auditorium in McLean.
Column: Week Of, Weak On, Week Off
This column completes the three-week arc which describes what I have endured mostly successfully for approximately five years now: chemotherapy every three weeks – with one year off for good behavior (not really good behavior; the year off was to switch to a twice-daily pill, Tarceva, to be taken at home, since the previous treatment was no longer stemming the tide). It’s been my experience that these anti-cancer drugs don’t exactly work forever.
Alexandria to New Orleans: The Human Tragedy of the Interstate Slave Trade, Part II
Part II: Franklin and Armfield’s slave-trading “establishment” was located near the outskirts of what was then, in the 1830s, the town of Alexandria. The main building was three stories, handsomely painted, with green blinds.
‘Extraordinary Alexandria’
ACVA unveils latest marketing campaign.
The Alexandria Convention and Tourism Association unveiled the latest addition to its “Extraordinary Alexandria” tourism campaign during its annual meeting where officials also released the latest figures on visitor spending.
For Those Who Serve: Groundbreaking for Alexandria Memorial
Alexandria Police Foundation breaks ground on Fallen Officers Memorial.
Alexandria police officer Eugene Yoakum was 31 years old when he was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 27, 1964. On the 50th anniversary of his death, his daughter Sharon joined other family members of slain officers at Police Department headquarters for the groundbreaking of the Alexandria Fallen Officers Memorial.
Severance Sent To Arlington Jail
Lawhorne: Transfer avoids “appearance of a conflict.”
Following the recent decision by three Alexandria Circuit Court judges to recuse themselves from the murder case of Charles Severance, Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne has chosen to transfer the suspect to the custody of the Arlington Sheriff’s department on similar grounds.
Shift in Alexandria Job Market
Growth is in retail, leisure and hospitality.
The growth in low-wage jobs is greater than the decline in the number of federal government jobs in the area, according to the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership’s recently released mid-year 2014 State of the Market report.
Letter to the Editor: Preserve Old Town Theatre
Last week it was announced in the Washington Business Journal that "The life of the Old Town Theater as an entertainment venue may be coming to an end after a rocky few years." Will the property be turned into a retail location as suggested as a possibility in the article?
Letter to the Editor: Out-of-Place Structures
On Sept. 3, Al Cox (who is the Historic Preservation Manager of the Board of Architectural Review) gave a presentation on "Alexandria's Buildings of Genuine Architectural Merit." The impetus for this presentation was a response to a hypothetical question of “what constitutes good historic development at the Robinson Terminals?”
Letter to the Editor: Capitalism’s Advantage
It’s bad enough when the Federal government takes it upon itself the right to tell business owners what to pay entry level employees. Now we have evidence that one of our rulers, councilmember Justin Wilson, wants us to have fewer taxis.
Letter to the Editor: Independent Bike Count
Out of sheer curiosity I counted bicycles and observed pedestrians and cars at the intersection of Royal and Cameron on Thursday, Sept. 4 from 5-7 p.m. This day and time corresponds with those used by the city and its data collection volunteers from BPAC (Bicycle, Pedestrian Advisory Committee). I did this in order to provide a “blind” count of the flows, i.e. one uninfluenced by prior alerts.