Alexandria: Call a Taxi for the Dog
VIP Pet offers grooming, spa services and a dog taxi. Guzal Arslanova, owner of the pet salon, said, "Some people are so busy and they don't want to deal with traffic. So our dog taxi delivers our clients to doggy school at Olde Towne School for Dogs, to the vet or doggie day care. We have doggie seat belts for very little tiny dogs to big ones. We get a lot of people staring at the van."
Alexandria: Jinks Presents Budget Plan
2017 proposed budget focuses on funding schools, but sets aside pre-k programs.
With Fairfax County looking at raising its real estate tax rate by 3 cents and Arlington County lowering it by a half cent, the main theme of City Manager Mark Jinks’ FY 2017 budget was surviving somewhere in the middle while providing funding to enhance schools, the fire department, and parking.
Editorial: Bad Bills
General Assembly has potential to do lots of damage in a short period.
From pressing for use of a barbaric form of execution, the electric chair, to codifying discrimination, to stripping localities of the major tool for ensuring infrastructure is in place for new development, to hiding more and more critical public information from the public, the Virginia General Assembly is poised to do harm to the Commonwealth.
Alexandria: TC Honors Its Titans
Hall of Fame inductees include serviceman killed in Iraq and “Remember the Titans” coach Herman Boone.
For one of T.C. Williams High School’s biggest celebrities, Coach Herman Boone made a quiet entrance to the Alexandria City Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony. He worked his way apart from the crowd, finding and greeting some of the men he used to coach in football. Boone was among the athletes inducted and coaches honorarily inducted into the ACPS Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Feb. 12.
Alexandria: And Now for Something Different–Consensus
Council and School Board agree on capacity priority.
Here’s how budget sessions go: the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) puts together a list of funding requests. The city puts its budget together and tells the school system to get its numbers lower. There’s some haggling over prices and priorities, with the city eventually transferring a little more money into the schools and the schools announcing cuts to various programs or plans to reach the city’s funding requirements.
Alexandria: Residents Displaced by Church Expansion Assured Housing
The Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley presents affordable housing relocation plan.
“One of our missions is to sustain affordable housing,” said the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley at a meeting with the local residents on Feb. 11.”This affects people and families. It’s not something we take lightly.”
Alexandria: Scholarship Honors Peter Williams
Application deadline Feb. 28.
Applications for the Peter Williams Memorial Scholarship are being accepted through Feb. 28.
Alexandria: Presenting Move2Learn Grants
RunningBrooke awards $70,000 to local nonprofits.
Brooke Curran, founder of the RunningBrooke fund, presented $70,000 to 12 local nonprofits Feb. 10 as part of the 2016 Move2Learn grants awards.
Alexandria Brief: Absentee Voting for Primary Open
Absentee voting for Virginia’s March 1 Democratic and Republican Presidential Primary is underway.
Alexandria: Making of a Megachurch
Alfred Street Baptist Church prepares for 181,151-square-foot expansion.
On Sundays, Alfred Street Baptist Church, one of the city’s oldest black churches, is one of the most popular spots in Alexandria’s Historic District. According to Deacon James Garrett, the church has added more than 3,000 new members over the last eight years. If all goes according to plan, it’s going to get a little more spacious inside Alexandria’s historic Alfred Street Baptist Church, but some residents are concerned it comes at the cost of crowding their neighbors.
Alexandria: War of Passive Aggression
South rises again in Alexandria to fight renaming streets and moving memorial.
Speakers at a city meeting compared the potential plans to de-Confederate Alexandria to everything from the backlash against soldiers returning home to Vietnam to ISIS and the Taliban. At the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Confederate Memorials and Street Names, a public comment section sparked tensions and highlighted a deep divide in how Alexandrians still view a war over 150 years ended.
Alexandria: Rotary Club Accepting Grant Applications
Deadline is Feb. 26.
The Rotary Club of Alexandria is accepting applications for its annual Grants Program which provides financial support to nonprofit organizations that advance literacy for children and adults or improves the lives of children, youth, seniors and others with special needs in the Alexandria community.
‘Mercy Street’ Shines Light on Alexandria
PBS series draws attention to Alexandria’s landmarks.
The Office of Historic Alexandria has joined Extraordinary Alexandria to celebrate the spotlight on its heritage and present new visitor experiences for fans of the PBS miniseries, “Mercy Street.”
Alexandria: City Health Department Offers Guidance on Zika Virus
Case of Zika virus in Virginia was imported from outside the U.S.
As of Feb. 8, there is one known case of Zika virus in Virginia, according to Alexandria Health Department Director Stephen Haering.
Alexandria: Stowe Honored as Officer of the Year
American Legion presents inaugural award.
Alexandria Police officer Carl Stowe Jr. was presented with the 2015 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award Jan. 13 by American Legion Post 24 in Old Town.