In This Edition

Maintaining this partnership is key to keeping our City safe, and I look forward to seeing you at one of the many events scheduled all throughout the City. 

During this period, purchases of school supplies of $20 or less and clothing of $100 or less will be exempt from the Sales Tax. 

Review the full list of qualifying items before heading out to Alexandria retailers to make your purchases. 

Admission is free, and this is always a wonderful event for families. I'll see you there! 

As part of Metro's overall efforts to improve bus service, Metro is conducting a study on changes to these routes. 

They have collected a considerable amount of data on the existing service, and they are soliciting input from the community. 

Protecting the historic nature of Old Town is one of the more important obligations of the City Council. However, there is one aspect of our historic infrastructure that must be modernized. 

In 95% of our City, stormwater (rain) is collected and returned to rivers and streams with very little treatment. Separately, sanitary sewage is sent to the Alexandria Renew Enterprises wastewater treatment facility, where it is treated and later returned to waterways. 

However, in a 540 acre section of Old Town, a Combined Sewer System still collects both sanitary sewage and stormwater together and sends it to the wastewater treatment facility for treatment. During severe rain events, due to capacity and design issues, this system experiences a Combined Sewer Overflow condition--where a mixture of stormwater and sewage flows untreated into waterways. 

In addition to the impact that this has on the cleanliness of our rivers and streams, this type of overflow is strictly regulated by law. 

The City operates this Combined Sewer System under a permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ). In 2011 the City applied for a renewal of the permit and the VDEQ has now released a draft permit for comment by the community. 

As a father who has spent far too many hours attempting to install child safety seats in my vehicle, I am very sensitive to the difficulty in safely installing these seats.    

Starting today, our Sheriff Dana Lawhorne has stepped forward and will now begin offering these inspections by appointment for Alexandria residents. 

The Council worked with the Sheriff during this most recent budget process to identify a nominal amount of funds to cover the training and overtime associated with providing this service.

In addition to the scheduled appointments, the Sheriff will be organizing public events to perform these inspections in the community. 

Thanks to the Sheriff for offering to fill a need in our community and ensure the safety of our City's children. 

While the latest news is filled with stories of communities whose mismanagement and misfortune has lead to financial ruin, it's important to continually recognize that Alexandria has retained its AAA rating from Standard & Poor's and its Aaa rating from Moody's.

These ratings save our community millions of dollars every year, as we are able to finance new infrastructure investments (schools, transportation, recreation, and public safety) at the lowest cost available. 

In retaining our rating, Moody's cited the City's "healthy financial position supported by conservative budgeting and favorable debt profile." 

These ratings don't just happen. They are the consequence of thoughtful work and difficult decisions over decades by residents, City staff and City policymakers. 

The Council will continue our work this year to protect the fiscal health of our City long into the future. 

The Alexandria Redevelopment & Housing Authority (ARHA) is an independent entity, separate from the City that utilizes Federal funding from the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to provide housing to low-income residents of Alexandria. 

ARHA directly manages and oversees 1,079 units of affordable housing. In addition, ARHA manages the City's Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program--which utilizes Federal funding to provide assistance for another 1,906 low-income families to reside in privately owned housing units. 

At the Federal level and around the country we have seen dramatic changes in how public housing is managed and developed. The Federal Government has been a proactive participant in bringing about the redevelopment of public housing. This was demonstrated in Alexandria when the City utilized HOPE VI funding to redevelop 100-units of Public Housing into Chatham Square, a mixed-income development incorporating both market-rate and Public Housing. 

In 2013, the Federal government is forcing changes in public housing with its inaction. Today, HUD only funds 73% of every dollar required to operate Alexandria Public Housing units.  The balance of revenue that ARHA collects as rent is not sufficient for sustainable management of their properties, and  with the effects of sequestration, this is likely to get worse. 

With aging properties sitting on valuable land, ARHA must now utilize its land as the tool to preserve housing for low-income residents in our City.  

Over 30 years ago, the City Council adopted Resolution 830, which required the replacement of any public housing unit that was destroyed by redevelopment. In past redevelopment efforts, replacement units have been obtained and created throughout our City. 

In 2008, the City Council adopted the Braddock East Master Plan, which called for redevelopment of several aging public housing properties. By allowing additional density near existing transit it was designed to encourage private partnership in the redevelopment of this housing. 

Today, under this Plan, James Bland Homes are becoming Old Town Commons. With two phases already completed and occupied, and one phase nearing completion and nearly sold-out, this redevelopment activity has proven successful in providing a sustainable model for mixed-income housing in our City. 

With these experiences and lessons behind us, ARHA is now preparing to issue an RFP (Request for Proposals) this fall to solicit proposals from private developers for the redevelopment of 7 additional properties: Cameron Valley (built in 1985), Andrew Adkins (built in 1969), Samuel Madden (built in 1945), Ramsey Homes (built in 1942), Hopkins Tancil (built in 1945), Ladrey (built in 1968), and the ARHA Headquarters building on North Fairfax Street. 

Together with my colleague Councilman Smedberg, we have proposed a new look at the administration of this Fund. Starting this month, a study group will be looking at how the Fund is administered, how the Fund aligns with our Strategic Plan Goals, and what changes might make the Fund more effective in the future. 

In November this group will return with recommendations for consideration by the City Council.