Port City Dispatches: July 21-27

Here are some important, interesting and fun stories written this week concerning Alexandria and its people.

From the City of Alexandria Patch sites:

Alexandria police have identified the victim of Wednesday evening’s shooting on N. Armistead Street as Bradley Bostick.

The manner of his death has been ruled a homicide following the results of an autopsy performed Thursday morning by the Northern Virginia Medical Examiner.

Police responded to a report of shots fired around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. Upon their arrival at the scene, Bostick was located with an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Bostick’s death marks the fifth homicide in Alexandria in 2013.

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said he was working out at the YMCA on Monroe Avenue one morning shortly after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin when he was approach by a friend.

The friend wanted to discuss the shooting death of the Florida teen, Zimmerman’s trial and the racial tensions spurred by the case but said they just didn’t know how.

That prevailing perplexity was enough for the city’s first black mayor to organize a forum with the local NAACP chapter and the Alexandria’s Human Rights Commission to discuss the case.

H&M threw a bit of a block party Thursday when it opened the doors on its new store in the 600 block of King Street at high noon.

As a DJ spun tunes, hundreds sat in the shade along King and Washington streets for a chance at gifts and prizes.

Norge Coin-Operated Laundry and Dry Cleaning halted its self-serve laundry operations on Monday as it prepares to close to make way for a new Walgreens in the 1500 block of Mount Vernon Avenue.

Del Ray Audi Dealership Departing Soon — By Drew Hansen, Del Ray Patch

Audi of Alexandria is preparing to move to a new facility on Columbia Pike in Arlington County in late August or early September, but the Mount Vernon Avenue site will likely remain a car dealership.

Rosenthal Automotive’s lease on the property located at 1704 Mount Vernon Ave. has somewhere around five to 10 years remaining, according to Alexandria Economic Development Partnership Vice President Stephanie Landrum.

A new dealership is likely, she said.

Port City Brewing Company’s Optimal Wit is now available at Nationals Park.

The Alexandria brewery is one of four local beer producers that made their way into the baseball stadium over the weekend for the first time, according to DCist.

Local breweries DC Brau and 3 Stars from the District and Mad Fox Brewing Company from Falls Church joined Port City on draught at a new kiosk behind Section 139.

From elsewhere:

Jefferson-Houston Parents Seek Grant Dollars — By Julia Brouillette, Alexandria Times

Jefferson-Houston’s Parent Teacher Association is hoping to secure a $10,000 grant from a local nonprofit for afterschool activities and a planned summer learning program called All About Alexandria.

Helen Morris, who serves as treasurer for the association, submitted an application to ACT for Alexandria, outlining Jefferson-Houston students’ need for cultural enrichment.

“Almost 75 percent of the 360 students at [Jefferson-Houston] live in poverty,” she wrote. “In their world, travel, art or music lessons and academic enrichment outside school — opportunities middle-class families take for granted — are simply out of reach.”

Hunting Point Residents See Few Signs of Progress — By Julia Brouillette, Alexandria Times

As Hunting Point residents grapple with looming rent hikes and unexpected utility costs, City Hall struggles with mending the rocky relationship between tenants and their new landlord, Laramar Group.

Residents of the shoreline complex in south Old Town turned to city staff last month for help pressuring Laramar into delaying rent and utility fee increases until necessary repairs were completed. Many tenants worried about the broken heating system, in particular, which may not be up and running before winter.

Puppets for Puppies — By Jeanne Theismann, Alexandria Gazette Packet

With an abundant use of profanity and episodes of "full puppet nudity," the Tony Award-winning musical “Avenue Q” is not the usual fare from The Little Theatre of Alexandria. But when the storied theater company debuts the Sesame Street-style show July 27, each performance will serve as a fundraiser for several local animal charities.

“Cast member Charlene Sloan is a close friend of Bernadette Peters, who founded the organization Broadway Barks,” said “Avenue Q” producer Margaret Evens-Joyce. “Broadway Barks helps animals in need of assistance so Charlene worked with Bernadette to bring that idea to LTA.”

T.C. Williams Grads Hit the Road for First Tour Out of the D.C. Area — By Amber Healy, Alexandria Gazette Packet

A shared appreciation for the blues has morphed into an increasingly successful reggae band with enough popularity to literally take their show on the road.

FeelFree, a group of five 20-something men from Alexandria, mostly T.C. Williams graduates, last week kicked off their first East Coast tour, which will take them from this area up to New York City and down to North Carolina, with a stop in Charlottesville along the way.

"We're leaving right after every show," said Evan Hulehan, who sings and plays guitar and keyboard for the band. "We have a U-Haul and Jeep" to move them from city to city.

Luckily, the band laughs, they have friends along the way who will let them stop in and take showers and rest for a few minutes between shows.

Editorial: Toward a Great Four Mile Run — AlexandriaNews.Org

A little noticed but very important event took place this week. Pulte Homes, the developer at Potomac Yard, began the demolition of one of the old railway bridges over Four Mile Run.

When we think of Potomac Yard we tend to think of development. The project, however, is far more than constructing dwellings and Alexandria will be far better off for the community planning that has been done.