Wednesday, May 15, 2013
City Council has many questions and little recourse when it comes to railroad company's request to expand operations.
Alexandria City Council members lamented Norfolk Southern's request to double the number of rail cars offloaded per day at its ethanol transloading facility in the West End at Tuesday night’s meeting at City Hall. Earlier this year, Norfolk Southern filed for a permit with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to increase offloading from the current 14 rail cars to 30 cars per day. Increased emissions under the plan mean Norfolk Southern needs an air quality permit to expand the scale of operations at the facility at 1000 S. Van Dorn St. Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday expressing its opposition to the issuance of a permit because of “increased air emissions” and requesting an informational meeting and separate …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Alexandria facility has had spills in the past.
City Manager Rashad Young is criticizing a request from Norfolk Southern for a permit to increase the number of rail cars containing ethanol that can be offloaded at its Alexandria facility. In a letter to the director of the Northern Regional Office, Thomas Faha, Young said the city has “longstanding serious concerns about the operations at this facility. This proposed expansion would undoubtedly increase the risks from the facility and raise the concerns from the community.” Alexandria City Council and community leaders received the request Monday afternoon from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Norfolk Southern wants to increase the offloading rail cars from the current 14 cars to 30 cars per day, according to a city …
Monday, May 6, 2013
City Council unanimously adopts $624.8 million operating budget for fiscal year 2014.
Alexandria City Council unanimously adopted Monday evening a $624.8 million operating fund budget for fiscal year 2014 and an increase of $314 to the average residential real estate tax bill. The city’s real estate tax rate is increasing 4 cents to $1.038 per $100 of valuation and the vehicle personal property tax is increasing to $5 per $100 of valuation. While councilmembers noted the tax rate increase is substantial—it is the maximum increase they voted to advertise in March—Mayor Bill Euille noted Alexandria has the second-lowest tax rate in Northern Virginia behind Arlington County. • See: Alexandria Council Advertises 4 Cent Increase to Real Estate Property Tax Rate Increasing the tax rate by 4 cents was "nothing anyone on this dais …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
If adopted at the maximum rate, the real estate property tax would result in the average Alexandria residential tax bill increasing up to $314.
Alexandria City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to advertise the maximum residential and commercial property tax rate at $1.038 per $100 of valuation for fiscal year 2014, an increase of 4 cents from the prior year but down from an initial recommendation of a 5.5-cent hike. Council can settle on any rate at or below $1.038 as it works through the budgeting process, which is scheduled to end with adoption on May 6. The tax rate on motor vehicle property is proposed to increase from $4.75 to $5 per $100 of assessed value. The rate on business equipment and other types of vehicles is not proposed to change. In its budget guidance for City Manager Rashad Young, council asked for an optional 3-cent hike to offset cash capital investments on …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The city's general manager said he considered a projected $30.5 million budget shortfall in this fiscal year 2014 plan.
Alexandria’s city manager Tuesday proposed a $626.6 million operating budget for fiscal year 2014. The proposal includes a 3 cent real estate property tax increase to $1.053 per $100 of assessed value for cash capital investments, and a motor vehicle tax rate of $5 per $100 of assessed value—an increase of 25 cents. The increases would add a combined $21.1 million in revenue. These tax rate hikes would be used to pay for an increase in the Alexandria City Public Schools operating budget, capital investments and transit expansion and improvement programs, City Manager Rashad Young said in a Tuesday afternoon media briefing at City Hall. Within the General Fund Operating Budget, Alexandria City Public Schools would see an increase of 3 …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Alexandrian Kathryn Papp says the city's latest announcements regarding waterfront redevelopment introduce more error into an already confused development process.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, February 20
To the editor, From its very beginning, the Feb. 15 letter from the Office of the City Manager is a model letter of ambiguity, Byzantine confusion, conciliatory and authoritarian tone. Quite an achievement for something under a page in length. It’s difficult to know exactly how to interpret it, except to conclude that it is a deliberate attempt to introduce even more error into an already confused development process. (Editor's Note: See attached PDF file of city manager's letter.) In the beginning, the “community vision” was described by residents to prefer open space, naturalistic river walks, and support art and history, perhaps a historic ship – with a minimum of commercial activity. This preference has not varied. Otherwise, …
Friday, February 15, 2013
City Manager Rashad Young, at the request of City Council, introduces new zoning amendment that if passed will allow city to "get beyond litigation."
Alexandria city officials announced Friday the introduction of a new zoning text amendment that if passed will allow the city to overcome existing litigation and begin implementation of the controversial waterfront small area plan that would spur development along the Potomac River. In an executive session of City Council earlier in the week, Mayor Bill Euille said councilmembers "provided guidance" to City Manager Rashad Young indicating that he should request the Planning Commission initiate and consider the new text amendment to implement zoning of the plan. “This action provides us with an opportunity to get beyond the litigation,” Young said Friday. “We are agreeing to meet the supermajority standards the plan opponents are asking …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
New online platform and hotline aims to help the city respond more efficiently to requests for information and services.
Alexandria launched a new customer service initiative called “Call.Click.Connect.” on Monday designed to help the city respond more efficiently to requests for information and services from residents and the public. At the base of the initiative is a new online system that can be used to enter, track and resolve service requests for reporting things like potholes and filing complaints about trash service. Residents can search for their service request by keyword, category or department on the city’s website. They will be asked to enter the location of a pothole or incident, verify its location, describe the request and enter contact information. Users will then receive verification that their request was recorded with an estimated response…
Monday, December 17, 2012
Nelsie Smith previously worked with Alexandria City Manager Rashad Young in Greensboro, N.C.
Nelsie Smith has been named the City of Alexandria's new director of the Office of Management and Budget. Smith has more than 12 years of experience working for and with local governments. Most recently, Smith served as a business development specialist at PayLock IPT, working with city and county governments to increase operational efficiency, provide greater customer service and improve revenue collection. She also worked for Alexandria City Manager Rashad Young when he worked in Greensboro, N.C., where she developed a performance management system and created an economic development strategy, according to a City of Alexandria news release. “We are delighted to have Nelsie join the team,” said Laura Triggs, the city’s chief financial …
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Union Street Corridor Study, which stems from the Waterfront Small Area Plan, makes multiple short- and long-term recommendations to make the area more cohabitable for bikes, cars and pedestrians.
City Council will consider a report on the Union Street Corridor Study and its recommendations Saturday. City manager Rashad Young is recommending that the council approve the study’s short-term recommendations and approve the direction of the long-term recommendations of the plan, subject to further refinement. The plan stems from a recommendation in the Waterfront Small Area Plan that the city review vehicular, pedestrian and other impacts along the Union Street corridor, which is defined as from Pendleton Street to Jones Point Park. Some of the short-term recommendations include: Long-term recommendations include: The long-term project would require a “considerable amount of capital funding,” according to a memo from Young to City …
Micheal Gatlin
1:49 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013
Why don't Euille suggest a bride for their right do build whatever they want. Believe me, if I know this mayor, no matter the outcome...businees will win in the day. Why you ask...because our mayor doesn't side with the citizens but with business. Alexandria is no longer a living community...just another business outpost. THANK IN ADVANCE EUILLE FOR SCREWING OUR CITY AGAIN. more ›