Sunday, April 28, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, is the third community meeting.
More than 100 Alexandria residents are expected to join a community conversation Tuesday to harmonize principles among city staff and residents. The third "What's Next, Alexandria?" community dialogue will be at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 2932 King St. Since November, community members have been collaborating to build Alexandria's principles of engagement. The meeting will discuss these and a new framework for implementation. The draft agenda begins with Mayor Bill Euille and Alexandria School Board member Chris Lewis. The agenda then addresses ground rules, the process timeline, feedback from the community and a review of Jan. 29 meeting evaluations—all evaluations have been posted to the What’s Next? website—and finally goals for …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Incorporating online participation, the civic engagement-focused meeting Tuesday night drew close to 200 residents.
Alexandria officials hosted the second “What’s Next, Alexandria?” dialogue both in-person at the First Baptist Church of Alexandria and online through live video streaming and online chat Tuesday evening. The online table, hosted by Craig Fifer, a deputy directory of communications for the City of Alexandria, focused on “accessible and informed participation.” “What’s Next, Alexandria?” is a city initiative that aims to bring local residents into city discussions and planning processes through a series of community dialogues. In addition, it seeks to start discussions about how Alexandrians can best participate in shaping the city’s future. The 20 residents participating online focused, naturally, on online options for civic engagement. “…
Monday, January 7, 2013
Online survey will inform the next community dialogue on civic engagement principles.
The City of Alexandria and ACTion Alexandria are providing residents the opportunity to participate in “What’s Next Alexandria” online through Jan. 14. The short online survey asks residents to “review the draft list of principle categories below and select those you think should be included in Alexandria’s Principles of Civic Engagement.” Survey answers will be part of the discussion at the Second Community Dialogue at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at First Baptist Church, 2932 King St. At the January dialogue, civic leaders will refine the principles and talk about ways to meet them. Childcare and Spanish translations will be available for interested residents at the Jan. 29 meeting. At the first meeting in November, Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille told …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Alexandrian Annabelle Fisher says it's telling that during the first meeting there was no time for Q&A and the project is a "waste of time."
- OPINION
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012
To the Editor, Having attended the first meeting for Alexandria's new attempt at citizen engagement and dialogue on Nov. 15, my major comment and suggestion is that if Mayor Euille, City Manager Young, our current elected officials and city staff are really serious about this "engagement campaign," then vote to stop this plan ASAP, hopefully before the last council meeting in December. Then we can really move forward with some real discussions between city staff, mayor/council members and developers if appropriate regarding any major issues of concerns whether they relate to development, transportation issues, etc. Eliminate the middle guy, i.e., advisory groups, a majority of boards and commissions except those mandated by the …
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Alexandrian Kathryn Papp says the first public meeting focusing on the "What's Next Alexandria" community engagement initiative was not a total waste of time and money, but "probably a wash."
- OPINION
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
To the Editor: The first public meeting to kick-off “What’s Next Alexandria,” the city’s ambitious campaign to drive more citizens to a web-based engagement process and to help restore trust between the city and its residents, was probably a wash. It was a tentative start that was buoyed along by John Porter and a healthy embedding of city staff and political operatives, but as it unfolded the general feeling was déjà vu all over again. The “What’s Next” campaign was launched using a dedicated website to poll citizens and ask how they now engage with the city on vital issues. This poll and its results did not establish a starting point that must be neutral, inclusive, demographically representative of the City of Alexandria, and …
Friday, November 9, 2012
City's initiative to garner more feedback from its residents continues next Thursday in an evening meeting.
Alexandria recently launched an initiative “What’s Next Alexandria?” to better engage its residents in helping guide the direction of the city. The next step in the program is a community dialogue next Thursday, Nov. 15, 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church at 2932 King St. The meeting will build on the input provided by Alexandrians in a recent community poll, hosted by ACTion Alexandria, on the future of civic engagement in Alexandria. More than 1,600 people participated in this poll, and the full results will be posted online and shared at the community dialogue event. That night, in addition to working with fellow Alexandrians, attendees will hear from the founder of America Speaks and executive director of the National Institute for Civil …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Citizen survey asking for Input on civic engagement in Alexandria is now open through Oct. 25.
The city's project "What's Next Alexandria" has extended its community poll through Oct. 25. As of this week, about 1,000 Alexandrians have participated in the poll, hosted by ACTion Alexandria. The city is seeking input on what citizens think about civic engagement in terms of personal experience and suggestions for improvement. As part of the process, the city asks citizens to join it on Nov. 15 for a community dialogue beginning at 7 p.m. at the First Baptist Church Activity Center, 2932 King St. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, founder and president of America Speaks, is scheduled to make a presentation. For more information on the What's Next, Alexandria initiative, email whatsnext@alexandria.gov.
38.81966
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2932 King St, Alexandria, VA
/articles/whats-next-alexandria-survey-extended
/locations/8031215
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Independent mayoral candidate Andrew Macdonald says the city needs to do more to encourage and embrace civic discourse.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Excuse me for being a little cynical, but I’m not sure a 10-question poll of the type released by City Manager Rashad Young, on behalf (presumably) of the Mayor and City Council is going to provide us with a blueprint for improving civic discourse in Alexandria. The issue is: how do we solve problems more cooperatively and more effectively; and how do we get more of the community to be part of that critical public planning process. There is certainly no doubt that we need to take advantage of all new forms of social media to give citizens an opportunity to tell the Council what they think about a given issue, like the waterfront plan or preserving affordable housing in the West End. Indeed, I would commend the city government for doing …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
What's Next Alexandria is designed to garner more citizen input.
Alexandria has launched a new civic engagement initiative to begin a conversation about how community members can best participate in shaping the city's future. Through this initiative, “What’s Next, Alexandria?,” the city government is asking the community to join it in embarking on a process to develop citywide principles of engagement to guide future civic initiatives. The project begins with a 10-question poll, hosted by ACTion Alexandria, to get input on what community members think about civic engagement, in terms of personal experience and suggestions for improvement. The poll is now open for one month. The community will discuss feedback from the poll as well as best practices in civic engagement at a kickoff meeting planned for …
Annabelle Fisher
10:41 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
From the comments i have read about my letter re: Alexandria's engagement process, i need to clarify that I do not live in Old Town and most references were about the Waterfront. I live in the W. End and not one of our elected officials took any responsibility for BRAC-133, the Beauregard Small Area Plan changes. This "engagement process" and the "poll results" was stuff our elected officials … more ›