Last year, the City Council gathered with the men and women of the Alexandria Fire Department to ceremonially open the new Station 203 on Cameron Mills Road in North Ridge.

The approved Capital Improvement Program for 2023 - 2032 includes $57.5 million of renovation and maintenance funding for the remaining Alexandria fire stations, including a replacement of Fire Station 205 on Cameron Street and a replacement of Fire Station 208 currently on N. Paxton, with a new station on the existing Landmark Mall site.

With the scale of investment envisioned for our fire stations, five years ago the City Manager directed an internal analysis to review existing station locations and determine the appropriate priorities for this substantial public investment. The study reviewed the previous City plans, the newly proposed plan, and created an "optimized" plan. 

Almost three years ago, Alexandria's Metro Rail stations reopened after a difficult summer of platform improvement work cut the City off from the rest of the system. We spent part of a September 2019 City Council meeting looking back at the mitigations that we had put in place and how they had fared.

Unfortunately, we now need to do it again as WMATA has announced large infrastructure work that will again impact the transit connectivity of our City.

Last month, representatives from WMATA attended our City Council meeting to discuss the ongoing planning for the upcoming shutdown. You can watch the discussion online or view the slides from the presentation.

After last month's meeting, I wrote to WMATA Interim General Manager Andrew Off detailing the City's requests for mitigation, as well as reiterating the City's position that this major infrastructure work cannot occur unless WMATA has completed their work to bring the 7000 series cars back into service. Recent lapses by WMATA have only affirmed this position.

The work to restore Metro back to the level required to support this region continues. In the short-term, additional sacrifice will be required. As a regular Metro rider myself, I know the service challenges first-hand. With new leadership and major infrastructure investment, I am optimistic that these efforts will result in a more reliable system for Alexandria and the entire region. 

Last week, Foulger-Pratt, the private development partner spearheading the redevelopment of Landmark Mall began demolition on the existing site. Construction activity will be begin shortly, under the aggressive schedule they have presented to the community.

Late last year, the Alexandria Industrial Development Authority (IDA) closed on the purchase of an 11-acre parcel on the site of the former Landrmark Mall. The purchase of this property was immediately followed by IDA's issuance of a 99-year ground lease of the property to Inova Health System.

After two decades of discussion about how to redevelop Landmark Mall, the City of Alexandria is finally redeveloping Landmark Mall!

Long sought, this arrangement was named by the Washington Business Journal as the 2020 Real Estate Deal of the Year.

Days before Christmas 2020, the City joined with a few partners, some familiar and some new, to announce the future of the Landmark Mall site. The new development plan will move Inova Alexandria Hospital from its home for the past 60 years on Seminary Road to a new modern facility on the site of Landmark Mall.

The location, one of the largest sites inside the Beltway awaiting redevelopment, will see a billion dollars of new investment, including a new Level II trauma center, medical office buildings, residential, retail, parks, a new fire station replacing Fire Station 208, new committed affordable housing and a new transit hub anchoring the City's new bus rapid transit network, DASH and Metrobus.

A year ago, the City Council unanimously approved a master plan amendment and rezoning of the site of the existing Inova Alexandria Hospital. This land-use decision was the first legislative action required to bring this plan to reality.

Conquering those obstacles requires a unique partnership and financial arrangement. A local firm, Foulger-Pratt is leading a joint venture in partnership with Howard Hughes Corporation, the current owner of the mall site, and Seritage Growth Properties, the owner of the Sears site. They were able to bring Inova Health System into the arrangement to anchor this redevelopment.

Eighteen years ago, the City Council appointed an Urban Forestry Steering Committee to help the City chart a different future for our City's trees. As they collected information, they learned that in 2001, the City's tree canopy covered 34% of the City. By 2007, that was down to 30%.

The committee's efforts led to the adoption of the Urban Forestry Master Plan in 2009, which included policies and procedures designed to bring our tree canopy coverage to 40% of our City.

Those efforts are working! From 2014 until 2018, thanks to the work of the City, private civic groups, landowners and other public entities, Alexandria's tree canopy grew from 26.6 to 32.5%. That is 569 acres of net tree canopy gain.

The budget the City Council approved last month includes the largest-ever budget for tree planting and maintenance, including funding to plant an average of 428 trees per year for the next few years.

Half of the City's tree canopy is on private residential properties. You can help the City by planting native trees on your property and requesting new tree plantings on adjacent public property. You can also donate to our Living Landscape Fund. Money raised in this fund is used to plant new trees throughout our City.

At the beginning of last month, the City Council adopted our annual Operating Budget and our Capital Improvement Program for the next decade.

That means 2022 will be the 6th straight year without a real estate tax rate increase in Alexandria.

In February, the City Manager presented his proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 (July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023) and his proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2023 through Fiscal Year 2032.

This year, conservative forecasting prompted by the uncertainty of the pandemic, has resulted in a very significant series of adjustments as we prepared to conclude this process. The City Manager's adjustments ultimately provided a net increase in projected revenues of $7 million. This did provide the City Council with some additional flexibility as we worked to conclude the process.

Prior to final adoption of the budget, the City Council held our "Preliminary Add/Delete" worksession. This is where most of the "sausage-making" work of budgeting is completed, as City Council worked to decide what would be in and what would be out of the budget we are poised to adopt. You can watch this full session online.

Per the Council's budget rules, budget modifications must have the support of at least 3 members to be considered during this process. There were 24 different proposals submitted by individual councilmembers to be considered in this year's process.

The authorized work force in City Government is now at 2,700 FTEs, essentially what it was 13 years ago. That's in spite of the fact that our population has grown significantly during that period of time. 

In additional the budget documents linked above, all questions asked by members of Council during the process are posted, along with answers, online for the public to review. Any request to change the proposed budget must be initiated with a budget question, so it is a good window into the thoughts of your elected representatives. 

Let me know your thoughts!

Early voting began in May and Alexandria Democrats can vote to choose their nominee for the United States House of Representatives.

Alexandria Republicans have chosen a party process and they have selected their nominee.

Due to legislation adopted by the General Assembly in 2021, Virginia's primary date has moved from the second Tuesday in June to the third Tuesday in June.

Last week, the City's Freedom House Museum reopened, with three new exhibitions designed to unlock the history of this important site.

Between 1828 and 1861, over 100,000 enslaved African-Americans passed through 1315 Duke Street in the City of Alexandria. This building was the headquarters for one of the largest domestic slave trading operations in our nation. 

As of March of 2020, the City of Alexandria owns the building, having purchased it from the Northern Virginia Urban League to ensure the preservation of this important historic resource. While the purchase was locally funded, the Commonwealth's approved budget in 2020 included $2.4 million of state funding to support the rehabilitation and development of the historic resources on the site.

In furtherance of this effort, the City commissioned a comprehensive Historic Structures Report (HSR) to formally document the history, plan future interpretation and prioritize rehabilitation. Last fall, the firm commissioned to perform the study formally presented their findings and the final report.

Additionally, private fundraising efforts are working to support this important resource. Please join me in donating to support this effort. 

Late last year, the Virginia Department of Transportation notified the City that they intended to study the expansion of the Express Lanes system that currently is on sections of Interstates 495, 395 and 95.

The current proposal is to expand the system by 11 miles, from the Springfield interchange across the Wilson Bridge into Maryland.

From now until June 21st, the Commonwealth is accepting public comment on the proposal. You can review the details of what VDOT is proposing and submit your comments online.

Our Potomac River waterfront is the reason Alexandria exists as a community. The history of our waterfront is the history of Alexandria. It is what has brought people and commerce to our community for generations. 

Only a few years ago, the future of our waterfront was the source of disagreement and vigorous debate. Today, it is the source of vitality, excitement and a place for all of those in our community to gather. Yet, we are just getting started.

On June 17th, the Portside in Old Town Summer Festival returns to Waterfront Park. This year, the festival merges with the Alexandria Jazz Festival, marking an incredible weekend of music and more on the City's waterfront.

Starting last week, the unit block of King Street and the northern end of The Strand has joined with the 100-block of King Street in being closed to vehicles, expanding our pedestrian-only zone.

Last fall, we were reminded of some of the unfinished work that remains, as tidal waters closed several streets and businesses.

Eight years ago, the City Council approved Phase One of the Waterfront Landscape and Flood Mitigation Design. This exciting design married the vision of the Olin Group and the input of hundreds of residents who participated in the planning efforts. It also received input from the Art and History Report to ensure our history is a key component of the future of our waterfront.

The City Council's approved Capital Improvement Program includes over $83 million to accelerate the implementation of the infrastructure elements of the plan, specifically the flood mitigation. The City has also applied for $50 million of Federal funding from the FEMA BRIC program. While these funds are highly sought after, if they are awarded to the City, they will enable us to accelerate this work.

Last month, the City's Waterfront Commission endorsed the latest approach to implement the flood mitigation vision. Later this summer, the City will advertise to select a design-build firm to begin advancing the design and plans for this important work.

Please let me know your thoughts on these concepts as we work to achieve the vision of a more vibrant and accessible waterfront for our City.

At the beginning of September, Alexandria implemented the new route structure for Alexandria's DASH bus system. Existing routes changed and new ways to get around our City were established. This is the most significant rethinking of our DASH route structure since 1984.

To coincide with the implementation of this new route structure, City Council unanimously approved my proposal for DASH to become the first transit system in the DC area to eliminate fares. Free transit will expand ridership by an estimated 23%, bring riders back to transit following the pandemic, help achieve the City's environmental goals and disproportionately benefit our lower-income residents. With ridership depressed due to the pandemic, the initial cost to implement this change is dramatically reduced.

Now that we have had some experience with these changes, we are now beginning to assess the impacts. So far:

In approving the most recent budget, the City Council included funding to improve the service on the current DASH Line 30. The expanded funding will extend all weekday peak trips from King Street Metro to Braddock Road Metro, which will provide 10 minute peak headways in Old Town. These enhancements will also extend all weekend trips from Landmark Mall to Van Dorn Metro, to provide 30 minute frequency on South Van Dorn Street, instead of the current 60 minute service.

Yet our four Metrorail stations (soon to be five) serve only a small portion of our 15.5 square miles. On an average weekday, almost 24,000 people board a bus, either DASH or Metrobus. 

The Alexandria Transit Vision Plan was the City's effort to rethink our buses. At the end of 2019,  DASH approved this significant "re-imagination" of its route structure. 

Communities around our nation have done the difficult work of rethinking their bus route networks to improve frequency of service, reduce route duplication, and ultimately serve more riders. Houston's overnight route network transformation helped spur growth in ridership at a time when transit ridership was dropping elsewhere. 

To provide a factual basis for this effort, a "Transit Choices Report" was developed. This report is a compendium of data on our existing transit network, designed to support this significant undertaking. 

From now until the end of this month, you can sign up to participate in Solarize Alexandria.

Solarize Alexandria is a partnership between the City, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and LEAP. 

The goal is to increase the deployment of solar power generation in our residential communities. In addition to reducing emissions and reducing your power bill, the City of Alexandria provides a real estate tax exemption for qualifying solar installations.

Two decades ago, persistent resident activists, led by Elizabeth Chimento and Poul Hertel, began questioning the health impacts of the coal-fired Potomac River Generating Station, which began operation on Alexandria's waterfront in 1949.

Hilco Redevelopment Partners, a national entity specializing in the redevelopment of aged industrial sites, took control of the property with plans to see redevelopment to fruition.

Hilco has made concept plan submissions and they are preparing to come to the Planning Commission and City Council in June and July.

Last month, Hilco hosted their 10th community meeting to provide updates on their plans and obtain feedback from the community. You can watch the full community meeting video and view the slides.

Fortunately, Hilco is welcomed to Alexandria with an adopted community vision to guide them. In 2017, City Council approved the Old Town North Small Area Plan. This planning document codified a redevelopment vision for the 20-acre power plant site and the area surrounding it.

With the progress of this planning, I am excited to see an ideal partner for the City to turn this former industrial polluter into the sustainable uses of the City's future!

Last summer, the City Council unanimously adopted Alexandria's plan to allocate the first tranche of $29.8 million, from the City's allocation in the American Rescue Plan.

Last month the City Council received another update on the status of implementing each of the projects that have been funded.

In his proposed budget, the City Manager proposed an allocation for the second tranche of money, which was received by the City last month. Of the $29.8 million in the second tranche, $8.7 million was already pre-allocated by City Council for emergent needs, including employee bonuses and other initiatives. With the approval of the budget, another $6.1 million remains un-allocated for future use.

Over a year ago, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. This sprawling and comprehensive piece of legislation provides significant resources to Alexandria's residents, our businesses, our schools and our local government.

After surveying the community, we received an enormous amount of ideas and concepts for how Alexandria could best deploy these resources to improve our City.

Alexandria's government will receive a total of $59.4 million from the legislation, divided into two allotments, one that was received in May of 2021 and the other we received last month. All funds must be spent by December 31, 2024.

Beyond what the City will receive, the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) received $34.8 million from this legislation. This is in addition to the $15 million ACPS received from the Federal legislation that was enacted before the end of 2020.

Tomorrow evening, beginning at 6:30 PM, the Alexandria School Board will be accepting public testimony on their proposed allocation of the ESSER III funds. You can sign-up to speak prior to noon today.

The Treasury Department released an "Interim Final Rule," which ultimately provides detailed (151 pages!) guidance to localities as to how we can expend these dollars.

I believe we should continue to use this money to create sustainable structures that will not only help us recover, but benefit the City for decades to come. Furthermore, given the substantial resources that ACPS, the Commonwealth and many Federal programs will be receiving, I believe that Alexandria's expenditure of these combined resources should be closely coordinated to ensure the maximum benefit for our community.