AlexandriaNews

The City of Alexandria is offering free tax preparation assistance to qualifying residents. Taxpayers are eligible if their income is below approximately $25,000 for individuals and $42,000 for families.

On Jan. 23, the Alexandria Redevelopment & Housing Authority Board of Commissioners elected Mr. Derek Hyra as Chairman and Mr. Merrick Malone as Vice Chairman at its Annual Board meeting.

Alexandria’s real property tax base is up 3.53% or $1.15 billion from Jan. 1, 2011, to Jan. 1, 2012. Residential property increased in value by 1.55% or $284.98 million from $18.43 billion in 2011, to $18.72 billion in 2012.

Very late Saturday night, the Alexandria City Council unanimously approved the development of two rental apartment buildings, one near Landmark and the other in the southern end of Potomac Yard.

Although the Alexandria City Council approved a Waterfront Small Area Plan yesterday by a vote of 5-2, the City's long local nightmare may not be over. Late in the hearing, Roy Shannon, who said he represented several Old Town property owners, filed an appeal with the Board of Zoning Appeals contesting City Planning Director Frarroll Hamer's ruling that a protest, which was filed on Thursday, was not valid. That protest would have required a super majority vote of 6-1 to approve the Waterfront Plan.

For the past 22 years, Alexandria public school children have had the opportunity to show their artistic ability and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King JR in a poster contest.

Society for Historical Archaeology Presents Alexandria with Inaugural Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology

By Carla Branch alexandrianews.org Burt Ely, a member of the Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan Work Group, sent a minority report on the Work Group’s activities to the Alexandria City Council yesterday.

Waterfront Plan calls the Planning Director’s latest assessment of the City’s Waterfront Plan just another contrived and misleading attempt to convince the City Council and citizens of Alexandria they represent that the impacts of the waterfront plan on an historic town have been adequately considered, and that there are no other viable alternatives.

City Manager Rashad Young took the reins of government in Alexandria on Dec. 12, and has already reorganized his senior staff. He has selected the City’s Chief Financial Officer Bruce Johnson to be his chief of staff, a new position.