The Council Connection
your connection to City Council by Mayor Justin M. Wilson
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I had the opportunity to connect with Mr. Clarke last week, during his first week on the job, and we discussed the important work ahead in Alexandria, including the Potomac Yard Metro, further restoration of suspended bus service, restoration of the 7000-series Metro Rail cars, joint development projects in Alexandria, and upcoming infrastructure work.
The first project is one that we expected. In order to connect the newly-constructed Potomac Yard Metro Station, rail service south of the National Airport station will need to be shutdown for 6 weeks from September 10th until October 22nd.
The second impact was not anticipated. The rehabilitation of the Yellow Line bridge and the adjacent tunnels, will require a shutdown of the bridge for 8 months, also beginning on September 10th.
These closures will again cut Alexandria off from the rest of the system and significantly impact Alexandria transit riders at a time where the City and its regional partners will be working to bring our residents back to transit.
It was a challenging period for our City, its residents, our visitors, and our businesses and their employees.
With a year of planning and regional collaboration, we were able to throw nearly everything we had at the shutdown.
While riders settled into new, slower routines, there were still challenges that impacted our City. The shuttle buses had issues with capacity and traffic flow. Some Metro Bus and DASH routes had similar problems as well. Traffic impacts exacerbated existing congestion. Some businesses saw reductions in revenue.
Fortunately, we know what works. In 2019, the City worked closely with WMATA, DASH and other regional partners to ensure that the shutdown did not become a disaster for our residents and our businesses. We must again do the same.
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.
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New Torpedo Factory Artists |
This fall, 26 artists will begin new three-year leases as artists at the Torpedo Factory. Fifteen of these artists will join 11 current studio artists and become part of Alexandria's internationally-recognized arts community.
On Friday evening, from 6 until 8:30 PM, there will be a public reception at the Principle Gallery (208 King Street) to kick-off a 2-week exhibition featuring the work of the newly admitted artists.
The Torpedo Factory Arts Center is an iconic presence on the City's waterfront. Bringing a half million visitors into working artists galleries, the Factory is a economic development engine and unique arts resource for our community.
The City of Alexandria purchased the Factory from the United States Government in 1969. The Arts Center was opened in 1974 and has been a model for similar centers around country.
Yet for the past several years, the challenges of the Factory and the possible solutions to those challenges have been divisive.
Our staff brought a few proposals for the future of the Torpedo Factory to stakeholders for input, and last year brought those proposals to the City Council. You can review those proposals online.
These principles call for an entirely new structure to strategically manage the Torpedo Factory and the many new arts assets that the City is bringing to reality as part of the Old Town North Arts District.
Alexandria is an arts destination, but that destination is broader than one building. I am excited that Council has now endorsed this vision to expand our commitment to arts real estate in our City, with the Torpedo Factory as a focal point of that expansion.
This report recommended more changes to the governance, the management, and vision of the Factory.
Candidly, the future of the Torpedo Factory has been studied to death. We have used the divisiveness of this issue as an excuse to avoid making a decision on its future. Unfortunately, inaction is a decision in and of itself.
My focus is on deriving a structure for the operation of the Factory that:
- expands the vitality of the Factory
- improves its financial sustainability
- improves its diversity
- ensures the success of Alexandria's premier arts destination long into the future.
I am confident that working together we can achieve these goals.
Ensuring the presence of a diversity of arts and artists in the Torpedo Factory Arts Center on our Waterfront is a priority of mine. I look forward to working with our community and various partners to bring this vision to reality.
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In the past few weeks, we have seen the devastation that can be wrought by the impact of heavy rain events, with severe flooding in Buchanan County, Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. These examples add urgency to the necessity that communities like ours must plan and implement climate-resilient infrastructure to protect the lives and livelihood of our residents.
For us here in Alexandria, our residents have endured 5 storm events in the past 3 years (July 8, 2019, July 23, 2020, September 10, 2020, August 15, 2021 and September 16, 2021) where the intensity and duration of the rain has far-exceeded the design capacity of our storm sewers, resulting in devastating flooding.
Over the last few years particularly, the City Council has worked to accelerate efforts to address chronic flooding issues, this time due to more frequent and more intense rain events. These storms are causing our residents and businesses to suffer significant financial loss due to damage from flooding and sanitary sewer backflow.
Addressing this challenge requires immediate and sustained action in the following areas:
- Infrastructure Investment and Maintenance
- Financial and Technical Assistance to Residents
- Development Policy Reform
Earlier this year, the City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance to again increase our Stormwater Utility Fee, to further increase the resources available for investments in our storm sewer infrastructure. This increase will mean a condo owner will pay $82.32 annually, a townhouse owner $123.48 annually, a small single-family homeowner $294 annually and a large single-family homeowner $490.98 annually.
The Stormwater Utility Fee revenue, paid by all property owners in the City (including non-taxable properties), will allow for an acceleration of major capacity projects and "spot improvements," an increase in channel maintenance, new "state-of-good repair" investments, property owner grants and new staffing in support of these projects and the system.
Recently enacted state legislation, sponsored by Senator Adam Ebbin at the City's request, gives the City the flexibility to use these resources to address all of the challenges facing our residents.
The City launched our "Flood Mitigation Pilot Grant Program." This new program has provided over $558,000 in matching reimbursement grants to property owners making flood resiliency improvements. This is one of the components of our comprehensive approach to addressing the flooding that has impacted our community for decades.
The investments required in our Sanitary Sewer system are funded by maintenance fees paid by existing customers (on the Alexandria Renew Enterprises bills) and by connection fees paid by developers.
In 2016, the City conducted a comprehensive Storm Sewer Capacity Analysis. This exhaustive study looked at each of the City's eight watersheds (Backlick Run, Cameron Run, Four Mile Run, Holmes Run, Hooff's Run, Holmes Run, Potomac River, Strawberry Run and Taylor Run) and identified problem areas where current capacity does not meet our 10-year storm design standard.
The study identified 90 separate deficiencies in the system, and estimated $61 million of construction costs required to address those deficiencies (construction costs are approximately half of expected budget costs). Over half of these deficiencies are concentrated in the Hooff's Run and Four Mile Run watersheds. The reports of flooding from our residents during these most recent events align closely to these deficiencies. It is that study that has informed the list of priority capacity projects listed earlier.
For development, whether large-scale, mixed-use development or a small residential addition, Alexandria's stringent stormwater requirements stipulate that conditions after development to be the same and oftentimes better than they were. As a consequence, the flooding we have experienced in the City is typically in established neighborhoods, areas of our City where we have not seen new development (aside from infill) in decades. Yet, there may be options to further strengthen these existing requirements. We have sought additional authority from the General Assembly for these expanded requirements.
A climate-resilient City requires investments and potentially new policies to ensure that residents of our City do not suffer devastating damage with such frequency.
Putting in place the infrastructure that can support a changing climate will be a significant undertaking for our community. It will involve a large commitment of new resources and possibly private property impacts. I am pleased that the City has made these new investments. Now we must explore every option to accelerate this work.
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Lighting Our Playing Fields |
Our parks and open spaces are significant contributors to quality of life, particularly in an urban community like Alexandria. As the pandemic ravaged our City, our open spaces were a refuge, well-loved and utilized. As we eased back into "normal," our children returned to athletic fields around our City, even before most other venues.
Yet, the reality that exists in our City today is that we lack the athletic facilities to fully meet the needs of our youth, and hardly begin to address adult recreation needs. Our most recent needs assessment clearly identifies these gaps, and decades of underfunded plans have exacerbated these challenges.
In the face of significant capital needs for schools, sewers, public buildings and transportation, providing resources for significant investment in our parks and recreation infrastructure has not been able to rise to the top of our list of priorities. This must change.
- $22M for field improvements (including synthetic turf replacement at Witter; turf renovations at Stevenson & Four Mile Run; as well as a large-scale renovation of the diamond fields at Simpson).
- $17.3M for field improvements at Four Mile Run Park
- $2.6M to build a new synthetic field at Patrick Henry, once the old school is demolished
Our staff is now working to collect public input on these proposals, with final approvals coming before the Planning Commission and City Council in October.
I look forward to advancing efforts to improve our recreation capacity, to promote our quality of life and the health of our community.
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Community Police and Fire Academy |
Alexandria is fortunate to have capable, well-equipped and dedicated public safety agencies to keep our community safe. Yet, our public safety agencies depend on the involvement of residents to be successful.
Applications are due soon. Please sign-up today!
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Last fall, the City Council finalized the recent update of our Alexandria Mobility Plan. During the outreach phase of that update, one of the most consistent areas of input we received were concerns about the impacts of congestion on quality of life.
Specifically:
- Of the vehicles coming from Seminary Road and Quaker Lane, roughly half use Quaker Lane to access the Telegraph Road ramp and half use local streets, namely Cambridge Road, Yale Drive and West Taylor Run Parkway.
- Of the vehicles coming from Seminary Road, 16% use Jordan Street (5%) or Fort Williams Parkway (11%). Roughly 35% use Quaker Lane and about half use local streets that are east of Quaker Lane.
- Of the vehicles coming from King Street, about 85% use West Taylor Run Parkway with most of the rest using Cambridge Road (13%).
As traffic volumes have returned in the wake of the pandemic, it is clear that more is necessary.
At the beginning of the year, the first pilot was implemented and remained in place through April. This effort changed light timings on Quaker and Duke, as well as on side streets, to focus traffic volumes on the arterial roads.
The results of this first pilot were very positive:
- Overall volume on the Telegraph Road ramp was down by 14%
- Travel times for all routes were faster than before, but were about 35% faster using Quaker Lane and 20% faster on West Taylor Run
- Cut through traffic on Quaker Lane increased by 23%
- Cut through traffic on West Taylor Run and Cambridge Road decreased by 47% and 73%, respectively.
- Cut through traffic on Yale Drive, with the new “no left turn” restriction in place, decreased by 96%, from 706 vehicles in the peak to 31
- Cut through traffic on Fort Williams Parkway decreased substantially, by 81%, from 171 vehicles to 32
The second pilot is now being discussed and would bring back the light timings from Phase 1, but also limit access from West Taylor Run Parkway to Telegraph Road, along with unimpeded ramp traffic on the Telegraph ramp.
The plan is to assess the impact, collect data and engage with the community to ensure these changes achieve the results they are designed to create.
Let me know your thoughts!
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Nearly 15 years ago, the City adopted its latest Transportation Master Plan. At the time, the plan was a significant transition in that it shifted from a plan focused on roads and vehicle traffic, to a plan that prioritized transit.
One of the most significant changes that came from the 2008 Master Plan was the designation of three transit corridors for high-capacity transit. The three corridors are:
- Transit Corridor A, which was nominally north to south on Route 1 on the east end of the City
- Transit Corridor B, which was intended as east to west on Duke Street
- Transit Corridor C, which was north to south on the west end of the City using Van Dorn and Beauregard
High capacity transit provides our residents with alternatives to congestion and delay. I am optimistic as we work to bring these projects to reality.
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In January of 2019, the City Council unanimously adopted the WasteSmart Strategic Plan. This plan sought to chart a new course for trash and recycling services.
Waste removal is one of the most visible and traditional of local government services. A service that at one point simply involved a trash truck on a route picking up a resident's waste has now evolved into a complex portfolio of services designed to advance our environmental sustainability goals and preserve quality of life.
While the City provides curbside trash and recycling collection for a tad over 20,000 households, we also provide:
- Yard Waste Collection
- Leaf/brush collection
- Metal and appliances collection
- Bulk Trash Pick-Up
- Electronic waste collection
- Recycling Drop-Off Centers
- Public Space Trash and Recycling
- Farmers Market Composting
Each of these services has evolved to address defined needs in our City, but each has associated policy choices. Several of these significant policy questions are now before us.
With recycling markets in crisis, the City worked to change how we collect glass due to the inability of glass collected in our single stream to be recycled. Challenges also exist for some plastics and other material. We will need to determine new ways to effectively address these materials.
Nearly a decade ago, I proposed funding during our budget process that created the City's Farmers Market Compost program, which allows residents to drop organic food waste each week at farmers markets in their neighborhood. The program has been successful in diverting this organic waste from our trash collection, and instead creating compost for sustainable uses.
During the most recent budget process, I again proposed new funding to expand programs relating to food waste.
Please let me know your thoughts on these important issues!
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Youth Leadership Conference |
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We are celebrating those who have built our community!
If you know an Alexandria who is over the age of 100, or will be by the end of this calendar year, please let us know!
National Centenarians Day is September 22nd and we will host an event on September 13th to honor these individuals who have made such an impact on our City.
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Paid for by Wilson For Mayor | www.justin.net |
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