The current scalding hot topic around our port city is whether to change the zoning laws to ease some of the constraints on homeowners in single-family zones, where the average home value is now around $1 million. At issue is whether homeowners in neighborhoods currently zoned exclusively for single-family homes could create a duplex, triplex or quadplex out of either their existing structure or a new structure. Current setback and […]
My cousin Anita, who was also my closest childhood companion, passed away in 2015 from ovarian cancer at the age of 54. Hardly a day passes when I don’t think of her and miss her. We spent countless hours playing with Barbie and her friends at each other’s houses which were both adjacent to my grandparent’s farm. If she were still alive, we’d no doubt be seeing “Barbie,” the movie, […]
With the daily news replete with all manner of climate disasters of Biblical proportions—forest fires, floods, droughts, storms, melting glaciers, record heat and cold—it’s easy to feel hopeless about global climate change. What can I do to make a hill of beans worth of difference? In fact, there is one significant action many of us can take that can truly reduce our consumption of fossil fuels: Go solar. And now […]
In the book The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander, a family therapist, and Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the authors invite the reader to transform their perspective on limitations, obstacles and seemingly intractable problems. When we look at the facts in front of us as they are now, rather than dwelling on what could have been or what should have been, we can better […]
Matthew 25: 35. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” When my mother was a young girl growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, her parents opened their large farmhouse located along the busy Route 33 to travelers and passersby as a way to supplement their modest income. Many […]
Vision and imagination were at the heart of a 1974 initiative to transform a World War I-era munitions facility on Alexandria’s waterfront into an innovative art center. Thanks to the leadership of Marian van Landingham, who served Alexandria in the House of Delegates for 24 years, and the late Mayor Charles Beatley Jr., the building was converted from a storehouse for federal documents to the nation’s first collection of publicly […]
Editor’s note: Former school board member Helen Morris and I co-authored this column which appeared in the October 7, 2021 edition of the Alexandria Times. As early voting for the Virginia general election gets underway, there’s an important but often overlooked nonpartisan contest near the bottom of the ballot—Alexandria School Board. Even if you don’t have school-age children, your vote matters: School boards oversee the spending of YOUR tax dollars, […]
Alexandria School Board Chair Meagan Alderton was spot on when she said recently that our city’s inadequate aquatics facilities are a clear example of racial disparities in our community. She is correct that we need to teach elementary students how to swim, especially our Black and Brown children who are less likely to receive swim lessons outside of school. By doing this, we will be imparting essential life skills and […]
Two city council candidates responded to my invitation to answer important questions about the future of our city that I posed in my previous post. Here are their responses in the order in which they were received. I will post any other responses received before the June 8 Democratic primary. William E. “Bill” Campbell As federal moratoriums/forbearances on rent evictions and mortgage/loan foreclosures begin to lift, families here in Alexandria […]
Alexandria is fortunate to have so many candidates who are seeking public office in this election cycle. Healthy competition usually leads to an informed and fulsome exploration of different views that helps voters make the best choices. Except for this year. It’s unfortunate that so much of the current campaigns for Alexandria’s mayoral and city council races has focused on the wrong issues, and that too much of the debate […]
Port City Notebook 