City Council - Regular Meeting

Legislative meeting. If I could ask everyone to please take a seat. If we could all please take a seat, that would be greatly appreciated. We're going to go ahead. And Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Gaskins. Here. Vice Mayor Bagley. Here. Councilman Aguirre. Here. Councilman Chapman. Councilman El Nubey. Here. Councilwoman Green. Here.

Madam Clerk, next item.

Approval of electronic participation resolution by city council.

Madam Mayor, move approval.

Second. Good. There has been

a motion by Councilman Nagiri and a second by Councilwoman Green to approve the electronic participation resolution. Madam Clerk, this is a roll call vote. Please call

the roll.

Councilman Nagiri. Aye. Councilwoman Green. Aye. Mayor Gaskins. Aye. Vice Mayor Bagley. Aye. Councilman Chapman. Aye. Councilman L. Newby. Aye.

Okay, Madam Clerk, next item.

Moment of silence and pledge of allegiance.

Okay, it is our practice to begin each meeting with a moment of silence followed by the pledge. We ask that if you are able to stand, please join us. Okay. Madam Clerk, next item.

Presentation of a proclamation recognizing April as National American Heritage Month.

Okay. I have asked Councilman Al Nube to read this proclamation. He will come to the front to read the proclamation and recognize all of our guests who have joined us for this important occasion.

All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And welcome, everyone. And the guests who are here to receive the proclamation, come up. So we have former Councilman Moshe Fadir.

We have school board member Abdullahi. And we have some city staff. But yeah, come up, please. And I'm sorry we can't have everyone up here as we used to have in the chambers at City Hall. Whereas, for over a century, Arab Americans have been making valuable contributions to virtually every aspect of American society, including in medicine, law, business, education, technology, government, military service, and culture.

And whereas Arab Americans have an important presence in the Commonwealth of Virginia and in Alexandria, contributing to the rich diversity of our city and its vibrant culture, businesses, schools, workforce, and civic activities. And whereas Arab Americans have shared the rich culture and traditions with neighbors and friends throughout our city as public servants and as active community members. And whereas Arab Americans embody resilient family values, strong work ethic, dedication to education, and diversity in faith and creed that have added strength to our great democracy. And whereas the celebration of Arab American ancestry and cultural heritage educates our fellow Americans and counters misconceptions, bigotry, anti Arab hate, civil right abuses, and harmful stereotyping. And whereas Arab Americans joined all join all Americans in the desire to see a peaceful and diverse society where every individual is treated.

Whereas Arab Americans join all Americans in the desire to see a peaceful and diverse society where every individual is treated equally and feels safe, and whereas the extensive contributions and rich heritage of Arab Americans have helped us build a better nation. Now, therefore, I, Abdel El Noubi, on behalf of Aliyah Gaskins, mayor of the city of Alexandria, Virginia, and on behalf of the Alexandria City Council, do hereby proclaim April 2026 to be National Arab American Heritage Month in the city of Alexandria. And I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens, all while recognizing and expressing deep gratitude for the contributions that Arab Americans have made to the city of Alexandria and our country. And we encourage our citizens to join us in this special observance and recognition. In witness thereof, I here onto set my hand and cause seal of the city of Alexandria to be affixed this April 2026.

Thank you.

And I'll pass the mic to our guests to introduce themselves briefly.

Hi, my name is Janine Katab. This is little Leanne. I'm an employee with the city of Alexandria and very proud to

be here this evening. Thank you. Good

afternoon. My name is Mohs Seifaldi. I'm a former council member here in the city of Alexandria. Glad to be here.

Ismail Farid. I'm an employee for city of Alexandria for twenty seven years

And thank you all for being here this evening to celebrate this great occasion. Madam Mayor, as an Arab American myself, as an elected official in this city, I really appreciate how our city is always inclusive celebrating these occasions, how our city celebrates our diversity. And these occasions are an opportunity for everyone to celebrate their identity, whoever they are, people who may be second guessing if they have a place in our society or in our city because of their identity, I think these opportunities are a great reminder that everyone belongs no matter who they are. And I hope those who maybe, again, questioning whether they belong or not, seeing Arab American elected officials and former elected officials and city employees and all of that, that inspires them to realize that they too have a place in our society and in our community. America is the land of the dreams.

America is an inclusive place. I'm proud to be an Alexandrian. I'm obviously proud

to be an

American. My colleagues, I appreciate your support and hopefully to pass this proclamation. And with that, Madam Mayor, I move to approve the proclamation.

Okay. There has been a motion by Councilman Al Nube and a second by Councilwoman Green to approve the proclamation. Is there any further discussion? I just want to quickly say something I really appreciate about the first line of the proclamation, as it speaks to the many ways that Arab Americans have contributed to our community. And I think each of you standing here as elected officials, as employees, but also when I look out into the audience, we have poets. We have artists. We have advocates. We have faith leaders. We have neighbors and friends. So I just want to recognize all of the many ways in which our community comes together to celebrate and recognize important cultures and traditions, but also the ways in which you are shaping our city every single day through your words, your actions, and the power of your voice.

So thank you again for recommending and reading the proclamation. And thank you to all of you who are here. What I will say is typically we'd have a photo or a big way of doing this. What we can do is after the proclamation, for those who have come, we have somebody from city staff. Outside, there is a big city seal. And so we can get a group picture, given the kind of awkwardness of the space. But with that, there has been a motion and a second.

Madam Mayor? Yes.

If I can add one more thing before we take a vote. Last but not least, and I apologize for forgetting that, but we also have our former laureate Zaina Azem in the audience. And again, we couldn't have everyone up here. But Zaina was the person who brought this forward three years ago. She came to me and we talked about it. Then I wasn't on council then, but we brought it to council. And it was the first time we do it. So this is the third year in a row. So Zaina, thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you, Zaina. Our city is grateful for Zaina in many, many, many ways. I felt truly honored, I think all of us, as a recognition for our installation. It was her poem that kicked off this council and our council's commitment to the city and gave us a charge for the leadership that she expects from all of us. With that, there has been a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it, and the proclamation passes.

Madam Clerk, next item.

PRESENTER Presentation of a proclamation recognizing April as Alcohol Awareness Month.

Alright. I have asked Vice Mayor Badley to read this proclamation. If you are here joining us for Alcohol Awareness Month, we ask that you please come to the front.

Hello? Is it on? Yes. Okay. Thanks, Councilwoman Green.

All right. Good evening, everybody. I'm gonna read the proclamation, and then we'll take a minute to acknowledge our guests who are here to celebrate with us. Wonderful. All right.

Whereas, the city of Alexandria has a long standing demonstrated commitment to children, youth, and families as articulated in the Children and Youth Community Plan Vision Statement, all of Alexandria's children and youth succeeding today and tomorrow. And whereas youth alcohol use presents significant health, legal and social consequences, and can hinder personal, professional and academic success. And whereas all youth deserve to grow up happy, healthy and substance free. And whereas communities across the country recognize Alcohol Awareness Month each April to increase public awareness of the consequences associated with alcohol use. And whereas the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria partners are committed to preventing youth alcohol use, and promoting positive opportunities for Alexandria's youth.

And whereas the coalition's work contributes to achieving goal one, all children, youth, and families will be physically safe and healthy in the children and youth community plan. And whereas, teen use of alcohol in Alexandria among eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade students decreased 44% between 2016 and 2025. And whereas yeah, right? Whereas most youth in Alexandria report not using alcohol, a trend to get behind. And whereas even small amounts of alcohol impact judgment, coordination and decision making.

And whereas excessive alcohol use is associated with adverse outcomes, including unintentional injuries, violence, and alcohol poisoning. And whereas it takes a community to teach prevention. And whereas as a community, we resolve to educate, inform, and empower Alexandria youth to make informed choices about their health and future, so they have the knowledge and tools to thrive today, tomorrow, and in the years to come. Now, therefore, Sarah Bagley, on behalf of Aliyah Gaskins, mayor of the city of Alexandria, Virginia, and on behalf of the Alexandria City Council, do hereby recognize April 2026 as Alcohol Awareness Month in the city of Alexandria, and call this observance to the attention of all our citizens. In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand, and cause the seal of the city of Alexandria to be affixed this twenty eighth day of April twenty twenty six.

Mayor Leah Gaskins. All right.

Hi. Good evening, everyone. My name is Emma Beal, and I coordinate the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria. We recognize Alcohol Awareness Month through a lot of different ways. We did presentations this week. If you see in the lobby, are some posters that are last Red Ribbon Week's Poster Contest winners, which is a great way to unite and take a stand against drugs. We just recognized our new poster contest winners before this meeting. So if you're back at the Del Pepper Center, you can see that new artwork. And it really does take a community. It takes our school partners, our law enforcement, our rec partners, and our youth.

And we have several youth here. Can you guys wave to show our yeah. We have tons of youth here. We couldn't do this work without them. That poster contest I mentioned, we had over a 135 students submit art that represented what being drug free means to them. So it's an important message to share year round, but

especially in April. My name is Kimi Mohamed. I'm a peer advocate, I'm also a youth board member for SAPCA, so I'm very passionate about this.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Tanika Taylor Tukan with Alexandria City Public Schools. Excited to be here this evening with young people, with our partners at SAPCA, and with our colleagues from across the city who work with us to help prevent substance use with our children and young people. So just thank you all for being here.

Hello, everyone. My name is Daniella Perez Bravo. I'm the community outreach coordinator for Alexandria City Public Schools. And then I support coordinating the Red Ribbon Week poster contest. So we had tons of submissions. It was very hard to choose and make our decision on who the winner was. But we made great choices and highlighted some of the honorable mentions of the pollsters. So we look forward to next year's competition and continue to have more youth involved in participating in the poster contest.

All right. Well, thank you all so much for being here. One of the things I want to lift up is how intergenerational this work is in Alexandria. It's something I'm always touched by when I come to these meetings and when I participate, is the volume of youth that are involved, but then every other touch point in the city, every other age, every other ethnicity. We have everybody committed to this goal, and it's it's really beautiful watching those connections made. So thank you to everybody who participates. I also just wanna note, the eighth, tenth, and twelfth decline, that's when we measure. It's not that ninth and eleventh is out of control or anything, it's that that's when we measure. We measure eight, tenth, and twelfth. It was something I asked the first year when I heard those statistics.

I was like, are we only commenting on those because the others aren't going up? That's the years we measure. So, kudos to everybody who has contributed to that significant decline in alcohol use in our teens. Thank you all for the work that you do every day in the city for the youth that are involved. And with that, Mayor Gaskins, I move the proclamation.

Okay. There has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bagley and a second by Councilman Alnewby. Is there any additional discussion? Councilman Greene. Thank

you, Madam Mayor. I am so sorry, but I was not able to see the youth that are in attendance. And they are so vital to this program. So I would love to see them stand so that we can recognize you, to say that we appreciate you very much. Thank you for your commitment to the goals and to the initiatives, and that we just greatly appreciate you coming tonight and being a part of this. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Green. I do just want to echo I think it was Emma who said it best we couldn't do this without our entire community. And so to our young people, to our partners from ACPS, to I see Alan Lomax and other strong supporters here in the background, as well as some of our staff at DCHS, including our director, Kate Garvey. Just thank you for your commitment. Thank you for continuing to help us raise awareness.

And I was going to lift this up for the manager, but we recently did another art contest. And I learned from the Office of the Arts that what they're doing now with the art is they're scanning every submission so that it can be digitized. And there's a sort of online photo book. And so given how many young people submitted to this competition, I'd love to see if there's a way that maybe we can do that, either for this or for future efforts, so that we can continue to see everyone's artwork and be able to celebrate and find other ways to promote it. With that, there has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bagley and a second by Councilman Al Newby. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it, and the proclamation passes.

Thank you. Okay. Madam Clerk, next item.

All reports from members of city council and boards, commissions and committees, redevelopment. Workgroup, Mayor Gaskins, and Councilman Chapman.

Okay. So the RHA Redevelopment Workgroup met a few weeks ago. We started, as usual, with our development updates. The first update we received was on Cameron Valley. Specifically, ARHA is going to be working with a third party structural engineer in order to review the interior and exterior of all of the units at Cameron Valley. They'll also be looking at the masonry and other conditions along the site. We're really excited to hear that the resident council has completed their election. And they are up and running. And so they're going to be partnering with ARHA on doing some outreach to residents at Cameron Valley. Specifically, I think they're going to be doing a community meeting to talk about this process, to talk about the reports.

And for context for the council, part of this is an update to a previous engineering report that was completed several years ago. But also, I think many of us received an email from a resident expressing concern. And so this is a proactive measure to make sure we have a condition assessment of all of the units at Cameron Valley. We also received an update on both Madden South and Madden North. I think the exciting thing about Madden South that I would highlight is that ARHA is now working with both APD and AFD, the Alexandria Fire Department.

I never usually say it like that. But they are working on a partnership so that our public safety professionals can use the vacant buildings as training sites. And so it's a great opportunity for us to build community partnership, but also provide new training experiences and facilities for our staff as well. We also got an update on the ALLETE. The ALLETE, folks may remember, there were 133 units. 113 are now occupied. Nine are pending. 11 are vacant. And I think two more are I wrote down ADUs. So two more have also been filled as well for a total of 133.

We additionally got an update on the Fresh Start initiative to help clear past balances. Overall, three eighteen households were helped for a total of eight sixty three people, including 100 seniors and three seventy nine children. Finally, we talked about doing a joint meeting between the AARHA board and the city council. And so staff is working to plan that. And the idea would be that we would get an update from the new board on changes that they've made, updates on the CEO search, updates on property management, and other types of issues and concerns that the council has raised.

But also, it would be a chance to check-in on when we appointed new members. We included a new list of expectations for those members, And so to kind of go through how that's moving forward, as well as an update on the ALLETE. There were a number of different conditions put in as part of that project. And so giving an update to both bodies at the same time so we have a chance to ask questions. That's all I have for ARHA. Councilman Chapman, is there anything you wanted to add on

that one?

No, ma'am.

Okay. Madam Clerk, next item.

Legislative subcommittee, Mayor Gaskins and Councilman Chapman.

Okay. The legislative subcommittee met for our last meeting of 2026 last Friday. Just a quick update that we received from our legislative director. Overall, there were 2,400 bills filed in the general assembly. Alexandria staff tracked over six zero eight of those bills.

Of the bills that we were tracking, ultimately three zero eight went to the governor. 60 of them were in our priority areas that we outlined in our legislative package, everything from school funding to housing and community development, as well as some specific projects related to transportation. The governor has until May 22 for action on bills from the reconvene session. The other thing that we talked about was the budget. There's currently not a finalized state budget.

The state has until July 1 to adopt a final budget. We'll continue to advocate for our key priorities, including things like funding for Freedom House Museum, as well as larger efforts like WMATA funding. And then lastly, for everyone's awareness, on May 12, we will receive an update from our legislative director going through this current state of bills and legislation, anything that the governor governor has taken action on since the reconvene session, as well as any of our new mandatory or permissive authorities and their budget impacts. And so we'll have an opportunity to weigh in on, for the permissive authorities, which ones we would like to direct the manager to begin the process to help us implement. And next one, Madam Clerk.

Council of Governments Transportation Planning Board, Councilman Aguirre.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So TPB, we were going over a couple of things. I think the two main things that I wanted to touch, number one was Back to Work Day. We are always very much involved with Back to Work Day. We have it went from, I think, one stop and a couple of people getting together with some coffee one morning in DC to over 100 different stops throughout the DMV. And what I'm trying to pull up, what I'm stalling for is what day it's going to be this year. 05:15. 05:15. Thank you for the assist. And it's a very, very lovely flyer in purple. So

put it

on your calendars, 05:15. Get ready to bike to work. And then the other presentation that we had was the Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan. I touched a little bit on it last month. But basically, we're just trying to make our infrastructure resilient for climate effects and other disasters.

Excuse me. And the last thing that I was going to say, if I could find this, we also discussed the work plan for the DMV Moves initiative. I'm hoping we didn't get a lot of traction down in Richmond this year with the DMV Moves proposals. But I'm hopeful that we will still see something happen because the further we get away from it, my fear is that people will start to forget about it. And it's a really important initiative for our region.

And I want to make sure that we keep it at the front of mind for folks in the DMV. And the last one was just transportation reauthorization, an overview of the Basics Act, how do localities get money, and some of the shifts how some of the money is coming. A lot of it is a lot more focused on shovel ready roads and bridges as opposed to some of the other transit projects and other things that it was utilized in before. But some good little tips for localities and how to receive additional funding from the federal government. And that was TPB.

Madam Clerk, next one.

Library Board Councilman Aguirre.

So the library board, there wouldn't have been much to talk about. But unfortunately, there were some measures taken by the library company between the last meeting and this meeting where the library company took a vote of no faith in one of their board members, removing her from her position on the library board. So we welcomed Peter Schmealy to the library board. However, the Friends of Libraries from all four libraries came to show their disapproval with the decision to remove the library company member. And for the public's knowledge, because a lot of folks don't realize this, the libraries are not actually a city agency.

They're a quasi agency, much like the school system. And the way the board is set up is that three members are appointed by this body, by the city council through a public process. Applications come in. Everyone's able to see those applications. And there are term limits. With the library company board members, those positions are they also get three positions. It is a secret ballot. We receive whoever they appoint. There's no term limits. And there's no applications that I know of or that are shared with the public.

So there is that, unfortunately, going on right now. And unfortunately, was caused because of simply wanting to do this study that we supported last month to see what it would look like if the libraries were to become a full city agency. So a lot of events unfurling very rapidly within the last month. But overall, the libraries are still doing well and moving forward.

Thank you for the update, Councilman Aguirre. Madam Clerk, next item.

City Council general updates. Councilman Aguirre.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. One moment as I pull this up quickly. So on April 15, I was fortunate to stop by Camto's Women Who Move the Nation. It is a wonderful, wonderful breakfast acknowledging women in the transit space and what they're doing to move the nation. And it was the first time that there was an international winner from Toronto. I believe it was the general manager of the Toronto Airport. She had some really good comments. We also had, as a keynote speaker, the chair of the WMATA board. Ms. And Valerie Santos was sharing some of her experiences.

And I just wanted to share really quickly an anecdote that she shared, which was when she was working for the World Bank, she was in a certain country. And being in a space with a lot of men and not really a lot of women, especially not women of color, she walked into the space. And the gentleman that was there, the greeter, was confused why she was there. And she's of Filipino descent. And the comment was, oh, you're Filipino?

I've never seen a professional Filipino before. You're usually just a nanny. So there's a lot that is still happening in modern times and everything. And so it's a good reminder of how much women help to shape the world and to move things forward. And again, with Campto, especially in the transit space, so a lot of very, very inspiring stories from some very amazing women.

On April 17, I was able to stop by the Crystal City entrance to the metro station for a quick topping off ceremony. They put the last pillar in. It was a good time to be had and looking forward to all the improvements we're making across the WMATA system to make it easier to get into the system, in and out of the system. On April 18, I want to give a shout out to the folks at the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria. They had their annual gala, which, as usual, is one of the best times of the year great night, good people, good music, good food. And yeah, it was a good time. And Councilwoman Green and I were at the same table.

You were.

It was a good time.

Yes, it was. Also on April 20, I chaired a meeting to give a presentation on WMATA's proposal for a potential affordable housing project that would go in immediately adjacent to Braddock Metro, where the current kiss and ride is. It was a very good conversation. Councilman Honubi, Councilman Chapman both stopped by. And I think there's going to be a lot of good public input that WMATA is going to go back to the drawing board with and present to the board of directors in a couple of months.

And the last date to give public comment before it goes to the WMATA board will be April 30. So if you haven't checked out the plan, please do so, provide some feedback, and we'll see how the board reacts in a couple of months. On April 22, Councilman Chapman and I were able to stop by the Lyceum for the Alexandre Historical Society's awards. Really, really amazing youth. We gave out four awards.

Each one of them gave a really, really good speech. I was very impressed by all four of them and what history means to them and what they wish to do with history moving forward as they progress into their collegiate careers. On fourtwenty three, it was somber but important remembrance that we had for Joseph McCoy, one of the young boys that was lynched here in Alexandria. We had great remarks from our mayor, as well as a keynote speaker. And many people from the community were able to attend.

On April 24, I was able to I'm going brag a little bit because he's my friend. I was able to go to a promotion ceremony of Brigadier General Jaime Rezaga, who is now major general, two star general in the Army and the Reserve. So congratulations to Major General Jaime Rezaga. And lastly, on April 25, there was a lot going on. The first thing I want to mention is the CTAB bus rodeo.

I believe we had two or three entrants from DASH. And I'm expecting excellent results as soon as I get back with DASH. Also, I want to give a shout out to the Novak Live Well Health Fair put on by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. Did it right. Offering a lot of really great services.

I made sure to check my cholesterol and my sugar levels. I'm doing Okay, but I could do better. So it's always good to have a health fair so that you can make sure that you're maintaining your wellness. And the last thing that I wanted to mention was the Alexander Soccer Association's fundraiser on their riverboat cruise. They even gave away a pair of tickets to a World Cup match. So congratulations to them and their crews. And with that, Madam Mayor, that is my report.

Thank you, Councilman O'Gary. Councilman Greene. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I will try to repeat some of the things that Councilman O'Gary said, but I did have those on my list. Congratulations again to the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.

Forty years amazing for helping students in need in our public education system here in Alexandria. And we look forward to forty more years of helping students. A huge shout out to the eighth grade AVID students at Jefferson Houston K through eight school. I started out talking, going each year to speak with these students when they were in sixth grade when I was a school board member, and then in seventh grade as a city council member, and eighth grade as a city council member as well. And I told them I will follow them through their AVID experience through twelfth grade.

So I look forward to giving this report on them and their progress every single year. I also want to say congratulations to Sandy Marks, who won the city council election this past week. And we look forward to Sandy joining us on the dais and working with her. And then, of course, the Northern Virginia Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Councilman Aguirre and I were there as he reported together. A wonderful day, wonderful community engagement, and we thank them for the work that they do in the Alexandria community. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Green. I have two quick ones. The first, I don't know how to swim. But when staff ask for help, I try and be helpful. And so yesterday, I was at the Four Mile Run kayak launch filming a video welcoming all of you to please join us on May 9 as we officially launch this new resource in our community.

I can tell you if you're terrified like me, you just keep your head straight and you just keep on paddling. But we're going to have all of the community there on May 9. It's a huge celebration and a partnership that we've been able to do with the Four Mile Run Conservancy. You'll have an opportunity to learn more about the launch. You'll have an opportunity to learn more about ways to safely launch your kayak and to meet some of the partners that were a part of this program.

And you can learn more about it on the city's website. The other thing that I want to acknowledge is the city, through the US Conference of Mayors, we are partnering to do the America two hundred fiftieth poster contest. And so thank you to the Office of the Arts, specifically Cheryl Ann and Diane Ruggiero, for helping collect all of the different poster submissions. One of the things I'm really proud of is I learned that other mayors commissioned formal works of arts. We sent ours out to the community.

And we had over two thirty different submissions from kids as young as five all the way to our seniors. So it was really exciting to see all of the different ways that we interpret Alexandria's history and our connection to the nation. I did select a winning poster from one of our artists, Matt. And he happens to be with the Delray Artisans. His poster will go with me to Long Beach to the US Conference of Mayors in June.

It will be pictured across, I guess, with posters from all of the other participating cities and have a chance to compete to represent the entire US Conference of Mayors across the country. So we'll be cheering him on. And I think we're going to find a way to display his poster at our Alexandria birthday celebration. Yes. No, it was very exciting. Two other quick ones. On May 2, I am hosting my next resident roundtable. It'll be at the Beatley Library at 10:00. That's open for any resident who wants to come and talk about an issue or concern. But most importantly, anyone who wants to help us problem solve and bring new ideas, I look forward to welcoming you to that.

And finally, I just wanted to recognize, because this is her last legislative meeting, we have Director Helen McIlavaine of our Office of Housing in the audience. I want to ask if everyone could just give her a round of applause. I know a round of applause barely captures all of the decades work that you have done for our city. But I think it's just so important that we continue to acknowledge and celebrate the impact that you have had that will last for generations, both internally in our city, but on the many, many different affordable housing projects, plans, and efforts across our community. So we're so grateful for you.

We're going to miss you. And I thank you for just being here tonight, Because I'm sure with only one day left, there's other things you could be doing, Helen. But thank you again for your service. And with that, I think that is all of our oral reports. Madam Clerk, next item.

City manager's oral report, Potomac River Generating Station site update.

Okay. I'm going to turn this over to the manager to introduce the presentation, as well as our presenters for the evening.

Good evening, mayor and council and the community. So tonight, really my pleasure to introduce a really pretty exciting project for your consideration, the community's consideration. This is in regard to the Potomac River Generating Station redevelopment. With me tonight we have the developer HRG HRP group in the audience available for your consideration tonight really is an introduction of their proposal to the city, much like what we did with 5,001, where the developer proposed some level of city investment. And we bring this forward to the city council and have a period of time for the public to provide that communication and feedback and input.

I'm also joined tonight with our CEO of our Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Stephanie Landrum Julian Gonzalez from our city's CMO staff, and Bonnie Brown, Deputy City Attorney, are going to help me with the presentation tonight. So today is really the start of a community conversation in regard to this proposal. But what I would highlight is that this is not a new proposal. This project has been with the community at least for the last three, four years with a series of conversations as well as entitlement processes that city councils have taken action on. Has a significant community presence over the last three or four years.

And really what this is about is trying to get this project to construction. If you recall since September of last year, on a monthly basis, we've been providing a economic profile or summary of what's happening with the economy particularly related to national, regional and city economy. And as we're all aware that economy is sluggish. Inflation is up. There's challenges in being able to develop property and develop opportunities and to grow revenue streams that provide necessary services to our community.

It's probably more so now in every four since tomorrow night you'll be hopefully adopting a budget that has a lot of great things in it. But it's dependent upon the ability for revenue to grow in our city. And a big portion of the growth of that revenue is through development growth and property tax growth really through some of these types of projects. This actually will be one of the largest projects the city has undertaken. So with that It's not that short a presentation.

There you go. So tonight we're going to talk a little bit about some background and context to frame the conversation. Stephanie Landor is going to cover how this aligns with our city council priorities and the recently adopted ALEX Forward, which is our economic development strategy. Bonnie Brown is going to describe a little bit about the legal framework for the tool that's being used or being recommended to be used for this. And then I will summarize the developer's proposal for the city investment as well as some next steps as it relates to process and community engagement.

Oh, we also have Paul Stoddard, our planning director, in the audience, and Liz Bolton and Ebony Fleming on the communications side. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Stephanie.

Thank you. So I feel like this is a site that needs very little introduction. It is perhaps one of the most unique sites in the city. But for context, we're talking about almost 19 acres located on the Potomac River. For those of us in the room who have been around for a while, this was an active coal fired power plant not too long ago.

And our community came together to, one, close it down, recognize that this site represents the ability to catalyze a lot of new investment and redevelopment in the Old Town North community. And so following its closure in 2012, the city engaged in a small area plan process, which is what we do when we see areas where there is potential growth and where there's opportunity. And so following the closure and the stopping of the operation of the power plant, we engaged the community in a small area plan that was adopted in 2017. And as part of that 2017 plan, the community envisioned a mixed use development on the site of what was perhaps the dirtiest operating business in the city. Fortunately, after that plan, HRP, which at the time was Hilco Redevelopment Partners, also bought into the vision and came in as the purchaser of this site.

And so since 2020, the city has been working with HRP and their partners to take the Old Town North Small Area Plan vision and turn it into an actual development and reality. And as you all know, that involves going through a rezoning, which was approved in 2022, and the first of its kind coordinated sustainability strategy, which the city council endorsed in 2023. So lots of work so far to get us to where we are. Despite that work, though, there are some unique hurdles that are affiliated with this project and this site. So the obvious is that it was a very dirty industrial use.

And there is a significant amount of remediation and cleanup that needs to take place. And that is very costly to deconstruct, abate, and remediate. But it also requires extensive outside party coordination. We're not familiar with coordinating with outside bodies, but this site perhaps involves the most amount of partners because of its location, because of its previous use, and because of what is adjacent. And so we're talking about everything from environmental quality to FAA because of its location along a flight path to Norfolk Southern because of the rails that used to serve this site and are still adjacent.

So these are very unique circumstances that require a lot of coordination but also translate to cost and time. We have been working diligently with HRP and our partners to see if there is any other body that would be interested in investing in helping with this cleanup. And unfortunately, there has been very limited state and federal grants available. And so all of those things have led to earnest efforts to move this project from plan to construction. At the same time, costs in all things have continued to rise, right, from labor, from products, from construction costs, etcetera.

And so the cost to do all of this has continued to rise. From the commercial standpoint, we have been marketing this site, as the Old Town North Small Area Plan envisions it, as a mixed use community. And we have been trying, again, in earnest to find arts and cultural uses, to find people interested in doing hotel construction and financing, and office tenants. And again, you've heard us many times over recent years, those things are not very they're not making investments in many, many places. But they certainly need to be able to move into communities where there's a project underway or where there's investment already happening.

So that is why we're here tonight to talk to you then about an investment proposal. And so wanted to remind the community and council that before staff brings anything to council, there is a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that what's being proposed or potentially considered is aligned with council priorities, but also other adopted plans. So for eighteen months, we were to have a really meaningful conversation with the community about what economic development looks like, but also how we consider requests for investment. And so the proposal that the city manager and team is about to discuss with you is aligned with the economic development investment decision matrix. That's a mouthful.

But it is part of what we discussed as a community about when and how we consider requests for assistance. And so it is aligned with that. It is also this site is identified in the Alex Forward Plan as a catalyst site. And for your background, catalyst sites are ones where an investment is very likely to catalyze other investment and will create not only tax revenue, but job opportunities, sense of place, in this case cleanup of a site that is of high priority for us. And then the other alignment is with your own priorities.

The two that this specifically speaks to are economic strength, in that it would be taking a defunct site and turning it into a vibrant and tax generating site, but also creating a significant amount of new housing units. So it speaks to your housing opportunities.

So I've got the next couple of slides. In front of you is a simple graphic that really takes a complicated project and tries to identify what the city obligation is, which is on the left side, what the developer obligation is on the right side. The way this would work for the community's sake is there would be a performance agreement in which the obligations would be specifically spelled out with specific time frames, specific guarantees, and the developer would be obligated to achieve those. If they do not achieve those, the funding does not get obligated. So on the city side, the request is for a thirty year use of tax increment financing or a TIF.

The city has used a TIF before. The most recent would be the landmark redevelopment where we have the new Inova Hospital going in. It is a traditional tool that is used. That obligation would be $135,000,000 over a two phase project primarily to cover the

Sorry, Mr. Manager, interrupt. IT, for those who are watching online, they can only see Councilman Chapman's screen. They cannot see the slides.

One second. Okay.

Looks like we're back up and ready.

Okay. So just to reiterate, it's a thirty year tax free increment financing which is a TIF. It's traditionally used as a tool particularly for very difficult redevelopment opportunities that have unique characteristics like this one does. The total obligation, max obligation of the city would be a $135,000,000 over two phases. Again remind everyone this is a performance agreement.

You've got to deliver the project in order for the funding to be achieved. On the developer side, their obligation is to provide basically public infrastructure and site readiness investment which is things like open space, it's the new streets, it's the storm water, all of those things at a 150 and traffic mitigation. Over a $155,000,000 is obligated for that. The developer would be responsible for building the infrastructure, not the city, building the open space, not the city, demolishing the power plant, not the city and completing the remediation, again, not the city. I'd also highlight that given the type of environmental remediation and abatement that's necessary, there are not many firms in the country other than the firm that we're fortunate to be talking with tonight that can both do that type of work as well as the redevelopment.

And I think that's really important because the ultimate goal here is the true environmental cleanup of the property and a quality redevelopment that follows that. And that compounds maximizes the opportunity for our community for everything from the benefits that the open space would provide, the access to the waterfront, the housing opportunities, the ability to take advantage of wonderful amenities. And from a city standpoint, it helps again support city services that are going to be necessary. And the third and I think very important is this investment would unlock roughly a $2,000,000,000 value that the developer would be obligated to create out of the 2,500,000 square feet of mixed use development. And that is very consistent with the previous entitlements and process that has gone on in previous years.

So one other highlight again, DeBoni Brown is going to cover a little bit more about tax increment financing. But just to be really clear to the community, the way that that tool works is that this would not involve any pledges of existing taxes. This would pledge new taxes, new revenue that the developer creates. Again, would not be any of the taxes that we currently use for any city services. It would simply be for new taxes that would be created and based on the development.

The other element here is that unlike city general obligation bonds that are secured by general fund revenues, what's proposed here in terms of that $135,000,000 is the use of community development authority, which would utilize and secure those bonds out of the incremental taxes. So again, they're pledged based on the revenue generated from the site not by any obligation that currently exists from the city. So there's a really good strong protection. This is a little different than in the landmark redevelopment project. The city actually used general obligation bonds which means they were backed by existing taxes.

This is not backed by existing taxes, existing revenue. This would be backed by new revenue. And I think that's really important. And this also, this type of tool does not affect our bond rating and does not affect the capacity of our bond issuance. Next slide.

Good evening, mayor and council. I'm going to just briefly walk through a few more details on the financing structure that's proposed to support the public infrastructure elements of this project. And that's specifically the tax increment financing, or TIF, paired with a community development authority, or CDA. So first, the TIF. As the manager just explained, tax increment financing allows the city to use future new tax revenues that are generated by a project to fund certain project costs.

Importantly, we're going to define those tax sources in the agreements. They'll be limited to only certain tax sources. And no existing city revenues will be used. So the concept is pretty straightforward. If approved, the project would help pay for itself using new tax revenues that it creates.

Second element is the Community Development Authority, or CDA. And a CDA is a separate political subdivision that can be created by localities in Virginia specifically for this kind of purpose. It's authorized by the state code to issue bonds to finance certain project costs. As the manager stated, bonds issued by the CDA would not be a debt of the city. And CDA financing is also limited by state code to effectively limit the kinds of things you can use the revenues for, the proceeds for, like public infrastructure.

So how this works together is pretty simple. The project will generate incremental tax revenues, and that revenue will be directed to the CDA. The CDA would then use those funds to pay debt service on the bonds issued to fund the public infrastructure. And again, as has been stated, it's not a new model. It's been used across Virginia, including here in Alexandria, the Landmark Mall Redevelopment Project, the Mosaic District in Fairfax County, and Boston Quarter in Arlington have all used CDAs to support some major redevelopment projects.

There are several important protections built into this structure for us. First, as has been mentioned, no city revenues are pledged beyond the project itself. The CDA CDAs has also planned to support include a backstop mechanism, would allow the CDA to impose a special assessment on properties within the CDA district. So if there is a shortfall in TIF revenues generated by the project, we could close that shortfall with an additional special assessment on properties within the district. No other properties in the city would be affected, only those within the CDA boundaries.

Second, we have a reimbursement model in place, meaning that bond proceeds would be dispersed to the developer only after work is completed and verified. It's a performance model. So together, these would help ensure that the financial risk remains limited project specific. So just a couple of next steps in terms of process. Step one would be we'll come back to you and request authorization for the city manager to enter into a development and performance agreement. And later, we would be returning to the city council to create the Community Development Authority that requires a petition of property owners and would involve a public hearing and adoption DELL: of an ordinance.

Great. So I have the next couple of slides. So just a little bit on the timing. So as I said, we were talking about really two phases of the project. The first phase is the anticipated completion in 2030 with hopefully a construction start by the end of twenty twenty seven or early twenty twenty eight.

That would include from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen. They're broken up into A, B, C, D, E, and F sections. So phase one would be block A, B, C, and phase one open space. Phase two, which we anticipated roughly four years later, would be Block D, E, and F, the pump house and phase two of the open space. In total, the realization of this plan would encompass two up point 5,000,000 square feet of commercial and residential development with a projected capitalization of over $2,000,000,000 and provide over five acres of publicly accessible open space on the site as well as significant off-site improvements easily totaling over 80,000,000 to $100,000,000 of improvements.

So of our 135, the bulk of that is going to public infrastructure improvements, including parks and open space and amenities that the entire community can benefit from. Currently, HRP is in the planning review process for the first phase development, which includes Blocks B And C, the Waterfront Park, and the Rail Corridor Park. HRP has conducted site tours and led community engagement with neighbors, particularly in the Old Town Alliance and other stakeholders as part of the planning process. And we'll continue to do that through this next effort. Per the CDD, up to 2,000 dwelling units are permitted.

Phase one would include the deconstruction of the power plant, the associated environmental abatement and remediation, the site infrastructure, the open space. So it's a significant large project, 2,500,000 square feet of space. On the infrastructure, there we go. So this slide talks a little bit about the financial plan itself. So I think Bonnie did a great job.

But I want to just reiterate that this type of financing does not risk our city AAA bond rating and does not use existing dollars that the city is currently using for other purposes. These dollars come in through the new, the construction of this project and it facilitates the payment of the 135,000,000 in investment for mostly infrastructure improvements. So this project also includes an affordable housing component. That affordable housing component involves delivery of on-site affordable units including all residential phases of the development. A financial contribution to the Housing Trust Fund.

3P project to construct a dedicated 100 plus affordable housing unit in phase two. And as you can see in the approved CD, the project's affordable housing contributions can be used to help facilitate the on-site affordable housing project. I want to go back. We missed an important slide.

Can you go?

There we go. I think this is a very important slide because it kind of gets from a community standpoint, why would the city do this? Other than the fact this is an incredibly difficult site to develop. It has significant environmental impact to it. It's a large site that has significant public infrastructure necessary.

And it's a very, very difficult site to redevelop. I think this really highlights some of the funds and how they'd be used, roadways and street improvements, utilities, the open space, the deconstruction of the coal fire plant. But the return on investment I think is really important. If you look in the back, at the bottom over the course of this financing period, 1,000,000,000 in gross incremental tax revenues are estimated on this site. That is new gross incremental tax revenues.

Those are dollars that the city does not have today. Those are dollars that can help pay for city services and programs that the overall community benefits from. If you remove the debt service, that $135,000,000 or so with the debt service, the balance of $770,000,000 in cumulative incremental tax revenues for city services come in. So those are funds available to the city to use for purposes to help pay for the types of things that the community expects. And it also provides a pathway of honor and 60 affordable units.

Okay. In terms of the process, again, think this process really started several years ago with our HRP or Hillco at that point. But this is a little bit more specific process to provide the council with an opportunity to make the decision on whether to move forward with a form of investment into this project to get the project under construction and completed. So if you'll notice on the slide tonight, we're really at the introduction of the presentation. Then there's a significant period where the developer has a community meeting on May 4, then AHAC meeting on May 7, and then throughout the entire month of May is a series of conversations and communications including information on our website that people can provide input to.

And then this would culminate eventually to get into to the city council in the June time frame for consideration in regard to the performance agreement. So there's a significant lead time here. But it really does represent an opportunity for the community now to be introduced to the developer's proposal and then the opportunity for the community to provide their input. You can see on the left side where community engagement says alexandriava dot govprgs. You click that, that'll have all the information much like we did for the 5001 Eisenhower as well as some additional information during the course of the engagement to provide to the council for a final decision on this hopefully in June.

Wanted to share a little bit on some of the renderings again. This is sort of what I would describe as the vision, not necessarily the exact construction obviously. But what it really shows is the type of quality and the type of change catalyst that this project can be to the Old Town North area, which is doing amazingly well with a lot of construction already. So just to summarize here, you'll see the QR code which provide for opportunity to provide feedback. HRP is requesting the CE's investment to close this funding gap and to catalyze the redevelopment of the site.

Under this proposal, the city would create the Community Development Authority to issue the bonds and use taxes that are generated by this project to pay that back. The structure would not impact the city's bond rating. It's been used successfully elsewhere. This project would create an environmental remediation and cleanup for a contaminated site on the Potomac River waterfront. It would provide critical public infrastructure that connects the site back to city streets and improves public access, especially along the waterfront, including more than five acres of open space.

It has a $2,000,000,000 in private sector investment resulting in over $770,000,000 in tax revenue over the thirty year bonding period. And it creates more than 1,000 housing units, including approximately 160 affordable. And the first phase is intended to be completed by 2030. And this decision would come before counsel in June. And now has the opportunity to catalyze over $2,000,000,000 in value over time.

So when we use terms like value, we use terms like revenue. What that really is about is particularly in budget discussions and things like that, those dollars can be put into the community to pay for needed support services and support programs. So mayor and council, that's really the summary of the presentation. Again, this was the introduction. We've got a long way to go before it gets in front of you in June. And be happy to take questions or any type of comments. And then we'll continue to proceed as we showed on the slides.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Manager. At this time, I want to open it up to my colleagues to see if there are any questions or

Vice Mayor Bagley. It's really not so much a question. We've been talking about this for a long time. And so I actually I've toured the site. I've been to a lot of community meetings.

I want to commend HRP. I mean, they are like oddly, for nothing having been built yet, they already sort of feel like a part of the community in Old Town North because they're present, I feel like, at so many events. The thing I wanted to just highlight is that I really appreciate is we're not sitting and waiting until conditions change in the hopes that conditions change. And in five years, we'll get I mean, what I really want to applaud here between city staff and everybody who worked on this is we're finding a way to keep this moving. Because those 1,000 housing units are needed yesterday.

And if we wait five years, ten years, until, until, they'll only be more needed and more expensive when they arrive. So I just wanted to express my appreciation for what I think is I know was a lot of effort by many people in our staff and on the HRP side to craft this proposal and with real dates. I mean, 2030 is very real. And to be opening up this is an area where we have not had access to this as Alexandrians sixty plus years. So just that alone is a significant step.

So I'd love to ask a question, but I think the information is there. But I just wanted to lift up that I support this. And it is important, and I hope what the community sees is this is action taken to keep this moving, to accelerate development, and to create housing and commercial activity that would be stalled effectively otherwise indefinitely. Because what I didn't hear really in Ms. Landrum's presentation was, well, or we wait three years, or we have a backup.

I I say that not critically, but I didn't hear sort of the backup. So I support the plan, look forward to the public meetings, and having the proposal come back to us in the future.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Bagley. Councilman O'Noobie.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Question the numbers, just to clarify. We are talking about $2,000,000,000 That's not just this project. That's what's going to be catalyzed by this project, correct?

GREGORY Correct.

GREGORY Okay, great. So the $1,000,000,000 that's just this project, or that's what

GREGORY That's this project.

GREGORY Just this project is going to bring in 1,000,000,000 that we don't have over the course of thirty years?

Yeah, the investment, the development itself will create that. And of that, when you look at what the tax base would be, that's about $770,000,000

Got it. Okay. And then the $2,000,000,000 is the taxes that's going to come in from the catalyzation, or that's the value of the development that's going to occur because of this project?

Mayor, Vice Mayor and Councilman Anuby. I'm Julian Gonzales, Projects and P3 director. So $2,000,000,000 is the investment that the developer will actually put into the project in order to create all that development. That generates a tax base that will result in $1,000,000,000 to the city. And then part of that will go to pay the debt service. And then there's $770,000,000 that will be available to the city to provide city services. Okay,

great. So if we can go to the slide that had the $7.70 and the 1,000,000,000, just

to Which slide?

So there was a slide that

Slide 10. I

think it's Yeah, because I just want know how did we get to $7.70 from 1,000,000,000, and we're putting in 135. So just that the math makes sense for everyone who's looking at this.

So the $135,000,000 is the upfront proceeds. So that will have interest payments associated with that. So roughly, the $1,000,000,000 plus is about 1,100,000,000 And then there's about $300 odd in debt service associated with that for the $135,000,000 So that leads to $770,000,000 So the $135,000,000 results in $320 odd and $1,000,000 in debt service. So $1,100,000,000 subtract the debt service, that leads us to $770,000,000 Okay.

So what we're actually putting into the project from the future proceeds is not 135. It's 135 plus the interest.

The interest related to that.

Okay, just to make that clear. So 135

is what we're taking out in debt.

It's not what we are going to put into this project. Over the course of that. GREGORY Over the course of the thirty years. Got it. 30 grace, yes. GREGORY Thanks for clarifying that. Well, I mean, I certainly appreciate the creativity. I appreciate staff's hard work on that. I think the three things that stood out to me that I want to lift up, it's how doesn't impact our AAA bond rating. That's a great thing. How it's future revenue. We're not using our existing revenue. And that a lot of this money is going to the infrastructure. I think all that really makes me feel good about this. Certainly looking forward to hearing from the community and looking forward to you guys coming back to us. But I just want to lift that up. Appreciate your work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Alnuby. Councilwoman Greene.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I have two subjects. But the first one is on, Ms. Brown, your slides with performance model. Could we go back to that slide? And could you briefly clarify for me, if this project does not perform as expected, what happens?

Yes. So first, to answer the question about the performance and reimbursement model, the developer will be responsible for all the costs up front to put in the infrastructure. And then there'll be progress payment reimbursement from the bond proceeds. So we'll be able to inspect and verify that the work is being done pursuant to all of our plans and specs with the city. And then in terms of your sort of second part of the question, the anticipated completion dates that are up on the slide, we are in the process of negotiating what the enforcement mechanisms would be on that.

But I would highlight that this is broken out into two phases. And the term sheet, as written, does not obligate the city to move forward with phase two if the performance milestones for phase one are not met. So that's one important tool is if you have the optionality to not go the full 135 but to stop at phase one. And basically throughout the process, if timelines are not being met or standards are not being met, benchmarks, we'll be able to have the ability to sort of cease the payments prospectively. So there's the time between phase one and phase two.

And then also even within a phase, if there are issues, we're negotiating terms that would limit what we would reimburse them going forward once if they were out of compliance. We don't expect that to happen. But there will be tools in the agreement.

Yes. Those mechanisms, we will see when this comes to us in June? You

will see them in detail in June. Yes. The specific dates and what those mechanisms will be. There's a line in the summary of the proposed terms that's now live on the city's website that basically says that we're negotiating that and that those enforcement mechanisms will include potentially not proceeding to phase two or stopping any disbursement of funds to the developer. So those two things are in there now. But we'll flesh those out as we move to June, yes. Okay.

Thank you. And Mr. Mandecker, can you talk a little bit about, will any of the affordable housing be placed in phase one? Or whoever can answer that.

So there are about 60 units which are provided across the site, irrespective of the P3 project. Out of that, about 19 units right now identified as a part of the Block B and Block C development. So 19 of those units will be at a minimum, 19 will be part of phase one. Block A right now, we haven't yet started the DSCP process. It depends on what's the residential there.

So that would be proportional. The 100 units is affordable housing building by itself, all affordable building. There's affordable housing kind of strategy plan. I think it has been identified be in phase two. And so what we have created here, which is in the summary term sheet, is a pathway to creating that affordable housing project with a no later than date.

So we have some mechanisms of making sure that developer contributions could be used, that they are provided to the city no later than 2034 with some mechanism, if they're making progress, to kind of get some potential good efforts extension on that. But 2031 is when we are aiming to get all those developer contributions and also any escalation in order to decrease the funding gap on developer contributions from phase one. So that's kind of the framework. More details are provided in the summary, which is online too.

Councilman Chapman.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. A couple of questions I had that I think have started to be teased out. First one I'll I'll go into is, I believe somebody talked about, what would happen if, things weren't good by the end of phase one? What does the project look like if we stop at that point?

Well, phase one would include block A, block B, block C, and a portion of the open space. And the site remediation. So it's pretty balanced between phase one and phase two. That would not be an ideal scenario frankly if we did one phase and left the other. Yeah I think if phase one is successful, phase two will move forward easily given the investment that the developer would put into the project.

Thank you. That answers my question. The second one is, are there any major changes to the lands the economic landscape that we need to be mindful of as we look at this particular deal. You know, if rates change ridiculously, if, you know, things in the White House policy wise change in a particular area, is there threat of really changing the dynamics of what can be So done

that's a great question. I think that's one of the reasons that we're bringing this forward to the council now is to try to we know the current state, at least the short term current state as it relates to interest rates, as it relates to some of those things. I think the market gets uncertain later in the year and later in the federal administration term frankly. So I do think that the things that I think we want to watch very closely, I'm sure the developer is as well, is the supply chains, the cost of what I'll call major construction. What does the labor market look like when they're ready to construct?

The good news is this is a very experienced developer that knows what they're doing and works in very large cities as well. So their ability to manage that is probably more nimble than a small company that does not have that capacity. But I think that it would really be the supply chain. It would be labor. It would be how fast they can finish out their financing to get this project to get under construction.

Okay. Any other questions or comments? Councilman

I just want to say that I'm very excited for this project and to be seeing it move forward. So full steam ahead.

My comments were going to be similar to Councilman Aguirre. I think one of the things that the manager started us with was a reminder that this project is not new. And then when Ms. Landrum went through the timeline, I think the theme came up for me of community. It's the community that came together to fight to take down the plant. It's the community that came together to shape the Old Town North Small Area Plan. It's the community that's been working with HRP in order to design what this would look like and how do you bring that vision to reality. It's a community that came to multiple public hearings and everything for the rezoning. It's a community that came together for ALX Forward. And I think it's that theme that we're asking the community to come join us for again.

This is the introduction, as was stated. There's going to be a number of public meetings and conversations for people to dive into some of these technical terms to understand more clearly what a TIF is, why we use it, and how it's benefited us. And I would just remind people that I think sometimes, in order to do what we want to do for our community and to provide the services that we keep hearing about throughout our budget and all our other conversations, requires us to come together to think of creative ways to spur new opportunity to generate those resources to do those things. And I think a perfect example I get to drive by on the other side of the city every day is what is happening at Landmark and watching the power of what happens when you do leverage community feedback, community engagement, partnerships, and creative tools to move things forward. So I'm really excited for the next phase of the conversation, which is remind folks that the website to go to is alexandriava.gov/prgs.

There, you can find the full timeline. I'm pretty sure you'll probably be able to You'll find this find some other proposed information, as well as opportunities for you to engage between now and June. And then it is in June when the council will be presented with the two actions that were mentioned earlier. First, a direction to the city manager to enter into the agreement, as well as a direction should we choose to go into creating the CDA. So I want to just thank staff.

This And is a lot of work. I want to thank our partners from HRP. I want to thank some of the community members who I know are online because they're the ones who let us know when the PowerPoint was not working. And so I think it's just a reminder of how much this project means to our city and the opportunity we have to recognize not only the environmental impacts, but a chance to activate a new space for us. So more to come. But thank you all for the Madam Clerk, next item.

Roll call consent items 10 through 13.

Madam Mayor.

Councilman Aguirre.

I'd move roll call consent with the exception of item number 13.

Okay. Is there a second?

Second.

Madam Clerk, there has been a motion by Councilman Aguirre and a second by Vice Mayor Bagley to move roll call consent items 10 through 12. This is a roll call vote. Please call

the roll.

Councilman Aguirre.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Bagley. Aye. Mayor Gaskins. Aye. Councilman Chapman. Aye. Councilman El Nubey. Aye. Councilwoman Green.

Aye. Okay. The ayes have it. Madam clerk, next item.

Consideration of a resolution authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds by the Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority for the rehabilitation of the Ledray project.

Councilman McGarry, would you like a presentation?

Yes, Madam Mayor. If the counsel is willing, I would like a short presentation just given how much we've been paying attention to the Ledray project, what the original project we had taken in and thought that we were going to get, and now what we are working on currently. Yes.

Okay. So then I'm going to turn it over to our staff from the Office of Housing. And then also want to acknowledge that we do have, I think, a representative from AARHA here as well and wind companies as needed. Great.

Good evening. Deputy director of the office of housing. And Helen McLevin, the outgoing director, is here with us. And as you mentioned, Sarah Mohammad from Archae is in the room as well as Alex Pereira from Wind Development. And we have Michael Graff on the phone in case there are any detailed questions on the bond issuance.

So this presentation is the same presentation the development team presented to the ARHA board when they seek their approval of the bond issuance. This slide is straightforward. It's an introduction of the team that has been working on the project for a long time. We and companies with IBF together partnered and with together are the development team on this project. So the main goal of the project is to preserve the affordable housing units.

What is very unique, which you will see on the follow-up slides, is some of the studios are eliminated. So now there are larger two bedroom units to accommodate people who need living aids. So there is a little bit of layout, a reconfiguration to optimize the unit and building usage. So modernizing the development was very important. You can see here the 10 new two bedroom, two bath units highlighted.

And then there are additionally 17 fully accessible units, which exceeds the minimum requirement of 5%. And there are new bedroom units that were added in the next to the elevator on the 1st Floor. The 1st Floor reconfiguration was also very important to include additional amenity space and visual connections from the front to the back of the office, as well as a security desk and management offices. And the team took full advantage again of the amazing views of the 11th Floor to create a smaller resident lounge space at the top of the building. And there will be updates to the outdoor space as well, where there are going to be shaded areas and areas where residents can enjoy.

This is Sarah on the picture. The team has done a great job keeping updated the residents who live in Alate of the redevelopment of Ladre as some of them may choose to return. So the new Ladre Building will be fully renovated with 159 renovated one and two bedroom apartments and a new set of modernized amenities, both from the interior and the exterior of the building. A little bit of what this request is, because we talked about bonds earlier as well, those are not general obligation bonds. Those are private activity bonds that will be repaid fully from the project.

It is a requirement when you do a 4% deal to use tax exempt bonds. Virginia Housing also issues the bonds, but their financing model is a little more expensive and would have created a bigger gap on the project. So the team wants to utilize, rightfully so, the ARHA model that creates larger debt capacity. So if you approve that today, the team will be able to apply to Virginia DHCD for the volume cap. And this is the full schedule.

And following your approval, they will apply to DHCD for the bond cap with a goal of closing of the financing and starting construction by year end. And that concludes the presentation. But I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Thank you for the presentation. I'll open it up to questions and comments. Vice Mayor Bagley. A

little bit of a tangential question. But I'm curious if once renovated, would it be available as a polling site again? Before the pandemic, we used to vote at L'Oldrei. I'm just curious. I know that's a bit of a left field question, but it dawned on me

as Yeah. No No objections. Happy to. But don't know how it worked before. You're okay.

Yeah. Let's have you, Ms. Mohamed, come to the front.

We're definitely happy to consider it as an option because I'm not sure how the polling site worked before, but the spaces are reconfigured. But we'll have some big open spaces.

No, I mean, think it was ideal in some ways because it's an ADA accessible building and the seniors obviously could vote very easily on-site. And as a person who's currently floating around as an Old Town North resident in Charles Houston, I just wanted to put it out there as you guys are completing the renovation thoughts just to have an eye towards that. I think it's a great benefit for the tenant, certainly. I'm curious, one slide back, were talking through the credit competition process. The time frame I guess, what have we done to maximize our competitiveness in the 4% market?

Can we just speak to are redesign are some of these things designed to sort of increase our competitiveness for what you're pursuing here? So those bonds

have to do with cap allocations based on specific categories. This will go under the public housing category. This is not the competitive process that we do for other 94% deals. Virginia DHC has already provided $5,000,000 to this project. There was a congressional appropriation. So the team has been working very actively to fill in the gaps. And so in this case, I don't think there are anything that hasn't happened to increase the competitiveness of the project.

Okay. I'm sorry. When I was listening to the presentation, I thought I heard a reference to 4%. So I wasn't sure if were still competing in that space. I'm excited by I agree, I think, in this housing space, the need for those two bedroom units and for live in aids is obviously a growing need.

I appreciate the way you went through the presentation rather quickly. We did get a lengthy presentation two years ago, I think, on the condition of the building and the concerns with the renovation. And I just think if we're pausing to have this conversation, I wouldn't mind if you're able to just speak to how the second go around here confident that the concerns that were raised we had a lot of residents come in and sort of express the condition of the building. And this feels designed to address some of what those complaints were about studios, about amenity spaces, things like that. But there were also some concerns about just the ability to renovate the building.

And so if you could just speak a little bit to why you're confident now that this is the right approach.

Yes. And you're right. There was an application to HUD in which they determined the building obsolete. To clarify, HUD's definition of obsolescence does not mean that the building is not structurally sound. It has a different definition.

So in order for the building to be renovated, the development team did have to have a structural report. And as part of the scope, all the systems will be modernized. So the building there will be new HVAC systems, new windows, new elevators. So all the basic structures of the building are included on the scope of work that will be modernized. I ran through, because of the exciting images and fixing the base structure of the building and then moving to the actual redesign of the lobby area, of the units, and of the upper floors is also included on the scope.

I appreciate you clarifying. I think for all those tenants who showed up and for all the advocacy in the community that the obsolescence that you referred to is a standard that obviously does not apply if you are doing all of the work that the development community now plans to do in the building. So I'm excited. I'm supportive of this. I don't want the question to imply otherwise. I just thought we owed that to the community to make clear that we really had reevaluated the situation.

Yeah, yeah. And I do want to clarify, in case I wasn't sure. Obsolescence for what means that the building cannot be used for its intended purposes, not that the structure is obsolete. So it wasn't working, as you mentioned, anymore having good housing conditions. But being renovated allows this to continue as such.

And I just want to build upon I think Vice President Bagley raises a really good point. We did have so much concern and so many community conversations. I will say that one of the things Councilman Chapman and I have been constantly asking and Ms. Mohamed can attest to this at every one of the ARHA work group meetings for more information. And so we can circulate to the council.

But ARHA did go back and have a structural engineer do a report that went through not only all of the systems, but structures to kind of do a re review as to whether or not a renovation could be supported. Ms. Muhammad, I feel like there were several other documents you sent as well. But I do want the public to know that that was also part of the due diligence, not only by us, but I think by the development company as well, to confirm whether or not this could go forth as currently envisioned. I think Councilman McGarry had to stand up. Councilman McGarry.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The vice mayor actually took two of my four questions. So thank you for that because polling locations are very important in the city. And when we're doubling up at Charles Houston, it makes it a little bit more difficult. And of course, as the vice mayor had mentioned, it just makes it so much easier when our older residents and residents with disabilities can literally just go downstairs and vote.

It's a very big deal. The structural issues, also a very big deal. The other two things that I wanted to ask about really liking some of the amenities that are being added. We were also originally talking about just utilization amenities, like a pharmacy or health services, I think, is on here. So can you expand a little bit more on that, if there's going to be space available for that?

Right now, there's no space for a pharmacy. There's a library, business center. Will be on-site WEN has a nonprofit connected community. So they'll be an on-site supportive services provider. They'll still be blood pressure machine, the little kind of clinic, if you may, that we have at Ledray that the public seem to the Ledray residents seem to like.

We are bringing back the fitness room. Funny enough, the biggest request is the pool table. So we are bringing back a pool table. And we're actually talking about just some of the amenities, like having a children's play area for grandkids to visit and other spaces like that, but nothing really commercial.

Yeah. I think it's a little bit of a missed opportunity. But I do appreciate to hear that there's going to be some type of health something there, whether it's folks coming in or some of the blood pressure machines and other things that the residents will be able to take advantage of. And then the last thing I wanted to ask about was the resident right to return. So is there going to be a group? Or who's going to be in charge of being able to communicate with all the former residents to say, hey, you could come back, and what the assistance will look like to be able to come back?

So every resident who lived at Ledray has a right to return. And so we utilized our relocation company, Housing to Home. And so we've remained in contact. We've even had community meetings with all these residents to just show updates on the plans. So once the building's ready, projected to be ready six months before, we'll start contacting everyone and see who's interested in coming back. It would be no cost to the residents to come That's where you are going.

You caught me, yes. That is where I was going. So with that, Madam Mayor, those are all my questions. Now I move approval of this item.

Second. Okay. There has been a motion by Councilman Aguirre and a second by Vice Mayor Bagley to move approval of item 13. Any further discussion? All right. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, this is a roll call vote. Please call the roll.

Councilman McGarry. Aye. Vice Mayor Bagley. Aye. Mayor Gaskins. Aye. Councilman Chapman. Did he say

Councilman Chapman, can you say your

second? Aye.

Thank you. Councilman L. Newby? Aye. Councilwoman Green?

Aye. The ayes have it. Thank you. Madam Clerk, next item.

Consideration of the city's draft FY 2027 to FY twenty thirty one five year consolidated plan for housing and community development and draft one year action plan to enable head FY 2027 funding.

Great. And Kim Kadena joined us. She's a housing analyst from our team who prepares our annual action plans and our reports to HUD. A little bit of context. We prepare these plans every five years and also every year. So you will see us in front of you every year. HUD sends us a letter. And this year, it came early. So we know exactly how much of our HOME funds and of our CTBG funds we will receive. Those are provided on a formula basis.

We don't really do something to apply. There is a formula HUD uses that tells us how much we will get. And for the next year, we will get 1,055,741 of CTBG and 5 and $88,008.74 of home funds. So we have prepared this plan based on HUD's guidelines to submit it the next few weeks so we can receive the funds over the summer. So the consolidated plan is just that, a plan that describes the use of the federal sources at EPG and HOME over the five years.

We receive about $1,000,000 a year. We receive about $590 of HOME every year. Those numbers are very steady. So from year to year, they change very little. Home funds must go towards housing activities. With CDPG, most of them go towards construction and rehab projects. But we have some other services we're able to fund. So in order for us to submit the plans, we look at different data and we prioritize needs. We outline the goals, the projects, and the activities. We did have the benefit this year in working on the housing 2040.

So we were really just able to highlight that process and base this plan on the housing 2040 findings. So the goals for the next five year plan are around attainable housing, housing housing stability, and enhanced community services as big buckets of goals that we identified as the most critical and also those that can be addressed based on what those funds are allowed to be used for. So specifically, because we are submitting our five year plan with the goals, but we are also outlining in this plan what we're going to do the next fiscal year with these funds. We're going to continue the home and building rehabilitation programs that our office has. So we have home rehabilitation loan programs.

That is for individual homeowners, rental rehabilitation programs, and then what we call our RAN program, the Rental Accessibility and Modification Program. Rental rehabilitation is mostly for multifamily affordable housing properties. Under our partnership with TCHS, this year we were able to add the street outreach activities. So we will be supporting that with city BG funds. You are very familiar with the Wintershelter one.

And we are also continuing the support of the transitional assistance program, TAP, that you know. One more activity that we are able to include this year is the youth summer employment training. Again, those were based on a lot of things we heard during the housing 2040 engagement process and the alignment with those funds. And we will continue also doing our fair housing testing. And this is a chart that shows how the CTBG allocation will happen for fiscal year 'twenty five.

One thing I want to highlight is that only where you see it there that says other 15%, this is because these funds are the public service categories that you see on the right. And there is a cap from hand on how much of CTBG funds we can use. Only 15% can go towards public service. And 20% can go towards administrative costs.

Councilman Aguirre.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Real quickly, the fair housing testing, can you remind me, do we do some of that in multiple languages? Or is it done in multiple languages?

Yes. Yes. And there is an event on Thursday night that I hope you have heard that our team is organizing.

It's wonderful. I'll try to make it.

And a little bit of what our home funds do. We use them for both housing development of affordable housing and also for down payment assistance. We are currently in the process of closing on 40 new affordable homeownership opportunities where future homebuyers will be receiving down payment assistance funded from the HOME program. And this is very simple as we could make the chart on how we're going to use our fiscal year 'twenty seven funding, which is pretty much everything we talked about. And on the column on the right that says measures, what we are projecting to accomplish based on the usage of those funds.

So we seek again tonight your approval to submit this plan to HUD so they can release the funds to the city later in the summer. Thank

you for the presentation. Vice Mayor Bagley.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Before I move to approve the draft plan, the goal to do six household renovations, I think, is on the last slide. I really like that slide, actually. You said it was I think it distills a lot of information in here. The home rehab loan program has a target of six houses. Can you all remind me how many we've done in past years? Is that a growth goal? Is that a

That goal is based on how much money we have available. And it captures only the work we can do with the CTBG money. So we are not really working towards what we would like to do. We're working towards on how far that bucket of money can get you based on how much it costs per unit.

And has that I guess the other way to ask that is, is that number going down because the dollars don't go as far?

Yes. It is going down.

Okay. That's

In the last five years, it went down a little bit also because of COVID and people not wanting construction in their homes. There was a gap in the activity. But as construction costs are going back, this is going down a little bit.

Okay. No, I appreciate that. Are there opportunities to partner with the Office of Climate Action and our stormwater credit program that if we're going to be in houses sort of doing this kind of work, does that sort of cross interdepartmental conversation happen?

It has started happening. And we hope after the budget season and all of that to sit down and see where the synergies exist.

Yeah. That would be great because I think if we are talking to homeowners,

would be

great to do as much as we can at one time and maximize these opportunities to renovate those homes. Well, thank you for putting this together. I appreciate the question about language testing. My understanding is we've also added form of payment as a fair housing testing as well. And so I'm glad to hear that that continues, I guess, to be in our testing model. With that, I think if I haven't moved to approve the draft plan, I move to approve. Second.

All right. And I'm going to assume that it is for all of the actions of the draft consolidated plan, the draft action plan for both. And so there has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bagley and a second by Councilman Anuby. There is further discussion. I know Councilwoman Green had a question.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Could you briefly explain to me the youth employment training and how that relates to the summer youth

employment program? Yes. We will partially fund the work of one full time member

One student.

To work no, a member to work with the youth, to work with the youth during their workforce development summer training.

So they learn about housing?

No, it doesn't have this is under the public service category, where we are able to fund salaries of other agencies so they can deliver a service. So when we work, for example, with the housing crisis outreach worker, like that will be a DCHS worker who will do outreach to population that experiences or is about to experience homelessness. The youth employment program is about working with our workforce development group, that they will have someone working with youth helping them enhance their skills.

The youth workforce development also ties into one of the goals and strategies in the Housing 2040 plan about economic mobility. So that's another place where we were trying to put the plans together. Okay. I guess I don't fully WONG: understand. But if it's helping youth, I am so good with it.

Okay.

JULIE Because I want to clarify, is not money directly going to youth for someone who will work with the youth?

Work within the programs that then That's right. I got it. Okay. Thank you. I had a quick comment.

I just want to pick up on something the vice mayor had mentioned about opportunities to partner and highlight, while it's not specific to this program, something we did not talk about when ARHA was sitting here is that there's now and Auspicia can correct me if I'm wrong but there's now a working group of ARHA, the Office of Housing, DCHS Code Enforcement, and the Office of Climate Action. They're meeting. And quarterly, we'll be giving a presentation to the city work group on opportunities to coordinate across all of those programs and do exactly what you mentioned, at least for our public housing stock, on how do we make sure when we're doing renovations or engagement that we're making residents aware of all of the different housing related programs. And also feeds into and Mr. Manager might have to correct me.

I always get the name wrong. But as part of our Health and Safety Committee, we have a task force that is specifically focused on some of our multifamily properties and is coordinating oh god, what is the name of it?

SHARE, SHARE, Yes. What does this remind me what SHARE, Sam?

Safe. Safe,

how we'll get back to you. But you should know that we are working to pull together a multi agency strike force, that when we are interacting with a resident in their home, that we are having eyes. And that broader task force has APD, AFD, and other departments as well. So more to come. I did have one question. My question was, can you speak a little bit more about the formula specifically? And I'm curious because one of the things we know is our need is going up. Our population is going up. All of these things that I imagine would be factors in a formula are changing. But our numbers are not going up or making any significant movement.

So I guess what other factors is HUD plugging into that formula that I guess, isn't changing for us that doesn't allow for us to get more funds?

Yeah. So for city bridges specifically, there are two formulas HUD uses. One intends to favor cities that have a growing poverty ratio. And the other intends to favor cities that have a declining population. So although it feels like the need is growing in Alexandria, which it does, it grows more in other cities. So their ratios look more skewed. So in theory, the fact that the city budget allocation goes down talks about the city's overall stronger position, although the need is still very high. And so HUD looks at those formulas and gives you the most from both.

Got it. Okay. So because our poverty ratio is not going down and our population is not declining, we are not in a place to, I guess, by function of changing demographics and geography That's right. Yes, demographics, we're not in a place to be eligible for more funds. Correct. Understood. Mr. Manager.

Share is safe housing alert response and engage update.

Thank you, I appreciate I would have never got that. Yeah. No, we might have to talk about that in the next meeting, Councilwoman Green. Okay. Are there any additional comments or questions? Okay. Seeing none, there has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bagley and a second by Councilman Al Nubey. Madam Clerk, this is a roll call vote.

Please call the roll.

Vice Mayor Bagley. Aye. Councilman Al Nubey. Aye. Mayor Gaskins. Aye. Councilman Aguirre. Aye. Councilman Chapman.

Aye.

Councilwoman Green. Aye. Alright. The ayes have it. Thank you. Madam clerk, next item.

Consideration of city council schedule. No different. Second.

Alright. There has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bagley and a second by Councilwoman Green to approve the city council schedule. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Alright. The ayes have it. Is there a motion to adjourn?

Move to adjourn. Second.

All right. There has been a motion by Vice Mayor Bangley and a second by Councilwoman Green to adjourn tonight's meeting. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it. We are adjourned at 08:54.

And we will be courteous by communicating in a respectful and productive manner at each interaction. Alex 311 connects you to every city department for a variety of service and information requests. From streets and sidewalks to refuse collection, park maintenance, tree requests, and more. Alex 311, connecting you to city services.

I show respect to people by considering their feelings.

I show respect to others by considering their unique opinions.

I respect my friend Cooper because we both have respect for each other and I trust him a lot.

I respect my dad because he's really nice and successful.

I respect my friends because because they got my back at all times.

I respect others by being kind.

Someone I respect is my mother because throughout my hiccups, you know, she was still there to make sure that I came up front, you know, to try and accomplish everything that I wanted to do.

Respect my friend Blake for being such an honest and caring man.

I respect my friend Cesar because he always tries his best for his family.

I show respect by being polite to others.

I show respect to my parents because they provide

for me.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

I show respect by listening to others when

they need it. The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Everyone's so supportive that detectives are like, if there's anything you need help writing a search warrant, you wanna learn how to do something new, reach out to me. I'll help you do it.

Transition. Five. Good.

I'm a midnights officer, so I I am on patrol. I've worked my own cases. I've learned a lot, a lot more than I thought I would, and I'm actually really grateful for having the opportunity.

I feel supported in this department by not only, like, my shift peers, but by my sergeants. And any time where I'm going through a difficult situation, it's at home or on a case, they've always been very eager to help me. So I felt like my voice was heard and valued.

Respect is being kind and showing kindness to those who need it the most.

I define respect as acknowledging someone's boundaries and sticking to them.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Something that is important to me is helping students who don't know English because I know how hard and challenging it is to learn a new language. Therefore, I am helping with a nonprofit to teach students who don't know English to learn.

Football is important to me because it brings a lot of friendship and a brotherhood.

I can show respect for myself by always maintaining a positive mindset and never saying bad things to myself.

Substance abuse could make you fall short on

the goals you got for yourself.

Substance abuse can affect us or a school community by damaging our brains and just making us the person that we're not supposed to be.

Substance abuse negatively impacts our school and our community because it can lead you down the wrong path and creates unhealthy habits.

Have you ever thought about how Alexandria funds services like schools, parks, roads, and public safety? The answer is through the city's budget. This allows the city to budget funding to keep city services operating. The city's budget has two main parts. The operating budget covers everyday expenses like employee salaries, supplies, and equipment.

The capital improvement plan focuses on larger long term projects like repairing streets, renovating buildings, and improvements to parks and fields. Every fall, city leaders begin the budget process by forecasting the year ahead at their annual city council budget retreat. Here, they project the city's income and expenses including things like property taxes and personnel costs. Next, city council gives guidance to the city manager on what should be prioritized in the budget. Budget.

Then city departments and city leaders work on proposals that align with those priorities. After this, the city manager releases the proposed budget and capital improvement program, a draft operating budget and ten year capital improvement program for the city council and the community to consider.

The community also plays a

big role. Residents can share their ideas and feedback at public hearings, meetings, and even through emails or social media starting in the spring. After gathering input, city council reviews the proposed budget and makes adjustments. This process is called add delete, where changes are made based on city needs and available funds. In April, the final budget is approved, setting the tax rates and city spending for the upcoming year.

The new budget goes into effect on July 1, keeping Alexandria moving forward. And that's how Alexandria creates and manages its budget to support the services we rely on every day. For more information on the city's budget and how you can get involved, visit alexandria v a dot gov slash budget.

Respect is being kind and showing kindness to those who need it the most.

I define respect as treating everyone with positive regard no matter their opinions, their race, their culture.

Respect is treating people how they deserve to be treated.

I define respect as treating someone the way you want to be treated and allowing someone to do what they need to do.

I define respect as admiration towards someone's qualities.

And I think respect means like you won't be like stick with somebody through thick and thin.

I define respect as acknowledging someone's boundaries and sticking to them.

I define respect as taking into consideration others feelings and emotions.

Respect to me means showing kindness to others. Respect means to

me being kind and fair to everyone in my community.

I define respect as caring for the people and place around you and treating people the way you wanna be treated.

Welcome to the heart of Alexandria, Market Square and City Hall. I'm Dan Lee, and today, I'd like to take you on a journey through the history of this remarkable site. City Hall was built on this site designated for a market and town Hall when Alexandria was founded back in 1749. From the very beginning, the space was designed to be a center of community life. The original building burned down in 1871, but it paved the way for this beautiful structure you see today designed by Adolphe Cluse.

The tower you see behind me is a reconstruction of a design by the famous architect Benjamin h Latrobe from 1817. Over the years, City Hall has evolved, once housing everything from a Masonic lodge to police and fire stations, and now serves as the administrative hub for Alexandria's government. Market Square remains a vibrant space for residents and visitors alike, come to farmers markets, public events, and is a reflection of Alexandria's rich history. And now, City Hall is undergoing another transformation as we make much needed updates better serve the community for generations to come. After many years of service, major updates are needed throughout city hall to repair aging building components, optimize space, and improve security.

The city hall renovation project will provide a revitalized, safe, and sustainable environment to better serve city staff, Alexandria residents, and visitors as well. If you are interested in learning more about the renovation project or providing input on the future design of Market Square, visit alexandriava.gov/cityhall.

Something that is important to me is my family.

My mom's way apart because she supports me.

My family is important to me because they help me

through times when I'm down.

I care about my friends and family because they're there when I need them to be.

My friends are important to me because they're very nice and always cool to talk to.

Football is important to me because it brings a lot of friendship and a brotherhood to each other.

I can show respect for myself by always maintaining a positive mindset and never saying bad things to myself.

I can show respect for myself by treating my body like a temple and just always kind of, you know, treating myself nice. One thing important to me is sleep coming from an insomniac. I do like it and when I just can fall asleep, like, at the right time. It's a great help, really.

My religion is really important to me because it keeps

me happy and it keeps me grounded.

Something that is important to me is helping students who don't know English because I know how hard and challenging it is to learn a new language. Therefore, I am helping with a nonprofit to teach students who don't know English to learn.

Part of the city hall renovation is the renovation of Market Square, which holds the Old Town Farmers Market. The 100 block of North Royal Street from King Street to Cameron Street as well as Tavern Square or yard. There's no way a customer could miss where the market is gonna be located. Where they're going in the temporary market is directly adjacent to where they are now and have been for the last two hundred and seventy years. What they'll see is a different arrangement but the same vendors.

So vendors may be located in different spaces than they currently are, but they will be there. We will have parking available at Tavern Square as well as the courthouse garage, which is directly across the street, as well as on the street. So Pitt Street, Cameron Street, and all the streets surrounding Tavern Square. We're really looking out for not only the customers that frequent the farmer's market, but the vendors themselves. We wanna make sure that we bring their customers, make sure their customers know where they are so they can continue to thrive and the market can continue to thrive.

Substance abuse creates a dangerous school environment for the kids at our school.

Substance use impacts our school environment because it creates a unsafe and unwelcoming learning environment here.

Substance abuse negatively impacts the health and safety of my community.

Substance abuse affects my school community by making my peers less focused on their grades and their schoolwork.

Substance abuse affects our school community by decreasing our school morale.

Substance abuse could make you fall short on

the goals you got for yourself.

Substance abuse can affect us or a school community by damaging our brains and just making us the person that we're not supposed to be.

Substance use impacts our community by having bad work turned in late.

Substance abuse affects, my school community because it gives bad habits to school students. Substance abuse negatively impacts our school and our community because it can lead you down the wrong path and creates unhealthy habits.

The city of Alexandria provides Alex three one one to connect you to more than 175 city services in a variety of convenient ways. The 311 mobile app and website allow you to attach photos and specify the location of service requests. Call 311 from anywhere in Alexandria or submit requests on Facebook, Twitter, and in person. When a service request is submitted, you'll receive an email including a summary of the details, an expected response date based on the request type, and the request number to track progress on the mobile app or website. City staff will provide the requested services or information whenever possible, and you will receive email updates along the way.

Once your request is closed, you will be asked to complete a survey to tell us about your experience using Alex three one one and how well we fulfilled our commitment to being professional, accountable, responsive, and courteous. We will be professional by delivering competent and high quality service even under pressure. We will be accountable by providing accurate and reliable information, keeping you informed and honoring our service commitments. We will be responsive by prioritizing work appropriately and working efficiently to get it right the first time. And we will be courteous by communicating in a respectful and productive manner at each interaction.

Alex three one one connects you to every city department for a variety of service and information requests. From streets and sidewalks to refuse collection, park maintenance, tree requests, and more. Alex 311, connecting you to city services.

I show respect to people by considering their feelings.

I show respect to others by considering their unique opinions.

I respect my friend Cooper because we both have respect for each other, and I trust him a lot.

I respect my dad because he's really nice and successful.

I respect my friends because because they got my back at all times.

I respect others by being kind.

Someone I respect is my mother because throughout my hiccups, you know, she was still there to make sure that I came up in front, you know, to try and accomplish everything that I wanted to do.

I respect my friend Blake for being such an honest and caring man.

I respect my my friend Cesar because he always tries his best for his family.

I show respect by being polite to others. I show respect to my parents because they provide for me.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

I show respect by listening to others when they need it. The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Everyone's so supportive that detectives are like, if there's anything you need, help writing a search warrant. You wanna learn how to do something new, reach out to me. I'll help you do it.

Transition. Pause. Good.

I'm a midnights officer, so I I am on patrol. I've worked my own cases. I've learned a lot, a more lot than I thought I would, and I'm actually really grateful for having the opportunity.

I feel supported in this department by not only, like, my shift peers, but by my sergeants. And any time where I'm going through a difficult situation, whether it's at home or on a case, they've always been eager to help me, so I felt like my voice was heard and valued.

Respect is being kind and showing kindness to those who need it the most.

I define respect as acknowledging someone's boundaries and sticking to them.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Something that is important to me is helping students who don't know English because I know how hard and challenging it is to learn a new language. Therefore, I am helping with a nonprofit to teach students who don't know English to learn.

Football is important to me because it brings a lot of friendship friendship and a brotherhood.

I can show respect for myself by always maintaining a positive mindset and never saying bad things to myself.

Substance abuse could make you fall short on

the goals you got for yourself.

Substance abuse can affect us or our school community by damaging our brains and just making us the person that we're not supposed to be.

Substance abuse negatively impacts our school and our community because it can lead you down the wrong path and creates unhealthy habits.

Have you ever thought about how Alexandria funds services like schools, parks, roads, and public safety? The answer is through the city's budget. This allows the city to budget funding to keep city services operating. The city's budget has two main parts. The operating budget covers everyday day expenses like employee salaries, supplies, and equipment.

The capital improvement plan focuses on larger long term projects like repairing streets, renovating buildings, and improvements to parks and fields. Every fall, city leaders begin the budget process by forecasting the year ahead at their annual city council budget retreat. Here, they project the city's income and expenses including things like property taxes and personnel costs. Next, city council gives guidance to the city manager on what should be prioritized in the budget. Then city departments and city leaders work on proposals that align with those priorities.

After this, the city manager releases the proposed budget and capital improvement program, a draft operating budget and ten year capital improvement program for the city council and the community to consider.

The community also plays a

big role. Residents can share their ideas and feedback at public hearings, meetings, and even through emails or social media starting in the spring. After gathering input, city council reviews the proposed budget and make adjustments. This process is called add delete where changes are made based on city needs and available funds. In April, the final budget is approved setting the tax rates and city spending for the upcoming year.

The new budget goes into effect on July 1, keeping Alexandria moving forward. And that's how Alexandria creates and manages its budget to support the services we rely on every day. For more information on the city's budget and how you can get involved, visit alexandriava.gov/budget.

Respect is being kind and showing kindness to those who need it the most.

I define respect as treating everyone with positive regard no matter their opinions, their race, their culture.

Respect is treating people how they deserve to be treated.

I define respect as treating someone the way you want to be treated and allowing someone to do what they need to do.

I define respect as admiration towards someone's qualities.

And I think respect means like you won't be, like, stick with somebody through thick and thin.

I define respect as acknowledging someone's boundaries and sticking to them.

I define respect as taking into consideration others feelings and emotions.

Respect to me means showing kindness to others.

Respect means to me being kind and fair to everyone in my community.

I define respect as caring for the people and place around you and treating people the way you wanna be treated.

Welcome to the heart of Alexandria, Market Square and City Hall. I'm Dan Lee, and today, I'd like to take you on a journey through the history of this remarkable site. City Hall was built on this site designated for a market and town hall when Alexandria was founded back in 1749. From the very beginning, the space was designed to be a center of community life. The original building burned down in 1871, but it paved the way for this beautiful structure you see today designed by Adolphe Cluse.

The tower you see behind me is a reconstruction of a design by the famous architect Benjamin h Latrobe from 1817. Over the years, City Hall has evolved, was housing everything from a Masonic Lodge to police of fire stations, and now serves as the administrative hub for Alexandria's government. Market Square remains a vibrant space for residents and visitors alike, home to farmer's markets, public events, and is a reflection of Alexandria's rich history. And now, City Hall is undergoing another transformation as we make much needed updates to better serve the community for generations to come. After many years of service, major updates are needed throughout city hall to repair aging building components, optimize space, and improve security.

The city hall renovation project will provide a revitalized safe and sustainable environment to better serve city staff, Alexandria residents, and visitors as well. If you are interested in learning more about the renovation project or providing input on the future design of Market Square, visit alexandriava.gov/cityhall.

Something that is important to me is my family.

My mom's way apart because she supports me.

My family's important to me because they help

me through times when I'm down.

I care about my friends and family because they're there when I need them to be.

My friends are important to me because they're very nice and always, cool to talk to.

Football is important to me because it brings a lot of friendship and a brotherhood to each other.

I can show respect for myself by always maintaining a positive mindset and never saying bad things to myself.

I

can show respect for myself by treating my body like a temple and just always kind of, you know, treating myself nice. One thing important to me is sleep coming from an insomniac. I do like it and when I just can fall asleep, like, at the right time, it's a great help, really.

My religion is really important to me because

it keeps me happy and it keeps me grounded.

Something that is important to me is helping students who don't know English because I know how hard and challenging it is to learn a new language. Therefore, I am helping with a nonprofit to teach students who don't know English to learn.

Part of the city hall renovation is the renovation of Market Square, which holds the Old Town Farmers Market. The 100 block of North Royal Street from King Street to Cameron Street as well as Tavern Square or Yard. There's no way a customer could miss where the market is gonna be located. Where they're going in the temporary market is directly adjacent to where they are now and have been for the last two hundred and seventy years. What they'll see is a different arrangement but the same vendors.

So vendors may be located in different spaces than they currently are, but they will be there. We will have parking available at Tavern Square as well as the courthouse garage, which is directly across the street, as well as on the street. So Pitt Street, Cameron Street, and all the streets surrounding Tavern Square. We're really looking out for not only the customers that frequent the farmers market, but the vendors themselves. We wanna make sure that we bring their customers, make sure their customers know where they are so they can continue to thrive and the market can continue to thrive.

Substance abuse creates a dangerous school environment for the kids at our school.

Substance use impacts our school environment because it creates a unsafe and unwelcoming learning environment here.

Substance abuse negatively impacts the health and safety of my community.

Substance abuse affects my school community by making my peers less focused on their grades and their schoolwork.

Substance abuse affects our school community by decreasing our school morale.

Substance abuse could make you fall short on

the goals you got for yourself.

Substance abuse can affect us or our school community by damaging our brains and just making us the person that we're not supposed to be.

Substance abuse impacts our community by having bad work turned in late.

Substance abuse affects, my school community because it gives bad habits to school students.

Substance abuse negatively impacts our school and our community because it can lead you down the wrong path and creates unhealthy habits.

The city of Alexandria provides Alex three one one to connect you to more than 175 city services in a variety of convenient ways. The 311 mobile app and website allow you to attach photos and specify the location of service requests. Call 311 from anywhere in Alexandria or submit requests on Facebook, Twitter, and in person. When a service request is submitted, you'll receive an email including a summary of the details, an expected response date based on the request type, and a request number to track progress on the mobile app or website. City staff will provide the requested services or information whenever possible, and you will receive email updates along the way.

Once your request is closed, you will be asked to complete a survey to tell us about your experience using Alex three one one and how well we fulfilled our commitment to being professional, accountable, responsive, of are We We

proud

by prioritizing work appropriately and working efficiently to get it right the first time. And we will be courteous by communicating in a respectful and productive manner at each interaction. Alex three one one connects you to every city department for a variety of service and information requests. From streets and sidewalks to refuse collection, park maintenance, tree requests, and more. Alex three one one, connecting you to city services.

I show respect to people by considering their feelings.

I show respect to others by considering their unique opinions.

I respect my friend Cooper because we both have respect for each other and I trust him a lot.

I respect my dad because he's really nice and successful.

I respect my friends because because they got my back at all times.

I respect others by being kind.

Someone I respect is my mother because throughout all my hiccups, you know, she was still there and make sure that I came up in front, you know, trying to accomplish everything that I wanted to do.

I respect my friend Blake for being such an honest and caring man.

I respect my friend Cesar because he always tries his best for his family.

I show respect by being polite to others.

I show respect to my parents because they provide for me.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

I show respect by listening to others when they need it.

The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Everyone's so supportive that detectives are like, if there's anything you need help writing a search warrant, you wanna learn how to do something new, reach out to me. I'll help you do it. Transition.

On. Good.

I'm a midnights officer, so I I am on patrol. I've worked my own cases. I've learned a lot, a lot more than I thought I would, and I'm actually really grateful for having the opportunity.

I feel supported in this department by not only, like, my shift peers, but by my sergeants. And any time where I'm going through a difficult situation, whether it's at home or on a case, they've always been very eager to help me. So I felt like my voice was heard and valued.

Respect is being kind and showing kindness to those who need it the most.

I define respect as acknowledging someone's boundaries and sticking to them.

I respect my mom because she raised me to be the person I am today.

The person I respect is my grandfather because he came down with nothing, and he showed me how sacrifice can take you a long way.

Something that is important to me is helping students who don't know English because I know how hard and challenging it is to learn a new language. Therefore, I am helping with a nonprofit to teach students who don't know English to learn.

Football is important to me because it brings a lot of friendship and a brotherhood.

I can show respect for myself by always maintaining a positive mindset and never saying bad things to myself.

Abuse could make you fall short on the goals you got for yourself.

Substance abuse can affect us or our school community by damaging our brains and just making us the person that we're not supposed to be.

Substance abuse negatively impacts our school and our community because it can lead you down the wrong path and creates unhealthy habits.

Have you ever thought about how Alexandria funds services like schools, parks, roads, and public safety? The answer is through the city's budget. This allows the city to budget funding to keep city services operating. The city's budget has two main parts. The operating budget covers everyday expenses like employee salaries, supplies, and equipment.