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Alexandria Wellbeing Gazette Packet Page 26 25 Cents Serving Alexandria for Over 200 Years • a Connection Newspaper July 5, 2012

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Alexandria Wellbeing Gazette Packet Page 26 25 Cents Serving Alexandria for Over 200 Years • a Connection Newspaper July 5, 2012 Alexandria Wellbeing Gazette Packet Page 26 25 Cents Serving Alexandria for over 200 years • A Connection Newspaper July 5, 2012 Photos by Photos Louise Krafft /Gazette Packet The force of the June 29 storm is evident on Gunston Road and Martha Custis Drive in Parkfairfax. Powerless Too much wind, too much heat, not enough electricity. s of Monday morning, Four cooling stations opened as July 2, power returned of Saturday morning. By Sunday Ato 11,000 locations in afternoon, all public pools, recre- Alexandria, leaving ation centers, and libraries were 23,000 without electricity. open except for Flora Krause Casey City officials could not put a Health Center, Ellen Coolidge number to the amount of traffic Burke Branch Library and Patrick lights without power, but assured Henry Recreation Center. that progress was being made. Members of the city’s health, However, there were fewer road police, and fire departments sta- closings on Sunday than Monday, tioned themselves at nursing as city crews were closing streets homes and locations with large to pick up debris. See Storm's Wind, Page 6 Alexandria, VA 22314 VA Alexandria, To: 1604 King St., King 1604 To: ted Address Service Reques Service Address material. Time-sensitive Postmaster: Attention Permit #482 Permit Alexandria, VA Alexandria, PAID U.S. Postage U.S. 200 block of N. West Street. 300 block of Mansion Drive. STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ July 5-11, 2012 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ July 5-11, 2012 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Editor Steven Mauren 703-778-9415 or [email protected] News Briefs News Gorsuch Re-Elected School Board Chairman by Photos At its organizational meeting on July 2, the Ale School Board voted to re-elect Sheryl Gorsuch as chairman and Helen Morris Montie Martin as vice chairman for the remain- der of 2012. The current board will serve through Dec. 31, af- ter which members elected by Gorsuch Morris City of Alexandria voters on /Gazette Packet Nov. 6 will take office. In addition to re-electing Gorsuch and Morris, the board ap- proved meeting dates for the 2012-13 school year, approved the Jefferson-Houston School’s construction management contract with the Turner Construction Company and revised Superinten- dent Morton Sherman’s contract to reflect changes required by the state for contributions to the Virginia Retirement System, but The pool at Charles Houston Recreation Center was a cool respite for city residents made no market rate adjustment. over the weekend. A severe storm struck the region Friday night, leaving many with- Morris was selected as the board’s delegate to the Virginia out power during the midst of a heat wave. School Boards Association, and Gorsuch was elected as the alter- nate. The Coolest Places in Town Help Review Proposals the heat. City recreation centers maintain “We haven’t had power since For Freedmen’s Cemetery power, air-conditioning, during heat Friday night, and there’s still no The public is invited to meet the artists and view proposals for estimate when it will come back the Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery sculpture on July 7 wave and devastating storm on,” said Alexandria resident John at the Durant Arts Center. Smith. “I haven’t been to Charles The Alexandria Commission for the Arts and the Office of the Houston before, but this place is By Montie Martin “We never lost power during the Arts will host a reception from 5 - 6 p.m. at the Durant Arts Cen- fantastic, there are lots of activi- Gazette Packet storm,” said Joseph Jennings, the ter, located at 1605 Cameron St. ties.” manager on duty at Charles Hous- The finalists are: Like most recreation centers in any Alexandria resi- ton Recreation Center. “People can ❖ Erik Blome, Crystal Lake, Ill. Alexandria, Charles Houston is dents remained with come and recharge their devices ❖ Mario Chiodo, Oakland, Calif. M equipped with game rooms, tele- out power over the no problem.” ❖ Edward Dwight, Denver, Colo. visions, a gymnasium and places weekend when a freak storm hit The Charles Houston Recreation The public may record written comments at the display, or e- to sit and chill. Charles Houston the region late Friday night, mail comments to [email protected] through Aug. 6. also boasts wifi Internet June 29. The power outage The three finalists emerged from a pool of applicants from 19 access, as well as a com- occurred as the area is ex- “Air-conditioning is one of states and three countries. The artists were selected by a panel puter room. The most periencing a heat wave including representatives of the Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery, popular feature over the with temperatures in the those necessities that you descendant family members, Old Town/Hunting Creek Civic As- weekend, however, was high 90s, and a heat index sociation, the Society for the Preservation of Black Heritage, Al- the swimming pool. of well over 100 degrees. take for granted.” exandria Historical Society, the Public Art Committee, and sub- “People had to wait in Unaffected by the storm, — Dajuan Stafford, a volunteer at Cora ject matter experts including an historian, design professional line to enter the pool, it however, were the city rec- and sculptor. Kelly Recreation Center was overcapacity which reation centers. Recreation The winning artist will be announced in September. The sculp- was a first,” said Elmer centers have always been the tra- Center saw higher than usually ture will be installed in the spring of 2013 at the cemetery, lo- Lazo, a lifeguard at Charles Hous- ditional sites for cooling locations foot traffic over the weekend, as cated at 1001 S. Washington St. ton. “We were a little delayed during the summer months, but visitors were quick to take advan- The cost of the sculpture is funded in accordance with the terms the facilities have grown all the tage of air-conditioning to escape See The Coolest, Page 15 of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge settlement agreement between more important due to the wide- the city, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Virginia spread shortage of air-conditioned Department of Transportation. locales. Although the recreation centers Comment Sought on Field Name are equipped with backup genera- tors in the event of a mass power The city is seeking public comment on a proposal to name the outage, in many cases they proved Lee Center Softball Field, located at 1108 Jefferson St., “The Kelley unnecessary. Cares Miracle Field.” A Miracle Field is a rubberized surface base- ball diamond that allows individuals with special needs the op- portunity to play outdoor sports in a safe and fun environment. The proposal was forwarded by the Miracle League of Alexan- dria in response to the Kelley Cares Foundation’s support of the Beat the Heat city’s therapeutic recreation program over the past several years. The city officials recom- The public is invited to provide comment on the proposal to mend that residents take name the softball field through Monday, July 23. Those inter- precautions during excessive ested in providing comments should email them to heat waves. Limit exposure [email protected], subject line: Kelley Cares to the sun, drink plenty of water, wear loose, light- Miracle Field, or may be mailed to Recreation and Parks, Attn: weight and light-colored Jack Browand, 1108 Jefferson St., Alexandria VA 22314. All com- clothing, and check on neighbors that may be at risk ments received or postmarked by Monday, July 23 will be re- John Smith and son Mathew enjoy the game room at viewed by the City Council Naming Committee. or do not have air-condition- ing. Charles Houston Recreation Center. The family lost power Friday night when a severe storm struck the re- gion. www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ July 5-11, 2012 ❖ 3 News Carlyle Plaza and Alex Renew To Create ‘Green Block’ Architectural and environmental challenge leads to unique developmental project. By Erik Heaney many metals, paper, glass, ash, and even Gazette Packet petroleum have contaminated the soil. Since then, the land has been reclaimed. n June 16, city council voted However, no developer is allowed to dig 7-0 in approval of Carlyle more than 18 inches into the soil. This OPlaza and Alex Renew’s makes a standard green space almost im- “green block,” or about 5 possible to develop. acres of proposed green space off of Eisenhower Avenue. The project confronts WITH THESE CHALLENGES before several architectural and environmental them, Carlyle Plaza contracted landscapers challenges to provide an open green space and architects from the firms, Oculus and for the growing number of residents and FX Fowle, to find a solution. workers in the Carlyle Towers area. What the Alex Renew and Carlyle Plaza “There were so many complex con- showed to the City Council on June 16 was straints,” said Dan Kaplan, architect from an integrated urban green space. The two FX Fowle, “we really needed to be facile to entities had two different goals: Alex Renew Site plan for the 5 acres of proposed green space to support the growing solve them.” needed build sewage tanks to accommodate number of residents and workers in the Carlyle Towers area. First, Carlyle Plaza must create a green a growing population, and Carlyle Plaza space to comply with Alexandria’s Green needed to build both a green space and a Building Policy. Since 2009, Alexandria has parking garage for their new development. required all new developments to meet Therefore, Alex Renew revealed a $100 mil- LEED silver standards. LEED silver requires lion plan for sewage tanks to be concealed buildings to meet at least 50 points across by a multipurpose field, which is to be inte- five different categories: sustainable sites, grated with Carlyle Plaza’s green space.
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