Alexandria Gazette Packet
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Alexandria Home Gazette Packet Life 25 Cents Serving Alexandria for over 200 years • A Connection Newspaper March 17, 2011 Style Page 21 Battlefront on the Waterfront Old Town residents and city planners at odds over future of waterfront. Department of Planning and Zoning By Michael Lee Pope Gazette Packet ity planners say the Alexandria waterfront C offers an invaluable op- portunity for develop- ment, one that could yield enough revenue to pay for a string of new parks along the Potomac River and a series of flood mitigation efforts. Yet many Old Town residents are skepti- City planners want to reshape the waterfront, adding a 200-foot pier to the foot of King Street and creating a “I don’t think we’re that new marina that would connect to a hotel where Robinson Terminal South is currently located. Members of the Planning Commission been at the center of efforts for decades is “The draft plan sticks things out into the far apart.” and City Council are caught somewhere in creating continuous access along the run of the river to create more extensive — Mayor Bill Euille the middle, trying to find a solution that Potomac River — an objective that’s been economic-driven uses,” said Alexandria resi- will please everyone before a series of pub- repeatedly thwarted by private land own- dent Bill Harvey during a recent public hear- lic hearings in April and May. ers that have blocked public access to parts ing. “This strategy exposes these new fa- cal that the plan will work, criticiz- “I don’t think we’re that far apart — the of the waterfront for decades. The center- cilities to flood related flotsam and jetsam ing the planning director for not in- citizens, the community and the draft plans piece of the draft small-area plan is a park collection, ice jams, high currents, poten- cluding a financial analysis in the that’s before us,” said Mayor Bill Euille. at the foot of King Street, dubbed tial for collision damage and potentially sig- draft small-area plan that was re- “Certainly, there’s still room and time op- “Fitzgerald Square,” which would become nificant environmental impacts.” leased last month. Some are calling portunities to tweak it and make it work the base for a new 200-foot pier that would for the plan to be delayed or scrapped and get the best out of it.” extend into waters owned by the District of altogether. For city planners, the elusive goal that’s Columbia. See Proposal, Page 9 City’s ‘Green Zone’ West End businesses and residents prepare to become militarized. By Michael Lee Pope Gazette Packet hen the Center for Naval Analysis was looking for a new Whome in 1996, the Mark Center seemed like an ideal spot. According to the Mark Winkler Company’s proposal to CNA, the mixed-use community “reflects a campus setting with mostly low- to mid-rise buildings, with the occasional high-rise, situated among /The Gazette See West End, Page 9 Alexandria, VA 22314 VA Alexandria, To: 1604 King St., King 1604 To: ted Address Service Reques Service Address Louise Krafft Louise material. Time-sensitive Postmaster: Attention Photo by Photo #482 Permit Alexandria, VA Alexandria, PAID Route 395 and Seminary Road will need to handle an additional 6,400 Department of Postage U.S. Defense employees by December. STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ March 17-23, 2011 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ March 17-23, 2011 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Council Notebook News Hitting the Ceiling Wondering if your tax bill is going to go up this year? The an- swer is probably yes. It’s just a matter of how much. Council members signaled a willingness to raise property taxes even more than City Manager Jim Hartmann proposed last month, voting to advertise a maximum tax rate of $1 cents for every $100 of assessed value. That would be an increase of 2.2 cents from the current tax rate of 97.8 cents for every $100 of assessed value. The council’s action also opened the door to add- ing 12.5 cents to the tax rate for commercial properties to gener- ate money for transportation projects — the maximum rate al- lowable under Virginia law. Vice Mayor Kerry Donley says this year is the right time to take action. “To think that we’re going to have a serious conversation raising either the real-property tax rate next year or the commercial add- on rate next year in an election year,” said Donley, “if that’s your sentiment, well then I’ve got a bridge I’ll sell you in Brooklyn.” “These political hacks are poisoning the local economy, driving people out of their homes and destroying Alexandria,” responded Bud Miller, former president of Alexandria Taxpayers United King Street Blues owner Gen. Stanley McChrystal, right, an Alexandria resident President who is considering an independent campaign for City Lisa Capobianco oversees and former commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, Council next year. “A change in leadership is long overdue.” the Yellow Ribbon Fund joins Paul Rapchak Feb. 23 at King Street Blues for a event. fundraiser for the Yellow Ribbon Fund. Adding On While the city’s elected leaders are moving toward hitting com- mercial property owners up for money to pay for transit corri- Helping Injured Heroes dors, Alexandria’s business community is mobilizing in the other direction. Reprising a fight from last year, the Alexandria Cham- ber of Commerce has launched a coordinated effort to lobby King Street Blues fundraiser nets against a proposal to tax commercial property at a higher rate than residential property. This week, chamber president Tina $5,000 for injured servicemen. Leone sent an e-mail imploring members to sign a formal peti- tion. More than 400 individuals have signed the petition, and etired four-star general director Mark Robbins. “While not Leone says her goal is to hit 500. Stan McChrystal, as high-profile as the other medi- “I think we made an impression when we crossed 300, frankly,” former Commander of cal centers, they do incredible said Leone. “But the word is spreading because people are upset R U.S. Forces in Afghani- work with our seriously injured about this.” stan, joined co-hosts Glenn servicemen.” One option City Council members are exploring is lowering the Witucki and Louise Devers at King Witucki and Devers, agents with commercial add-on less than 12.5 cents and raising residential Street Blues Feb. 23 for a Long and Foster in Old Town, or- property taxes beyond the current rate of 97.8 cents for every fundraiser for the Yellow Ribbon ganized the event with Lisa $100 of assessed value. The logic behind this move would be that Fund, a non-profit dedicated to Capobianco and Rick Boyd of King the burden would be shared more equitably, although commer- assisting service members and Street Blues. They were assisted Tim Geary and Amanda cial property owners would still pay the add-on. their families returning for reha- by Alexandria residents Chandler at the King Street “The question is where is there a diminishing return in terms of bilitation at Walter Reed, Bethesda McChrystal and his wife Annie, Blues fundraiser. us getting matching dollars from the state or federal government?” Naval Medical Center and most who serve on the board of the asked Councilwoman Alicia Hughes, adding that she would recently DeWitt Community Hos- fund. us to expand our work at Fort not support a 12.5-cent add-on tax. “Where is the breaking point?” pital at Fort Belvoir. “Through donations from guest Belvoir helping the injured and “We’re just beginning to repli- bartenders like Glenn, we raised their families.” Exaggerated Assumptions cate our services at Fort Belvoir,” more than $5,000 for the fund,” said Yellow Ribbon Fund executive Robbins said. “This will help allow — Jeanne Theismann Will bike sharing work in Alexandria? Some are questioning the numbers. The Capital BikeShare program is the brainchild of the Metro- politan Washington Council of Governments, which has presented Alexandria with a plan that would help fund a startup operation Fundraising by Photo with a grant from the United States Department of Transporta- tion. Essentially, the program allows subscribers to pick up a bi- Banquet cycle at any station and return it to any other station — making it Michael Lee Pope a convenient way to get around in Washington and Arlington. But some Alexandria residents say the council is playing fast and loose with the numbers. “It would seem the COG proposal is insanely optimistic about bike usage in Alexandria and the region,” said Jack Sullivan at Saturday’s public hearing. “Each bike is estimated to be used 34 times a day — way above usage numbers in other cities.” /Gazette Packet Critics say COG’s study presents a skewed picture by using Paris and Barcelona as models for predicting demand in Alexandria. Because those cities provide significantly more bikes, they say, the idea of using them as a model for how the program would work in Alexandria creates misleading statistics. “The person that came up with the original bikeshare program Councilwoman Del Pepper presents a proclamation declaring March as Women’s in Copenhagen was a college classmate of mine,” noted Old Town History Month to members of the Alexandria Commission for Women. Members of resident Poul Hertel. “But it’s a different mindset over there, the commission took the opportunity to publicize their 31st Annual Salute to where you have a different infrastructure.” — Michael Lee Pope Women Awards Banquet, which will be on March 28 to raise funds for the Sexual Assault Program.