Alexandria Gazette Packet 25 Cents Vol. CCXXVI, No. 16 Serving Alexandria for over 200 years • A Connection Newspaper April 22, 2010 A Safe Haven ‘Low-demand’ environment for 12 chronically homeless individuals has been years in the making. By Michael Lee Pope “I was full of de- Gazette Packet spair and loneli- ness,” said Burse. inston Burse “You know what I knows life on the really wanted? I W streets in Alexan- wanted to take a dria. He was bath. I wanted to homeless for seven years, sleeping take a shower. I on park benches, in alleyways and wanted to be able Winston inside unlocked cars. Drugs and to put on some Burse alcohol had demolished his life, clean clothes and clouding mental-health problems have a hot meal and have a hot he didn’t even know he had. He place to lay down.” was living a marginal existence, He got help from the city’s De- one in which he resisted all the partment of Mental Health, Men- rules and regulations that come tal Retardation and Substance along with traditional emergency Abuse. Now Burse is a success shelters. Essentially, he preferred story, someone who will serve as life on the street to a lot of people telling him what to do. See Opening, Page 6 Equal Protection Battle on Fayette Lawsuit charges demolition of American Legion building would be a civil-rights violation. By Michael Lee Pope School has been demolished. All Gazette Packet that’s left are some old churches /Gazette Packet and a handful of properties to or people who grew up in a show what life was like in Fpart of town they still call segregated Alexandria. Uptown, the past is fading One of those still hanging on is away at a troubling pace. Many of the little yellow building on North Louise Krafft Louise the old houses are gone. A major Fayette Street, an old nursery built ‘Spring-Up’ highway now cuts the neighbor- at time when black mothers en hood in half. Parker Gray High See Lawsuit, Page 6 Photo by Photo Day of Service The Campagna Center Junior Friends volunteers set out to “spring-up” two of the local children centers on Saturday morning, April 17. Emily Passmore chaired the 22314 VA Alexandria, To: 1604 King St., King 1604 To: ted event as volunteers replanted the courtyard garden and entranceway to the Head- Reques Service Address Start Center at Jefferson-Houston. Volunteers also worked on painting a mural in material. the yard. The tiled mosaics that the Campagna Kids worked on last summer were Time-sensitive Postmaster: finally placed into the ground near the center entrance. Sponsors and donors to the Attention event include: L*Industries, Harry Braswell, Bell Nursery and Tech Painting. Above, Permit #482 Permit Laura Niswander, Anne Culbert, Brandi Pensoneau and Kristin Rumberger work on VA Alexandria, PAID planting the courtyard garden. Postage U.S. PRSRT STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ April 22-28, 2010 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ April 22-28, 2010 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Editor Steven Mauren Council Notebook News 703-778-9415 or [email protected] Budget Indications With this year’s budget season headed for a dramatic conclu- sion next month, City Council members are beginning to reveal more about where they stand. And if recent public statements are prologue, the showdown is certain to be monumental. Councilman Frank Fannon has begun laying the pieces in place for voting against the budget — a measure considered by some to be a radical protest. When Republican Bill Cleveland and Democrat Andrew Macdonald voted against the budget, opponents lashed out that such a move was tantamount to acting against education of children and the needs of the elderly. Cer- tainly, considering the vast scope of the budget, this sentiment is technically accurate. But Fannon says he would be unwilling to vote for a budget that was one penny more than last year’s bud- get — unlikely considering the momentum this year. “We need to hold the line,” Fannon said Saturday morning. “We have to take care of the basics first, and if there’s any money left over we can be nice.” On the other side of the equation is Vice Mayor Kerry Donely. When public-safety employees advocated merit pay for sheriff’s deputies and police officers, Donley said he felt Alexandria’s 40- year crime low should be recognized. Although school employees received a merit increase halfway through the fiscal year in the last budget cycle, city employees have not received a merit in- crease since 2008. Budget officials estimate adding merit pay Photos by Louise Krafft/Gazette would cost about $2.8 million. General Braddock heads the table at the Grandest Congress luncheon at the Carlyle “That result should be rewarded, in my opinion,” said Donley. House. Also seated with the general and the governors are John Carlyle and British “I think this is the year that we should not turn out backs on our Navy Admiral Keppel. workforce.” Skyscrapers Approved A Meal for Governors and a General The area around the Eisenhower Metro station is about to be he Carlyle House came radically transformed, thanks to a unanimous decision Saturday alive again on Satur- to approve three skyscrapers that will loom over an area once day, April 10, with the known as the Village of Cameron — a tobacco port on Hunting T reenactment of the his- Creek that predates the incorporation of Alexandria in 1749. The toric meeting between Major Gen- trio of towers will have 1,200 dwelling units and 67,000 square eral Braddock and five colonial feet of retail, including a plaza with the relocated statue of Dwight governors. After meeting and dis- Eisenhower that now stands at the eastern terminus of the cussing the Crown’s objectives in eponymous avenue. raising a war chest of 150,000 Despite the recommendation that the developer contribute 56 pounds and an additional 600 re- units of affordable housing in perpetuity, the City Council voted cruits amongst the colonies, the to limit the affordable housing requirement to 30 years. But the party moved to the terrace for Hoffman Company has agreed to a “voluntary contribution” of lunch. The menu included: $3.3 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. By the time Vermicelli soup, roast goose with the negotiations were winding down, there seemed to be only carrots, fried haddock with pick- one lingering issue of disagreement — street names. In keeping les and hard boiled eggs, beef with the history of the area, street names currently include An- stake pie, hedgehog, dinner rolls, chor Street, Swamp Fox Road, Port Street, Southern Street and nuts and cheeses, sweetmeat Dock Street. cakes, roast capon with onions and Kirsten and Jocelyn La “I’m not crazy about the street names,” said Councilman Paul fried potatoes, forst meat balls in Force-Regli race hoops up Smedberg, who has raised the issue before. “But I guess you gravy, seed cake, spinach cheese and down the entranceway knew that.” tart, dried fruits and cheeses and of the Carlyle House while Kimberley Walters finishes “I nominate we name a street after Paul Smedberg,” responded colored jellies in glass. the Grandest Congress is in up setting the table for the vice mayor. The meal was prepared by session inside the house. lunch on the terrace. “How about Pepper Street?” asked Councilwoman Del Pep- Kimberley Walters with help from per. Gema Gonzalez, Dory Gean Cunningham and Katy Hayes and Party-Line Vote Stacy Hook as the Dairy Maid. The days of one-party rule in Alexandria are a thing of the past. And a new phenomenon has taken is place, the party-line vote. The most recent example was on display last weekend, when the City Council’s two non-Democratic members opposed a $200,0000 appropriation of the General Fund to the Housing Fund for the Homeownership Assistance Program to assist homebuyers in the purchase of distressed properties. In explaining her opposi- tion to the appropriation, Councilwoman Alica Hughes said the cost was too great for the number of people the money would benefit. “I am a supporter of affordable housing, but that doesn’t mean I will support every item we consider,” said Hughes. “It makes me Jane Pease appears as uncomfortable to spend $200,000 for the benefit of four fami- Charlotte Brown, who trav- lies.” — Michael Lee Pope eled with General Braddock Bonnie Fairbanks appears as Molly Walker, John Carlyle’s in the company of her head housekeeper. With Fairbanks is Kimberley Walters, brother, a pharmacist. the cook. www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ April 22-28, 2010 ❖ 3 News After Rumors, Few at School Almost half the TC student body stays home on Tuesday after security threat. By Michael Lee Pope Gazette Packet umors of impending doom Rwere swirling around T.C. Williams High School this week, after two students were sus- pended on April 15 for making what school officials call “inappro- priate comments.” In a letter to families issued the following day, Principal William Clendaniel ex- plained that some students use the April 20 anniversary of the 1999 Columbine shooting as an oppor- tunity to spread “disruptive ru- mors.” “This was the case recently at T.C. Williams High School,” Clendaniel explained in the letter. “Rumors are circulating about comments made by T.C. students in reference to the Columbine event.” The principal explained that he had worked closely with the Alex- andria Police Department to iden- tify four students involved, and that all four had been suspended. He said that no direct threat had ever been made, and that no evi- dence indicates that students were ever in any danger.