WEBA Community/City News and Comment (Blog)

Old Town Business and Professional Association (OTBPA) and the King Street Gardens Park Foundation are hosting a Jazz-Filled Supper Under the Stars

 on Friday, September 17

from 5:30-7 p.m. or dark

at King Street Gardens Park. 

BBQ by Mango Mike's Caribbean Restaurant 

Jazz by Al Williams III and Friends

Cash bar (Beer and wine, water and sodas).

Williams' career highlights include making a movie soundtrack with guitarist Nils Lofgren and recording a one-hour concert on BET as a member of guitarist Grant Geisman’s band. He has appeared at many jazz festivals around the world, most recently the International Jazz Festival in Fez, Morocco, and The Jazz Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. And has played all over Alexandria including the King Street Gardens Park.  

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30.00 at the gate (call 703-683-0333 and pay by credit card Master or Visa..  King Street Gardens Park is located at King Street and Diagonal Road.

In event of rain, the event will be held in the parking area behind Hard Times Cafe at 1404 King Street.

Reminder: October 22 Forum to discuss the City of Alexandria’s Strategic Goals for Development and Economic Vitality

If you live, work, or do business in the City of Alexandria, you are invited to speak at a public forum about the City of Alexandria’s strategic goals for development, redevelopment and economic vitality. The forum will be held Thursday, October 22, 7pm at City Hall in Council Chambers.

Community input is important to the City’s current Strategic Plan review and will help shape implementation moving forward. Vice Mayor Kerry Donley and Council Member Paul Smedberg will lead the discussion on this strategic goal: There is Quality Development and Redevelopment, Support for Local Businesses, and a Strong, Diverse, and Growing Local Economy. Individuals who wish to comment at the public forum are asked to sign up in advance and limit their comments to three minutes. Sign up in advance by calling Brandi Collins, Urban Planner, at 703-746-3854, or email brandi.collins@alexandriava.gov.

Participants should address the following questions:

1. What should the City's top three development and economic development priorities be?

2. How should the City measure success as we work on those priorities?

3. What constraints should be placed on development and economic development?

Residents can also submit their comments online at www.alexandriava.gov/StrategicPlanning. For more information, please call Brandi Collins, Urban Planner, at 703-746-3854, or email brandi.collins@alexandriava.gov or visit www.alexandriava.gov/StrategicPlanning.

Retail Workshop – Driving Sales From the Floor

Many of Alexandria’s retail business owners have asked the SBDC

to provide training for sales staff so that “browsers” become “buyers”. 

We have arranged for Virginia State SBDC Retail Industry Consultant

Marc Willson to provide a seminar on “Driving Sales From the Floor”, with particular emphasis on selling during the all-important holiday shopping period.  This seminar is for retail business owners, managers and sales staff.  It will be held on

When: Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 8 – 10 am
Where:  at The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington Street.

Cost:  There is no charge for the seminar, but you must pre-register by e-mail to  pmelton@alexandriasbdc.org.

Please include your company name, address and telephone number,

and the name and e-mail address of all attendees.

The City's Strategic Goals for Development and Economic Vitality Are the Subject of an October 22 Public Forum at City Hall

If you live, work or do business in the City of Alexandria, you are invited to participate in a public forum about the City's strategic goals for development, redevelopment and economic vitality. The forum will be held on October 22, 2009 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. The forum is part of a broader review of the City's Strategic Plan by the City Council. A team of two councilmembers is leading a review of each of the Strategic Plan's goals. The subject of the October 22 public forum is Goal 1: There is Quality Development and Redevelopment, Support for Local Businesses, and a Strong, Diverse and Growing Local Economy. Leading the discussion of this goal are Vice Mayor Kerry Donley and Councilmember Paul Smedberg. Forum participants are invited to speak on behalf of themselves or a group and should address the following questions: ----What should the City's top three development and economic development priorities be? ----How should the City measure success as we work on those priorities? ----What constraints should be placed on development and economic development? Those interested in speaking should contact Brandi Collins at brandi.collins@alexandriava.gov or 703-746-3854. The amount of time for each speaker will be approximately 5 minutes but will depend on the number of participants. Those who cannot participate in the October 22 forum may submit their comments by email. The suggested time frame for submitting comments is by November 3, 2009. The forum on October 22 will inform a series of round-table discussions that will begin on November 4. For these discussions, a group of experts on factors affecting development and economic health will discuss the City's strategic goals on these issues for the next few years. The round-table members will be invited the October 22 public forum and all meetings of the round-table will be open to the public.. More information about the City Council's strategic planning process is available on the City's website at http://alexandriava.gov/StrategicPlanning

City of Alexandria Releases 2009 Community Survey Results

News Highlights

• 1,000 Alexandria residents surveyed about their quality of life, satisfaction with community services, and other local issues.
• Ratings for quality and value of City services remain high, and have continued to increase from 2004 and 2006 community surveys.
• Most respondents (97.6%) rated overall quality of life in Alexandria as being either “very good” or “good” (compared with 97.3% in 2006 and 97.2% in 2004)

More Information

www.alexandriava.gov

The City of Alexandria announced the results of the 2009 Community Survey at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 13. The Center for Research and Public Policy (CRPP) conducted a comprehensive telephone survey of 1,000 Alexandria residents to ask them about their quality of life, satisfaction with community services, and other local issues. This 2009 survey tracks some of the results that were collected from similar surveys that CRPP conducted in 2004 and 2006.

The survey’s key findings include the following results:

• 97.6% of respondents rated the overall quality of life in Alexandria as being either “very good” (48.4%) or “good” (49.2%). 1.8% of respondents indicated that the overall quality of life in Alexandria was either “poor” (1%) or “very poor” (0.8%).
• 85.6% of respondents stated that their overall quality of life was “better” or “remained good.” Only 10.6% suggested that their overall quality of life “remained poor” or became “worse” than it was two years ago.
• 88.6% of respondents reported that services provide by the City meet their expectations either “always” or “most of the time.”
• 85.3% of respondents rated the value of services provided by the City compared to the taxes they pay as “very good” or “good.”
• The most frequently cited issues of resident concern were “traffic” (17.2%), “taxes” (13.8%) and “poor school systems” (8.7%).
• 69.1% of respondents said that the City should keep services and taxes at about the level where they are now; 12.6% said the City should decrease taxes even if it might have to decrease service as a result; and 12% said the City should increase services even if it might have to increase taxes as a result.

The City of Alexandria intends to use the results of the survey to set priorities and make decisions about the services the City provides to the community. During the challenging budget years ahead, the information helps identify the best tools for communicating and informing residents about the issues and priorities that matter the most to them.