Tips On How To Sell Your Home When You Have Kids
Selling your home can be a stressful event but having kids around can create more stressful moments for parents who are seeking to sell their home.Continue reading
Alexandria Nominated For World’s Best Awards in Travel + Leisure Magazine
The City of Alexandria is once again in the spotlight for its historical nature and beautiful architectures as it has been nominated for Travel + Leisure Magazine's Worlds Best Awards for 2020. The city has been nominated in the cities category while Kimpton Lorien Hotel & Spa in Old Town has been nominated in the hotels category. Residents of Alexandria are urged to vote for the city with a chance of winning one of five international travel prizes. Voting is open until midnight on March 2, 2020. Continue reading
Del Ray: Incorporated Town Of Potomac
Alexandria Adopted An Eco-City Charter
Alexandria adopted its Eco-City charter with great fanfare in 2008 along with a promise: The charter would be renewed in a decade. That deadline has now come and gone with no plans to update it. In 2009, members of the City Council approved an Eco-City action plan along with another promise: It would be renewed in five years. Once again, city officials breezed through that deadline. The promised annual progress reports happened for a while, but city officials haven’t released one since 2016. For some members of the Environmental Policy Commission who were part of shaping Eco-City a decade ago, the broken promises and missed deadlines are frustrating.
“Frankly, I feel like the last four years of leadership were caught up in other dramas,” said Danielle Fiedler, who was chairwoman of the commission when Eco-City Alexandria initiative was adopted. “If you’re going to have this environmental action plan, you should be updating the short term action items. Those should be revisited every five years in order to stay on top of this.”
The last decade has offered a mixed picture for the city’s environmental health. Alexandria continues to dump more than 10 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River every year, although city officials now have a plan after state lawmakers threatened to withhold money from city schools in 2017. Energy use in city government facilities has increased 11 percent since 2012, reflecting a tension between growth and conservation. Alexandria currently purchases renewable energy credits equivalent to 60 percent of its energy use, although the city manager’s proposed budget calls for 100 percent by next year. And then there’s that charter revision that never happened and an action plan that city officials are just now getting around to updating.
“You don’t accomplish things by making a list and putting them on the shelf,” said former Del. Rob Krupicka (D-45), who helped create Eco-City Alexandria as member of the Alexandria City Council. “You accomplish things by making a list and then constantly revisiting it.”
THE IDEA OF Eco-City Alexandria began with a strategic planning process back in 2007, shortly after the United Nations concluded that the rise in global temperatures was the result of greenhouse gas concentrations. When the Alexandria’s action plan was adopted in 2009, Alexandria was one of a handful of cities across the country that had created its own plan for dealing with climate change. The timing worked well for Alexandria because when the global economy tanked, city officials had a ready-made list of shovel-ready projects that qualified for federal stimulus money. Plans to install solar panels at Beatley Library, for example, were fast-tracked for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “In Alexandria, we recognize the quantity and sources of energy used by local government, businesses and residents affects our environment and quality of life.” said then Mayor Bill Euille during testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in the summer of 2009. “Local governments play a critical role in improving energy efficiency, shifting the country to cleaner sources of energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Source Of Information
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Facts Of West End
Alexandria's West End includes areas annexed from Fairfax County in the 1950s. It is the most typically suburban part of Alexandria, with a street hierarchy of winding roads and cul-de-sacs. The section of Duke Street in the West End is known for a high-density residential area known to locals as "Landmark" due to its close proximity to nearby Landmark Mall, and for its concentration of strip and enclosed shopping malls. The main areas of the West End all are west of Quaker Lane, a major north–south artery through the western side of Alexandria.
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The Historic Alexandria City
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Collingwood Library and Museum
The Collingwood Foundation's main building and grounds, which were once part of George Washington's River Farm, are south of Alexandria on the banks of the Potomac River, surrounded by woods and gardens. The mission of the foundation is to foster an appreciation of our American Heritage by sharing these facilities with all. There are three components to achieving this mission.
Firstly, the Collingwood Library on Americanism boasts a library of more than five thousand volumes on American heritage. Secondly, the Collingwood Museum is home to an eclectic collection of Americana. Lastly, the foundation opens the grounds to serve as a venue for weddings, corporate gatherings and other private events. are available for weddings, receptions and other private functions.
Collingwood, as the whole is generally referred to, is primarily dependent upon contributions from the public and income from third party events. Collingwood is comprised of a historic mansion between the Potomac and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Today the property is approximately 8.7 acres but the property was once a part of George Washington's estate of his River Farm at Mount Vernon. Collingwood was purchased by George Washington in 1760. River Farm was the largest of the five working farms all of which were a part of his Mount Vernon estate. Collingwood's namesake was a member of the British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill and in 1805 an Admiral commanding a portion of the British fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar.
The original house constructed in 1792 was a modest one, but in time there were at least three major additions to the house. From a small two-room house to its current condition as a colonial mansion the property has had many occupants and usages over time. Over the course of the last two and half centuries, Collingwood has been home to farmers, a ferry operator, airline crew members, and Intelligence School students. For a part of the 20th Century, Collingwood served up meals as an area restaurant.
But time took a toll on Colingwood and by 1977 it was no more than overgrown, neglected land and a much vandalized building that only hinted at the history found here. At that time a group of dedicated National Sojourners obtained the property. took possession of the property. Presently, the Foundation for Collingwood Library and Museum on Americanism, with offices for Headquarters National Sojourners, maintains and occupies the property.
Collingwood Library and Museum consists of a historic mansion that houses thousands of books and artifacts relating to the history of America. As part of George Washington's River Farm, our rich history had many of our founding fathers walking this land in our nation's infancy. Nestled on approximately 8.7 acres on the Potomac River off the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Alexandria, VA, Collingwood is available for conferences, retreats, business meetings and weddings.
Pope-Leighey House
The house of moderate cost is not only America’s major architectural problem but the problem most difficult for her major architects. -Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936The Pope-Leighey House, formerly known as the Loren Pope Residence, is one of three suburban homes in Virginia designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. At the Pope-Leighey House now located at a site on Woodlawn Plantation in Mount Vernon VA, Frank Lloyd Wright strived to solve this problem. Today, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House is a National Trust Historic Site, owned and operated by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America’s communities.
