Peter Carlson

To what extent would a commercial real estate tax stimulate re-development of commercial only parcels into mixed use? Idk! Let's find out!

Caboose Brewing in Vienna is right along the W&OD trail. You can ride up.and sit and eat and drink. Imagine that but with multifamily residential on top.

Idly fantasizing about a mini waterfront mixed-use neighborhood along 4 mile run trail instead of Alexandria Toyota and Hertz

Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.

Read my full statement:

With all the time city staff spends on outreach you would think so, but ... no.

YouTube video by Herndon Community TV Concert & Festival Coverage Vintage Herndon Festival 1996 - The Mamas and the Papas

Saw a version of them (featuring. John Phillips as the lone original member) at the 1996 Herndon Festival, a concert which I am thrilled to learn was recently posted on YouTube in its entirety.

To the extent that resources are constrained and tradeoffs need to be made, there are multiple city departments that are better candidates for austerity.

Yeah we saw it a few weeks ago and were very impressed.

We saw School of Rock at the Little Theatre of Alexandria and, man, that cast has some energy! 13 years here and it was my first time at a local theater, aside from kid performances. Very fun time. We are so tired.

I share your frustration, but you'll forgive me if I say that most of these grievances are fairly marginal. Accountability for mistakes is important, but there simply is not significant waste of resources by ACPS. It's one of our most effective departments if the measure is quality of life outcomes.

UPDATE: He's been found and is home.

Thanks for those who reached out faster than I could get ahold of my daughter's friends' parents who have older siblings.

My 8 y.o. and her friends won Best Ensemble at her school talent show (organized and judged entirely by teachers and staff! Thanks Mr. Donohue!). 48 hours of invincibility activated.

Hey ALXSkeets, anyone have a kid at GW middle school?

Have a friend trying to track down their kid who hasn’t been seen in a couple hours.

ACPS, and most public schools, do a great job! Consider that tuition at St. Stephen's St Agnes starts at $43k/year. ACPS student population is at a massive disadvantage to those students, but ACPS still does the job for less than half the cost per student. School costs a lot of money!

To be clear, our ask does include projected CBA for FY27. That’s why it’s at 3.5% over last year. Important that community understands that.

Thank you for confirming my understanding

Yeah but we're talking about percentage increase not gross totals. I'm not saying city ops should get a lower increase, just that schools should get a higher one.

I found their responses thoughtful but unconvincing. Which is better than Frank Farton would be.

I think this will work. For those curious, McPike and Bagley addressed this question last year. Starts at 14 min mark.

lol you need not use the passive voice to absolve me. I brought it up. I think Kirk answered in the pod I should've transcribed.

I would also reiterate that Arlington and Fairfax county levy the tax! They seem to be doing fine! There are gradations and differences across localities but still

There are businesses that add to placemaking and there are businesses that do not. I liked the ALXForward plan to offer small business grants. If sufficiently funded that would offset some of the burden of a commercial real estate tax.

Car dealerships are technically small businesses!

I gotta stop posting during work hours because I get out of a meeting and have a huge thread to read.

Oh now I realize I might be reading it wrong, you're right it's $10.3 mil. But that would cover the difference b/w 1.5% and 3.5% ACPS budget increase.

I've got threads about it because it's hard to parse

Table showing the numbwr of police officers and officers per 100 residents in regional localities. Alexandria has the highesg officer to resident ratio. Officer to Resident Ratio City/County Sworn Officers Sworn Officers per 1000 residents (sorted by) City of Alexandria, VA 322 2.05 Prince George's County, MD 1,728 1.81 Arlington County, VA 377 1.60 Prince William County, VA 727 1.50 Fairfax County, VA 1,500 1.31 Montgomery County, MD 1,276 1.21 1.6 is the average number of full-time-equivalent sworn officers in local police departments per 1,000 residents for a population of 100,000-249,999, according to a 2016 Bureau of Justice Statistics Study.

This is a very important table to keep in mind for ALX FY2027 budget alexandria.legistar.com/gateway.aspx...

Also I am remiss to discuss budget without mentioning that the city is leaving revenue on the table.

All I would say in response to this is that there is spending in other city departments that are lower priority than these investments in the ACPS central office.

Just to be clear I am referring to the city ops budget which increased by 2.5%, overall budget did increase by 2.2%.

But otherwise yes your point is well made. ACPS will soon have a CBA to contend with also, and my understanding is that the proposed ACPS budget also accounts for that eventuality.