Pay-By-Phone Service Will Soon Make Parking Easier in Alexandria

Pay-By-Phone Service Will Soon Make Parking Easier in Alexandria

For Immediate Release: November 19, 2013

The City of Alexandria will soon offer customers the ability to pay for metered parking spaces by phone or with a smartphone app.  The service, which will begin the week ofDec. 9, will be an alternative to the current pay station kiosks. Alexandria will be the first locality in Virginia to offer pay-by-phone for on-street parking.

“We are delighted to provide this convenient service to our residents, visitors, and businesses,” said Mayor William D. Euille.  “We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to get around Alexandria.”

The service, which will be operated by Pango USA, will be available via the Pango smartphone app, or by calling toll-free 855.547.2646.  The app is available for iPhone and iPad, Android, and BlackBerry 10. 

Customers register their credit card and license plate information to create an account.  Each time a customer parks, the app or phone number is used to start parking by entering the zone number found on signs along each metered block.  Because parking enforcement officers will use their handheld devices to see a list of license plate numbers with active parking payments, it is not necessary for a customer to visit a pay station or display a paper receipt if the pay-by-phone service is used. 

When the customer returns to the vehicle, the app or phone number may be used to end the parking session.  Unlike current options, this allows the customer to pay for only the time actually used to park.  If the customer does not end the session, it will end automatically when the maximum time permitted for that space is reached.

Pay-by-phone users will pay the normal metered parking fee, plus a convenience fee of 24 cents per session if funds are drawn from a prepaid Pango account, or 29 cents per session for all others.  As part of the City’s launch, Pango USA will provide two hours of free parking to the first 5,000 users, and will waive the convenience fee for all users through March 1, 2014.

The system will also let restaurants, shops, and other businesses provide complimentary parking promotions to their customers via prepaid codes.  The smartphone app will also include a map of City-operated and privately operated parking garages. 

The City selected Pango USA to operate the system, after a competitive bidding process.  There is no cost to the City to establish or maintain this service.  Pango USA will pay for all necessary software, signage, and marketing materials. Today, Pango operates in 47 cities worldwide, serving more than 1 million active accounts.

For more information about the City’s pay-by-phone service visitalexandriava.gov/PayByPhone or contact Kathleen Leonard, Communications Officer, at Kathleen.Leonard@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.4027.

Alexandria City Council Moves to Resolve Old Dominion Parking Lot Dispute

Alexandria City Council Moves to Resolve Old Dominion Parking Lot Dispute
For Immediate Release:  November 19, 2013

At a special public hearing on Tuesday, November 19, the Alexandria City Council voted 6–1 to direct City Manager Rashad M. Young to continue discussions for 90 days with the Old Dominion Boat Club (ODBC), in an attempt to resolve issues relating to the City’s Waterfront Small Area Plan and the ODBC parking lot.  The Council also directed the City Manager and the City Attorney to take the steps required to initiate the eminent domain process for the necessary property in the event a consensual resolution is not reached.  At that time, the Council can, or will, consider action to exercise its right for eminent domain. 

Council also discussed the City using an independent mediator during discussions with ODBC, if both sides concur.

The Waterfront Plan, a 20-30 year vision for the City’s Potomac shore, was approved by City Council in 2012. The Plan provides a framework for revitalizing Alexandria's waterfront through several means, including: incorporating Alexandria's history as a foundation for planning and design, expanding and enhancing public open spaces, improving public access and connectivity to the waterfront, promoting the waterfront as an arts and cultural destination, and ensuring compatible development.

For more information contact Tony Castrilli, Director, Office of Communication and Public Information at 703.888.7166 or tony.castrilli@alexandriava.gov.

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium is seeking volunteers

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) needs volunteers to tutor 70 more children in Alexandria City Public Schools' kindergartens and first grades to develop literacy skills. Training, lesson plans, and guidance will be provided. Tutoring sessions are one-on-one for 30 minutes once or twice a week through May. 

Questions? Call: 703-549-6670 x119 or email: atc@opmh.org 

http://www.alexandriatutors.org

For more information: 

http://www.actionalexandria.org/action/help-alexandria-students-learn-read-volunteer-now-0

Here is the info from the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium Website: 

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Who We Are 
The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) is a 501 ( c) (3) organization working in partnership with Alexandria's Faith Community, the City of Alexandria, the Community at Large and Alexandria's Public Elementary Schools to recruit, train and match volunteers from congregations, community groups, businesses,City employees and individuals who sign up to tutor kindergarteners and first graders in literacy skills. 
Vision
Every child in Alexandria can read and succeed! 

Mission 
To provide the foundation for future learning success by helping to ensure children in the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) can read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. 
Values
How we do our work - as the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC), we commit to the following values:

RESPECT 

• Value each person's contributions, concerns, and time
• Trust others, and be worthy of trust
• Fulfill commitments

TEAMWORK

• Seek the input of all relevant parties
• Encourage others to use their strengths and talents
• Collaborate internally and externally in service of the children of Alexandria
• Attend to barriers that may impede inclusive participation

SERVICE

• Filter all decisions and actions through the lens of how they will benefit the children of Alexandria
• Celebrate our mission together

EXCELLENCE

• Regularly seek and respond to evaluation and feedback
• Regularly set goals, and evaluate progress
• Be open to change
• Strive for continual improvement
• Expect high-performance in all aspects of ATC work

History

In 1996, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) launched the Primary Initiative with the goal that all students in ACPS would be able to read and do math at grade level by the end of second grade. When the Rev. Gary Charles, then pastor of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, heard about the Primary Initiative, he joined with Herbert Berg, then superintendent of ACPS, and Steve Rideout, then Chief Judge of the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, to start a program that united local faith communities and elementary school principals, teachers, and reading specialists to provide reading tutors to first and second grade students in the public schools. They named the organization Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC).

Today, in order to meet the need for volunteer tutors expressed by ACPS, we have expanded our recruiting base beyond our supportive member congregations to include any individual who wants to tutor, community groups and businesses, and, through Mayor Euille's Initiative, Alexandria City employees.

In 2006, ATC incorporated and received tax-exempt 501c3 status. As a result we are able to receive tax-deductible contributions from individuals, organizations, businesses, etc. to support our work.

The need for tutors is great. In spring 2012 and again in 2013, 24% of ACPS third graders did not reach reading proficiency on Virginia's spring PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening) tests. According to the Casey Foundation Kids’Count report, those 250 plus children are now on the "dropout track" because they will not have the necessary skills to engage in language and higher learning activities in 4th grade and beyond. The National Research Council states that "academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone's reading skill at the end of third grade."

An additional challenge for ACPS and ATC is that, for whatever reason – not having attended preschool, English is a second language, lack of books in the homes,  each year approximately 25% of Alexandria’s children enter kindergarten needing extra help bringing their literacy skills up to grade level. To increase the percentage of children reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade is the current mission of the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium. Please join us in fulfilling this mission. There is no greater gift to a child and to Alexandria's future than generations of children empowered with the ability to read.

 Board of Directors and Staff

Board members are responsible for the overall policy and direction of ATC, and delegate responsibility of day-to-day operations to the staff and committees. Board meetings are open to other interested parties.