Local Family Part of Nat Geo Wild Documentary

An Alexandria family was part of the filming of the Nat Geo Wild special, Raccoon: Backyard Bandit! 
Some of the documentary was filmed in their backyard, and a portion from a bedroom window.  
The family lives in the Rosemont section of Alexandria.  

Be sure to watch on March 8th at 9pm on National Geographic.  

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/episodes/raccoon-backyard-bandit/

Maury Elementary School Playground & Yard Fundraiser

FROM Maury Schoolyard Initiative member -- 

There is a lot of excitement building about the plans for a newly renovated schoolyard at Maury.  
The Maury Schoolyard Initiative (MSI) has been working closely with its partner Land Design/Bowman and has finalized proposed plans for the new schoolyard.  

The plans include installation of an outdoor learning garden, installing new playground equipment, walking paths, field turf for soccer and baseball and a new basketball court.  Importantly, MSI is also working with the City of Alexandria to emphasize the need to correct drainage problems that have hampered previous short-term solutions to the schoolyard.  Seven of the 10 members of the Alexandria City Public School Board have made personal visits to the Schoolyard to discuss the new plans.  MSI intends to present before the ACPS Board in October and November as well as making a presentation to City Hall November 15th.  

Plans for the new schoolyard will be on display at the Maury Fall Festival on October 18th.  

A community-wide fundraiser with Alexandria elected officials, business leaders and Rosemont and Del Ray citizens will take place at the offices of Land Design at 200 S Peyton on Friday, October 24th from 5pm to 7pm.  All are welcome to attend.

Notes from Meeting on Proposed Bike Lanes on King St.

FROM NEIGHBORHOOD LISTSERV: 

From: Kellie Meehan <kelmeehan@aol.com>

Here are my notes from this evenings meeting----

The presenter specifically stated that if your point was brought up, you should mention it or submit it again, so that City staff can see that several people have the same point. 

If you have comments/idea/suggestions/questions please submit them BY FRIDAY to 

hillary.poole@alexandriava.gov

AND Please take the poll - it reopens tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. 

city staff will be using this information to help make their decision. 

http://www.actionalexandria.org

The process is as follows: 

Comments will be presented to the Traffic and Parking Board at their meeting - 9/23, at 7:30pm in the council chambers in city Hall

The Board will make their recommendation to the Director and he will make a decision. 

If you would like to have some additional impact on the decision you may contact members of City Council: 

703.746.4550

Council members Justin Wilson and John Taylor Chapman attended the meeting this evening. 

King Street will be repaved from Janney's Lane to Callahan (Russell Rd.) 

From Upland to Janney's will be routine mill and pave with very little disruption. 

From Callahan to Upland it will need to be dug up, reconstructed and paved. 

The timeline is: 

1st week of October

night work, 8pm-6am, for 3 weeks (15 nights) 

Sunday through Thursday

City staff will be on hand to mitigate noise and disruptions

1 lane of King will be open at all times with construction crews directing traffic. 

there will be jackhammering and loud noise but they hope to keep it to a minimum and most of the noise all at one time not throughout the night. 

Parking restrictions could be in place during this time. 

Maintenance and work vehicles will not be parked overnight or parked on the adjacent streets overnight during this time.  

Questions were raised about:

- the drainage/runoff from King St, if that would be addressed during this paving. 

-the height of the curbs - that some curbs seemed very low along King 

City staff said they will look into them

The City is doing Complete Streets:

designed to consider all users in a safe and convenient way. 

in this order

1. pedestrians

2. transit

3. bicycle

4. cars

In taking Complete Streets strategy the following was considered: 

-a redesign of the King, Callahan, Russell Road intersection - to be addressed later

-new bike lanes on Janney's Lane

-the expansion of Capital Bikeshares and the existing bikeshares stations in Old Town

-creating bike lanes on King St. 

Bike lanes would: 

-begin North of W. Cedar St. - not having any impact on the intersection at Russell, Callahan and King. The left turn lane onto Russell from King will remain the same. 

    the bike lanes would just end and begin at Cedar St. 

-end at West View Terrace - the bike lanes would essentially just end and begin at West View

-would provide traffic calming - the neighborhood has asked for ways to slow traffic down. 

-create safe pedestrian crossings at un-signaled intersections

-narrow moving lanes 

-designate space for all users - pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles, with no conflicts. 

there would also be an installation of a rapid flash cross walk at Upland - like on Braddock Road near intersection w/ West St., near Braddock Road Metro.  

The existing street is 

23 feet of vehicle space and 7 feet of parking space. 

it will become

4 1/2 feet of bicycle lane,  21 feet of traffic space,  4 1/2 feet of bicycle lane

Per City staff - 

37 parking spaces would be eliminated 

     20 from Cedar to Carlisle

     7 between Carlisle and Upland

     10 between Upland and Janney's 

with an average of 2.5 spaces used on a regular basis.  

Neighbors pointed out: 

-That count could not be accurate, more ppl park on King than 2.5 regularly

-that several of the homes on the upper portion of King (after Upland) have been for sale, empty or have had elderly non-driving residents for some time

-that a portion of those spaces are not used because the homes on North View Terrace back to King St. and park in the front of their homes. 

There was a car count taken but specific #'s were not given. 

City staff recalled the #'s as

600 vehicles an hour Southbound at peak 

450 vehicles an hour Westbound at peak

There were no counts taken for bicycles or bicycle use on King St. 

It was suggested that there be a count of bicycle usage - at least to get a beginning #, and if cars were going to be counted, bicycles should be too. 

at least take a count of the bicycle usage on the new Janney's Lane bike lanes. 

DISCUSSION/COMMENTS: 

-asked what the removal of the parking spaces would have on home values. 

     residents felt it would allow potential buyers to offer lower amts. 

     others stated that bike lanes would add value 

-suggested that there only be a designated bike lane going uphill.  

     That is not possible.  not enough room for parking, bike and traffic

-suggested asking the Masonic Temple to open gates for bicycle traffic. 

    They have been approached, not going to allow it.  

-suggested to encourage cyclists to use other roads in the neighborhood 

-can residents apply for a permit allowing parking for parties or guest parking - 

     no - no room for parking on the street

-how will residents move in/out of homes? 

     staff suggested the use of driveways or side streets

     can they apply for special permits? 

staff didn't know

this issue was raised again by a resident and staff said they would have to look into it. 

- how will trash be collected?  

    how is it collected now? 

        put the trashcans at the curb, but in empty parking spaces. 

             so put in the bike lane? 

                yes

  How will trash trucks pick up the trash 

     as they do in the rest of the city, traffic will back up behind them. 

-some pointed out that the parking lanes actually allow them the space to get in to/out of their current driveways, affording them better sight and distance

-some pointed out that the parking lanes actually seem to slow the cars down, 

-it was suggested to put a red light camera on the light at Highland

-it was suggested to move the traffic light from Highland to Upland to help slow traffic down and cut down on some of the cut through traffic from Duke St. 

-suggestion to add sidewalks and parking restrictions along side streets  - Highland and Upland 

-it was suggested that city staff look at data from accident reports and traffic citations at the Janney's Lane, West View, King St. intersections, that information should have some bearing on the current state of that area before adding cyclists

-several cyclists stated that they will not use King St as it is now, it is way too dangerous, but they would use it with designated bike lanes. 

-a resident stated that they are not near a cross street and thus would have nowhere for guests to park, or place for carpool to pick up/drop off

-it was stated that this plan for bike lanes has been in the master plan since 2008

-it was suggested to add speed bumps at the top of King st. where it levels off, to reduce speeds. 

Theft from Porches in Rosemont - Update from the Alexandria Police Dept

FROM ALEXANDRIA POLICE DETECTIVE:

Thank you to all of your responses and interest in these cases.

I want to let you all know that I charged the suspect with four counts of felony theft (of packages) for cases I could definitely prove against him. He was arrested on those warrants on Friday, July 1, 2011.

I obtained a search warrant for his home in Prince William County and a search warrant for his vehicle. Both were executed on July 5th. The home was that of hoarders (he and his girlfriend) making the search daunting. Nothing was recovered from the home regarding the described offenses and related property. I included your responses from the yahoo newsgroup in items for which to be searched.

I did recover from the suspect's vehicle a piece of property from one of the package thefts. This items was turned into police property as evidence and the owner was notified.

Additionally, I obtained a seizure warrant for the suspect's vehicle. I had the vehicle towed from Prince William County to our impound lot. The vehicle is now property of the City of Alexandria. I will let you all know the outcome of the cases he faces. He will likely also be directly indicted on cases going back several years.

Thank you for being alert neighbors. Please remember to report all offenses to which you are a victim and/or witness - even if is a suspicious event or person. If we don't hear from you, we don't know that anything occurred. Call the non-emergency number for these incidents (unless it is an emergency, of course): 703-838-4444. We also have an on-line reporting unit via the city website.

One more note: in the Fall - perhaps in September or October, I will be coming to a community meeting at the Mt. Vernon School (date and time to be determined) . I may also convene an additional meeting as warranted at a time/date and location to be determined later. Please advise if anyone has ideas or a desire to meet with me in a group-session to discuss area theft incidents further. I am a burglary/larceny detective primarily and am responsible for the quadrant of the city that includes Rosemont, Del Ray, Beverley Hills, Potomac Yards and the areas bordered by King Street west of the Masonic Temple to Quaker Lane to 395 to Route 1.

Sincerely,
Det. Julie Goble

Detective Julie D. Goble / 1916
2003 Mill Road
Alexandria, VA 22314
Main: 703-838-4711
Desk: 703-838-4082