By James Cullum
Clear distinctions were made Wednesday night among the three candidates running in the April 21 special election for an open seat on the Alexandria City Council.
For an hour and a half on Wednesday night, Democratic candidate Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon discussed a wide range of topics, including taxes, the controversial bike lane proposal for Braddock Road, the pump station at Waterfront Park, federal immigration enforcement and more.
The West End Business Association (WEBA) event was held at Feru Bar and Restaurant (512 S. Van Dorn Street) and moderated by ALXnow. Many of the questions were submitted by WEBA members.
The special election for the City Council seat will be held Tuesday, April 21, coinciding with a statewide voter referendum on mid-decade redistricting of Virginia’s congressional districts.
After opening statements, candidates were asked what motivated them to seek this open seat.
Marks, the former chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee, said she was motivated to run when now-Del. R. Kirk McPike (D-5) resigned his City Council seat.
“Some great concerns of mine have to do with climate and sustainability, with protecting women’s bodily autonomy and access to abortion care, housing affordability, protecting our LGBTQ kids from abuse by the federal government,” Marks said. “These are all things that matter to me very deeply, and I wanted to see that work continue moving forward.”
Fannon, a former Republican Member of City Council from 2009 to 2012, said he was inspired to run because of decisions the all-Democratic Council has made that he believes don’t reflect the views of underrepresented residents. He used City Council’s 2023 Zoning for Housing/Housing For All overhaul, which includes a single-family zoning provision allowing developers to build homes with up to four units on any property, as an example.
“It was just really inappropriate to put apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods,” Fannon said. “And this is something that was sort of forced on to the citizens in the community with not a lot of input.”
O’Connell, a founding member of Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights, said a recent cascade of local special elections made it clear that the voices of poor and immigrant communities in the city aren’t being heard.
“I also think that it’s been nearly impossible to get our City Council to talk about human rights issues that are inconvenient for them, like the genocide in Palestine,” O’Connell said. “If I didn’t run and if I didn’t talk about it, we might not see a candidate do that for some time. This is an oversight that has been painful for many of our community members for a very long time and made them feel like they don’t have a place in our city, and it was important for me to remedy that and offer an alternative.”
A number of WEBA business owners were concerned that the city’s West End is an often-forgotten side of Alexandria, compared to Old Town and Del Ray. The candidates were asked, if elected, what would be a specific project or policy they would champion to ensure this area of the city gets its fair share of city investment.
Fannon said that the opening of Inova Alexandria Hospital at Landmark and the WestEnd development next door (both located at the former Landmark Mall site) will create an additional economic engine for that area of the city.
“There’s going to be more people that will be able to move out into this area and live in this area,” Fannon said. “I think it’s going to be great, and I think it’s going to enhance business growth out here. Also, as you see up behind BJ’s, there’s a lot of restaurants and vacant land up there that has been dormant for a while, and I think this hospital is going to bring some good things back here to the West End.”
O’Connell said that the city should do more to promote the diversity of West End restaurants, working closer with WEBA and revisiting the city’s guaranteed income program.
Marks said it makes sense people and business owners feel overlooked in the West End, as the area is home to a large percentage of the city’s housing, health and educational inequities.
“I would challenge that it is thriving, but that we can do a lot better,” Marks said. “A big part of that is housing and housing affordability, and we need to have some conversations about the schools in Alexandria. There are schools on the West End that really are feeling the struggle and the inequity, and it’s really difficult to ask businesses and people to purchase or to move to the West End if they feel that they are not going to have their needs met.”
Some business owners also expressed concern that the big developments in Landmark will eventually price them out of Alexandria, and asked the candidates what they would do to help.
Marks said she empathizes with their concerns and advocated for the establishment of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) throughout the city.
“I think that the price of living in Alexandria is a real challenge for all Alexandrians,” Marks said. “I’d like to see us introduce BIDs to Alexandria… I would like to see economically vital programs coming to neighborhoods like the West End, happening in Landmark, at Eisenhower, in Carlisle, yes, in Old Town. I think there have been challenges in the past. I think we are in an economic position right now where we need to take some action.”
Fannon said that a downturn in rental prices has created opportunities for business growth in the city.
O’Connell said business owners have a reasonable concern, and that the new WestEnd and hospital developments need to include local businesses.
“This is an issue where, overall, revitalizing the West End will serve those businesses,” O’Connell said. “I also think we need to consider this on a state level. The obstacles that renters and business owners face are also influenced by the Dillon Rule, and we need to advocate as a city for better policies and for grants that make it possible for our business owners to stay here and to thrive.”
The candidates were asked about the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office transferring inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via the agency’s detainers and administrative warrants. The subject has been controversial in the city, with activists protesting at public meetings and City Council approving a resolution last fall asking for Sheriff Sean Casey to end the practice.
Fannon said that while everyone deserves respect and dignity, it’s Casey’s duty to follow the law and turn over violent criminals to federal authorities.
“Many of you heard about Stephanie Minter, who lost her life recently down in southern Fairfax County,” Fannon said. “Someone had been released after being arrested 30 times, and she was stabbed at the bus stop, and we don’t want that to happen here in Alexandria. We do need to treat everybody with respect and dignity, but we need to follow the law and we need to keep Alexandria safe.”
O’Connell said residents taken into ICE custody experience poor conditions at the Farmville Detention Center, and is in favor of cutting Casey’s budget over the issue.
“First of all, (Sheriff Casey’s) interpretation of the law is not agreed upon by the sheriffs in Arlington and Fairfax (County),” O’Connell said. “He has discretion over this issue and he must use it. He is accountable to us and our city government must hold him accountable.”
Marks said that she’s spent a significant amount of time talking with Casey about the issue. She said it’s also the most frequent issue she talks about while knocking on doors for her campaign, and that, with Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3), plans to send a letter to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones to provide Casey with guidance on the correct interpretation of the law.
“What I’m really interested in here is ending this practice,” Marks said. “I am focused on solving this communication issue, solving what I believe to be the Sheriff’s misinterpretation of the law.”
Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights has long advocated for the city to divest itself from Israel and boycott companies they accuse of war profiteering.
O’Connell, as a founder of the group, has participated in a number of protests on this issue.
“It’s been disappointing to me that we haven’t seen an enthusiasm to create a human rights screening standard for all of our investments,” O’Connell said. “One of the exciting things about Alexandria is that in 1985, we divested from apartheid South Africa, which is a historic moment for the city, and I think very reflective of the values we held at that time.”
Fannon said he is not in favor of City Council approving a policy requiring a human rights screening for city contracts and investments.
“When we’re trying to run a city and we’re trying to do it efficiently,” Fannon said, “if it’s a legitimate business that’s out there, we need to do what’s best for the taxpayers and the citizens of Alexandria. We engage in business with them.”
Marks said she’s interested in learning the practical outcomes of approving such a policy.
“For example, our city runs on Microsoft,” Marks said. “Do we remove all Microsoft products from the City of Alexandria? What does that cost and how long does it take? Amazon is giving us a lot of money revitalizing Victory Center, which sat vacant for decades, and is committed to the funding gap that will build 300 deeply affordable units in our city. Should we reject that? Now, I’m no fan of Amazon. It’s a difficult pill to swallow, but I want those 300 units of affordable housing.”
The candidates also touched on a plan to remove parking and reconfigure a portion of Braddock Road for bike lanes near the Braddock Road Metro Station.
Fannon said he would vote against the proposal.
“I’m not in support of putting the bike lanes out there,” Fannon said, and defended a petition against the project that’s been signed by nearly 1,000 people. “One of the main things that we do at local government is we’re to represent the people that live here.”
O’Connell said she wants to learn more about the project, and potentially make amendments to preserve parking spaces during peak hours for area churches.
“Cyclists have told me that they feel very unsafe using that road, that they feel like a lack of connected transit along that corridor is dangerous for them,” O’Connell said.
Marks said she’s walked the impacted route, and is still open on the issue.
“I have been very clear from the beginning that I support transit in our city and transit connectivity, and that I support bike and pedestrian safety,” Marks said. “I think that the main issue we’re addressing here with this Braddock Road issue is everyone has a different level of comfort with change and with progress, and we can all espouse a dedication to progressivism and to a connected city. What the real challenge is, what happens when it comes to our backyard?”
Waterfront Park pump station
The candidates also weighed in on the National Park Service’s denial last month of the city’s plan to build a pump station at Waterfront Park. This week, City Council directed staff to pursue a new preferred option to combat flooding along the Alexandria waterfront — one that does not involve a pump station.
Fannon said he is pleased the pump station will not be built at the park and that nuisance flooding is simply a part of life along the shoreline in Old Town.
“It was a very expensive project,” Fannon said. “Hopefully this plan that looks like we’re going to move forward with is going to reduce the flow.”
O’Connell said that the issue is important, and that, while unsightly for a number of residents, the pump station was an important element to reduce flooding events.
“I actually empathize very much with why city staff thought this was an essential project,” O’Connell said, “Sometimes we have to prioritize the future of our city and the safety of the tourists who are visiting the businesses on the waterfront. If we put this off now and we don’t find a viable solution that meaningfully addresses the flooding that we are going to see, we will just be dealing with this same conversation in five years.”
Marks said she likes City Council’s compromise of an enhanced gravity storm sewer system, with “automated backflow prevention devices.”
“Extreme flooding and heat are the two greatest climate risks in Alexandria,” Marks said. “I’m happy to see where Council landed.”
Alexandria’s seven City Council members are all at-large, representing the entire city. Critics, however, have long advocated that Council should be on a ward system, like the School Board, with its nine members representing three distinct districts.
Marks said she favors the at-large system for a 16-square-mile city with 160,000 residents.
“I was chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee,” Marks said. “I visited every precinct in the city. I know people in every precinct in the city, and have direct contact with them, and needed to in order to do my job within that organization effectively. As a city council person, I will be committed to visiting and direct and specific interest in every would-be ward in the city.”
Fannon favors a ward system and said that the city would have been better represented during Council’s 2023 zoning overhaul.
“It would bring better city government,” Fannon said. “We should divide the city up into five different areas, and then you would represent that area, and then you would have one at-large (Council Member) and the mayor.”
O’Connell said she likes the at-large system.
“I imagine the push for a ward system is in part due to the lack of transparency and accountability people feel from the Council,” O’Connell said. “There are ways to make sure that residents feel that they have been engaged with, they’ve been sought out and heard, and I don’t think a ward system addresses that. I think that that will just silo people off and encourage a continued prioritization of the wealthiest and most connected residents.”
The candidates also weighed in on a recent proposal by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to demolish the kiss-and-ride area in front of the Braddock Road Metro station, replace it with a new plaza and redirect the bus loop. The kiss-and-ride lot would be replaced with short-term pickup and drop-off parking spaces on Braddock Road adjacent to the station.
Marks said she’s excited by the project.
“I am very clear eyed and optimistic about the plans that we have before us, and I really look forward to learning more,” Marks said. “I’m going to go into it with optimism and enthusiasm, as opposed to hesitation, because I think that we can do hard things.”
Fannon said that he likes the Braddock Road Metro station the way it is.
O’Connell said that she’s hesitant about the project.
“The kiss-and-ride provides an important space for people at the moment, and the new proposal doesn’t really match that,” O’Connell said. “We’re looking at an area where we’re seeing so much traffic back and forth, especially from young people coming from the schools. I’m not sure about the justification for demolishing it, and I’d like to see if there’s a way to keep it intact.”
The candidates also touched on the one-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) approved by Alexandria City Public Schools. The school system is asking for $12.7 million for the agreement, and Council members were surprised that they were presented with an agreement that doesn’t cover three years, like the police and fire CBAs.
“I was surprised to see a CBA that was only for one year,” Marks said. “I am always going to support a robust and active union, and I would like to see improvements to that plan.”
Fannon said that the issue reflects a lack of communication between the School Board and City Council.
“This was just bad communication,” Fannon said, adding that he would support a smaller School Board. “We have nine people on the school board. There’s a lot of jurisdictions with a lot more schools than us that have smaller school boards, and the school board would have to make the decision themselves, but I think we would be much more efficient with a five-person school board here in the city.”
O’Connell said that Council needs to support the school system.
“It’s a mistake to miss this moment and not support the teachers,” O’Connell said. “I understand that there is a long term communication struggle between Council and our school system that is complicated and has to be navigated, but I don’t think we should let that get in the way of the fact that this bargaining agreement has been reached, and it’s been reached around cost of living adjustments for the teachers who so richly deserve them.”
Early voting continues through Saturday, April 18. The last day to register to vote or update an existing registration is Tuesday, April 14. Election Day is Tuesday, April 21.