Category: Uncategorized

Six and a half hours after New Year’s Day in 1957, Fred Wilkins, a 57-year-old janitor at Ft. Belvoir, was killed after a southbound Route 1 automobile struck him in Gum Springs. Three years later, Gum Springs resident Giles Roster, …

Safety First Read More »

Sometime this year, the federal Centers for Disease Control will likely end the rental eviction moratorium that has enabled millions of tenants to remain in their homes while the nation struggles with the economic fallout caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. …

Rental Relief Read More »

Four years ago, at the urging of my good friend Richard Prince, I joined more than a dozen other speakers at an Alexandria public hearing to support the removal of Confederate memorials in the city. I pointed out that even …

Will They Listen…This Time Read More »

A recent spate of winter storms reminded me how desperately the county—and indeed the region and nation—need to get on board with installing electric and communications utility lines, below ground. Weather and falling tree branches cause 40 percent of power …

Keep the lights on Read More »

I‘ve been absent from these pages these past few months because much of my time has been consumed by activities involving, not housing and property management, but my former profession: journalism. In July I attended the closing of the Los …

A Free Press Read More »

In the wake of the nationwide affordable housing shortage, the federal government has proposed tripling rents for the poorest tenants receiving federal housing assistance and encouraging some 4.5 million households enrolled in federal voucher and public housing programs to shorten …

Affordable Housing Shortage Read More »

Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite is a phrase many of us heard during childhood and, later, paid little attention to once we became adults. But according to Orkin – the Atlanta-based pest control company – there …

Bugging Out Read More »

Election observers have long lamented the fact that only roughly half of registered voters cast ballots in presidential elections, and even fewer vote in other races. A 2008 study by Stanford University researchers Joshua Harder and Jon A. Krosnick found …

Election Motivation Read More »

It is great to be back, after suspending our blog several months ago to complete our office move to a new location in Alexandria. And as we settle in to welcome in a new year, we are thankful for the …

We’re Back. . . and Looking Forward to 2017 Read More »

We will be moving our offices over the next few weeks and hope to resume posting later this summer.