­­For Immediate Release: April 19, 2022

Alexandria City Council adopted six priorities that have been used to provide a cohesive framework for budget and policy decisions for the next fiscal year. These priorities were developed based upon City Council discussion at the Council Retreat, held on January 29, 2022, and follow-up discussions at Council meetings over the last two months.

“Our new City Council will focus on these six community priority areas and accelerate our efforts,” said Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson. “Coalescing around these priorities has been an important initial step to ensure that our work makes a real and noticeable difference in the lives of Alexandrians.”

Each of the following six priorities will be viewed through the lens of equity, environmental justice, civility, transparency, respect and service:

• Recover from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Identify the policies, practices and resources needed to ensure a resilient and equitable recovery for all residents and businesses.
• Provide Diverse Housing Opportunities: Reconsider our zoning model and explore other tools to better facilitate an Alexandria housing economy that provides the necessary range of price points, styles of housing and associated services to meet the needs of a thriving city.
• Define Our Community Engagement Approach: Use both new and traditional outreach methods to ensure that engagement is efficient, effective and accessible to all stakeholders, creating a clear connection between community input and its effects on policy decision, infrastructure needs and financial considerations.
• Support Youth and Families: Explore ways to expand academic, social and emotional services and physical support to all youth during out-of-school hours.
• Foster Economic Development: Seek out and consider budgetary, land use, regulatory and other economic development tools to foster sustainable and equitable development, diversify revenue and allow greater investment in our infrastructure.
• Develop a Compensation Philosophy: Establish a new compensation philosophy to ensure we are the preferred workplace of choice and that employees feel valued.

To operationalize these values, City Manager James Parajon has directed City of Alexandria staff to develop an interdepartmental business plan for each priority. This plan will consolidate existing plans and contain specific objectives, indicators and quarterly progress updates. Each quarter, an in-depth update on two of the priorities will be provided to City Council and the community. An in-depth update on the COVID-19 Recovery and Housing priorities is planned for May.

Visit alexandriava.gov/Council for more information.

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Editorial Communications Manager, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

For reasonable disability accommodation, contact dana.wedeles@alexandriava.gov or call 703.746.5491, Virginia Relay 711.

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This news release is available at alexandriava.gov/go/3567