To the Editor:
The City of Alexandria chose seven community representatives for the Old Town North Small Area Plan Advisory Group. In doing so, it has, once again, demonstrated its insensitivity to the community. The largest issue in the Old Town North Small Area Plan will be the reuse of the Power Plant site.
The Marina Towers Condominium Association sits directly across the street from this site. Marina Towers contains 283 condominium apartments, with some 500 residents.
However, despite my candidacy for the Old Town North Small Area Plan Advisory Group being identified as the person the board of Marina Towers wanted to represent it, neither I nor anyone else from Marina Towers was selected for the Advisory Group.
From the outset, residents from Marina Towers can only note that either the Old Town North Small Area Plan is flawed from the outset, or that, despite all the conversation in the current City Council election about residents feeling City Hall is deaf to their concerns, the Alexandria City government is oblivious to those concerns.
What is especially galling is that one of the "community representatives" does not live within the Old Town North Small Area Plan boundaries. That person represents a business located in the community.
There is a separate category for business representatives.
The location of the residences of the community representatives have been plotted on the attached map. Further, two community representatives live in the 1200 block of N. Pitt. That's two representatives for a block with far fewer residents than Marina Towers.
As the first meeting of the Old Town North mall Area Plan Advisory Group will be held later this week, there is still time for the city to correct this error. I am, however, not holding my breath.
Herb Cooper-Levy
Alexandria