Port City Dispatches: Jim Moran Retires, Confederate Street Names, 'Shacking Up' and King Street Car Dealers

Here are some of the week's important, interesting and fun stories concerning Alexandria and its people.

From Alexandria Patch sites:

Alexandria Council Takes First Step in Eliminating Law Requiring Confederate Street Names — By Drew Hansen

Alexandria City Council took steps Tuesday to erase some outdated and superfluous sections of the city’s code, including a rule that some new streets, “insofar as possible,” bear the names of Confederate military leaders.

An ordinance introduced Tuesday drafted by Councilman Justin Wilson also calls for striking a section of code that penalizes “any persons, not married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously” associating and cohabitating.

The ordinance will be subject to a public hearing on Jan. 25. 

“One of the consequences of a very old city is that we have a lot of very old laws,” Wilson said. “This is an opportunity to clean up some of these old laws.”

Read the entire story.

More from Patch:

• Legalizing 'Shacking Up' in Alexandria  
• Jim Moran to Retire from Congress After 23 Years  
• Take Your Pick: Long List of Potential Candidates to Replace Jim Moran 
• National Harbor Plans to Debut The Capital Wheel in May  
• Au Revoir, King Street's Used Car Dealerships  
• Report: Two Men Charged in November Safeway Robbery  
• Alexandria Police, USPIS Conducting Joint Investigation into Del Ray Post Office Robbery  
• Two Men, Police Officer Injured in Fall Through Grocery Store Window  
• Travis Jackson, Founder of Windian Records, Killed in Collision
• After Baby's Death in Hot Car, Fundraiser Aims to Bolster Mother's Defense
• Opening Soon: The Fresh Market at Bradlee Shopping Center   
• Ebbin Begins Battle to Repeal Virginia's Gay Marriage Ban   
• Attempt to Repeal Virginia Gay Marriage Ban On Hold Until 2015 
• Former GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie Declares U.S. Senate Bid
• Toler Brings Art from Afghanistan to St. Elmo's Coffee Pub
• Chinquapin Wahoos Make Waves in City Hall
• Jefferson-Houston School Construction Progressing
• Karen Graf Re-Elected Chair of Alexandria School Board
• Stretch of Commonwealth Avenue Scheduled for Repaving
• Portion of Simpson Dog Park to Close for Turf Restoration
• MLK Day 2014: Alexandria Closures, Service Changes   
• Letter to the Editor: Papp on Safe Streets

From elsewhere:

ACPS Fee Hike Forces Cancellation of Little League Winter Clinic — By Erich Wagner, Alexandria Times

Young ballplayers will have nowhere to brush up on the fundamentals this winter. Alexandria Little League canceled its offseason baseball clinic after a public school gym raised rental fees by five times the rate charged last year.

Sterling Gilliam, president of the youth baseball program, said the group was planning a second winter clinic for children this month, with help from T.C. baseball head coach Jim Blair. But when he went to Alexandria City Public Schools to reserve time at the gym, he was informed that rates had jumped from $50 per hour to $285.

“We penciled it out, but we could not make it fiscally doable by absorbing that fee — it was just too much,” Gilliam said. “If we wanted to still have it in Alexandria, we would have had to pass along those costs to the players and their families.”

Read the entire story.

More:

• Beverley Hills Christmas Lights Outcry: Some Say Sad-Looking Displays Have Got To Go — By Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post
• Memorable Moments in Jim Moran’s Career — By Ben Pershing, The Washington Post
• Local Teen Leads Haiyan Relief Effort — By Erich Wagner, Alexandria Times
• Virginia Supreme Court Opens Access to Audio Recordings of Oral Arguments — By Michael Lee Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet
• Bittersweet Gathering: Sherry Party Pays Tribute to Vola Lawson, Lois Walker — By Jeanne Theismann, Alexandria Gazette Packet
• Alexandria Seeking State Funds To Help Build Potomac Yard Metro Station — By Michael Lee Pope, WAMU.org
• Alexandrianews.org Names Susan Kellom 2013 Alexandrian Of The Year — By Carla Branch, AlexandriaNews.Org
• A Taste of New Orleans in Del Ray — By Katie Briscoe, DIY Del Ray