Good morning, Alexandria.
This newsletter turns one today. There’s no newsroom behind it and no staff, just me, and an alarm that goes off at 5 every morning so this is in your inbox before you’ve had coffee. Today it went off on about two and a half hours of sleep, which is what happens with a busy election night.
A year ago I started The Brief because I thought this city deserved a certain kind of news. Fair and accurate first. Past the press release, with the staff report read and the follow-up question asked. Corrected in print when it’s wrong, and marked when it’s updated so you know what changed. And written with some care about the people in it: no chasing clicks with a crime headline, no painting the West End or any neighborhood with a broad brush, no treating a family’s worst day as content. The people in these stories are our neighbors. That’s the standard I’ve tried to hold, and when I’ve missed it, you’ve told me, and I’ve fixed it.
This past week is what it looks like when it works. The ARHA repair gap and the HUD voucher freeze. The minute the Flock cameras went dark. What the School Board actually asked for. Last night, election results and updates while the party at the Mark Center was still going.
The numbers say you’ve noticed. 7,538 of you get this every morning. Nearly 48,000 people read something on the site this week. More than 12,000 follow on Instagram. And 479 of you have paid for it, 344 every month or year. None of that was there a year ago. Thank you, to the readers who open it, to the ones who reply with a tip or a correction, to the people who stop me at council meetings and farmers markets, and to my wife, who has lived with that 5 a.m. alarm for a year.
About last night: Mark Warner won a fourth term and said it’s his last, Don Beyer won easily, all three amendments passed, and Alexandria beat its 2022 turnout with three hours left to vote. The rest is in the three items below.
Year two starts now. If the Brief has earned a place in your morning, become a paid subscriber. If you already have, forward this to a neighbor. And keep the tips coming: reply to this email, write ryan@alexandriabrief.com or text my cell at 703-283-0790.
Here’s what you need to know for Wednesday, Nov. 4.
