The Alexandria City Council held a work session on September 23, 2026, with members of the city's state legislative delegation to discuss the city's 2027 legislative package. Mayor Gaskins framed the session around the theme "Stewarding a Thriving Alexandria," organized into five interconnected areas: stewarding great places, expanding economic opportunity, strengthening effective local government, promoting community well-being, and building long-term resilience. The city had gathered input from a community survey (nearly 1,000 participants), 70 boards and commissions, and 751 written comments. Key topics included a rental registry, AI safeguards in foster care, energy stretch codes, data centers, school funding, and other local priorities. The delegation offered guidance and indicated their legislative constraints (15 bills per member in the 2027 session).
Okay, well, good evening, everyone. We are gonna go ahead and get started with our work session for today. A few housekeeping items. In order for the conversation to be picked up, we need you to use your mic and we need you to be as close to it as possible. Today's conversation is being recorded and will be posted on our website later. Um, that's traditionally how we do our meetings, and normally it would all be in one space, but we're working with some adjustments in our temporary city hall. With that, I'm gonna go ahead and jump right in, and we are gonna start with introductions from our members of the delegation so that everyone in the public is aware of their representatives and their priorities. And so, Senator Bennett Parker, I'm gonna start with you and then we will move down the line. Good evening. Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of City Council. I'm Elizabeth Knight Parker. I'm proud to represent the 39th district in the state Senate, um, representing all of the city of Alexandria as well as parts of um Arlington and Fairfax Counties. Um I serve on the, I don't know how much you want us to go into, but I serve on the agriculture uh local government, transportation and privileges and elections committees. Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of council. I'm Sharon El Hearing. I represent the Fourth House District, which is West Alexandria City in the Bailey's Crossroads area. I also serve as a House Majority Leader. I am on the Appropriations Committee, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, and Natural Resources, as well as the Rules Committee. And I'm just a pleasure to be here, and I look forward to the conversation. Hi, my name is Alfonso Lopez. I represent the third district, which is Alexandria and Arlington. Um I am the chair of the Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee in the House. I'm number two in seniority on the Labor and Commerce Committee. I'm also the chair of the uh workforce and labor subcommittee. And then I'm also on CTI, the uh communications technology and infrastructure, as well as public safety and on the firearms subcommittee on that committee as well. Thanks for being here. Look forward to the conversation. Hello, I'm uh Kirk McPike, uh, the delegate for District 5, which is most of the eastern side of the city and the Duke Street corridor. Uh I am a member of the finance committee in the House as well as the public safety committee, where I'm also a member of the firearms subcommittee. And it's uh nice to be back talking with y'all. Well, welcome again, everybody, and to the members of the public who have joined us or who will eventually watch this online. Part of why this conversation is so important is because the way we're able to make sure that our city can deliver for you, it's really a team effort. We have to be able to be coordinating and in close partnership with our state leaders because a lot of the tools and authorities that we need for the issues you care about come through the authorities that are granted to us by the state. And so every year we do this conversation. It's really an opportunity for us to hear what each other's thinking about, how we are wrestling with different community priorities, and then what might be some of the legislative tools to move us forward. In terms of how we will structure the conversation, I'm gonna begin with just giving um some opening framing on how our 2027 legislative package is shaping up. From there, there are a few updates I want to provide the from the feedback that we've received from the survey that we did of our residents, as well as feedback we've gotten from our boards and commissions and staff. And so we have a few topic areas where we really want to get the insights of the delegation on how we move forward. Then I'll open it up for us to just have some conversation about what else we're hearing, what else might be some priorities, and then we'll close with our delegation really giving us some closing thoughts on some of the things that they are prioritizing and we'll carry forward. I um my trustee vice mayor here is gonna try and keep us on track and on time so that we can get through um everything. And if you want to speak, just raise your tent or something so I can try and see where everything's going. So, in terms of our 2027 legislative package, the theme for this year is going to be stewarding a thriving Alexandria. The focus behind this theme is that we have made a ton of progress as a city, and there are a lot of great things happening. But in order for us to protect where we are today, but also where we want to go as a future in the future, we are gonna need some different tools. We're gonna need additional resources, and we're gonna need flexibility. The framework underneath stewarding a thrivening Alexandria is going to be divided into five interconnected areas. So when we send our delegation the package, it'll have kind of these five themes. It'll also be how we organize all of our different policy proposals. The first theme may sound familiar for those of us who've been working on ALX Forward and our economic development plans, but it's really focused on stewarding great places. And the idea behind this theme is that in order for us to continue to have safe, connected, and vibrant neighborhoods, we need to focus on our infrastructure while also accommodating responsible growth and economic development.