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Alexandria: After the BID Failures, Council Shops for Alternatives

Plat Street Right of Way Vol. 1 · No. 5 July 2026 RW·1·5·2

By Plat Street 2 min read Alexandria, VA

Following Issue 4's coverage of two council members reviving the Old Town BID discussion after a decade of failed attempts, ALXnow now reports council is looking at options other than a formal BID to support the Old Town corridor after the latest push stalled again. It's the same question Columbia, South Carolina answered in Issue 2 with informal merchant-funded structures rather than a statutory district: what do you do when formation keeps failing but the underlying corridor need doesn't go away?

Source: ALXnow, June 25, 2026

Duplicate check: Continuation of Issue 4 BO-P-13.

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Which alternative instrument, a marketing fund, a city-funded ambassador contract, or a merchant association grant program. Council settles on, since each carries a materially different accountability and funding-stability profile than a formal BID.