Port City Dispatchs: Plans for the Food Pavilion, Beachcomber, Afghan Restaurant and Laurie Olin

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

From Alexandria Patch sites:

Plans are in motion to transform the long-vacant Torpedo Factory Food Pavilion at the Alexandria City Marina into a single restaurant.

The proposal for the Blackwall Hitch, named after a knot used to tie vessels to shore, is expected to enter the city’s planning approval process in December.

Lead partner Larry Ray, a veteran of restaurant and health club ventures in Annapolis, Md., expressed high hopes for the project at a meeting of the city’s Waterfront Commission Tuesday morning.

“When I was introduced to Alexandria, I immediately fell in love with city and this project,” Ray said. “It’s an exciting business opportunity and I see this being a hugely successful endeavor.

More:

• Alexandria Nearing Decision on Beachcomber Lease — By Drew Hansen
• Del Ray Intersections Too Tight? No Clear Line of Sight? — By Drew Hansen
• Lois L. Walker: 'A Wonderful Public Servant' — By Drew Hansen
• U.S. Rep. Jim Moran: 'I Don’t Think We Have a Functioning Democracy Right Now’ — By Drew Hansen
• Cashing Out on NSF's Move to Alexandria — By Drew Hansen
• Planning Commission Approves Redevelopment of Afghan Restaurant — By Drew Hansen
• Chinquapin Recreation Center to Reopen in November — By Drew Hansen
• Alexandria Urges Residents to Avoid Holmes Run, Cameron Run — By Drew Hansen
• Searching for Houdini: Community Bands Together to Find Lost Dog  — By Raytevia Evans
• Democrats Protest Cuccinelli Fundraiser in Old Town — By Drew Hansen
• Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition to Host Discussion in Del Ray — By Drew Hansen
• Police Reports: Robberies, Graffiti in the Old Town Area — By Drew Hansen
• Police Reports: Property Crimes, Thefts from Vehicles in the Del Ray Area — By Drew Hansen
• The Inherent Fragility of Del Ray’s Business District — By Bill Hendrickson

From elsewhere:

Meet Laurie Olin — by Derrick Perkins, Alexandria Times

Pressed for an honest assessment of the city’s Potomac River shoreline, Laurie Olin, the man charged with revitalizing the public space along the waterfront, paused before saying, “It has good bones.”

“It needs to be better,” the famed landscape architect said a few beats later, facing a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday night. “It needs to be a better waterfront.”

The evaluation came at the tail end of a meet-and-greet with residents organized by city officials. Alexandria’s denizens got a feel for Olin’s philosophy and his past projects at the get-together, the first in a series as the controversial waterfront redevelopment plan goes into action.

Watch “An Evening with Olin” on the city’s website

More:

• We, the Pizza Coming to Crystal City in 2014 — By Jason Spencer, Arlington Patch
• Battleground Northern Virginia: What Role Will the Region Play in the Election? —by Michael Lee Pope, Alexandria Gazette Packet
• Welcoming State Intervention at Jefferson-Houston — by Erich Wagner, Alexandria Times
• Shake-up of ACPS Capital Projects Draws Scrutiny — by Erich Wagner, Alexandria Times
• Planned Alexandria Waterfront Hotel Too Big, Say Critics — by Michael Lee Pope, WAMU.org
• ODBC Responds To City’s June Proposal — AlexandriaNews.Org