The Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Regional Policy Leadership Series (RPLS) brought Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser together with the region’s business community for an intimate in-person conversation in the heart of the Central Business District to discuss regional issues. Mayor Bowser’s discussion bridged regional transportation, public safety, regulation of new disruptive technologies, downtown revitalization, and what can be done to better the District’s business environment as the post-pandemic economy continues to evolve.  

The conversation was presented in sponsorship by Holland & Knight and was held at the Downtown DC office of the multinational law firm located on 17^th Street NW. It set the perfect backdrop for the important conversation Mayor Bowser had with the discussion’s moderator Janene D. Jackson, Partner at Holland & Knight’s DC office.  

The event began with remarks from Nina Albert, DC’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, who addressed the audience on some of the key pillars to revitalization of the Central Business District. She also discussed the next steps in creating a continued high growth economy, promoting cultural experiences that make DC unique, and creating more affordable housing, ahead of Mayor Bowser’s discussion.  

Mayor Bowser didn’t waste time diving into issues vital to the region’s business community, including the future of Metro funding from the District (engaging on the WMATA budget deficit impacting regional transportation) and newly introduced crime legislation which takes major strides toward providing law enforcement with the tools that they need to combat the epidemic of crime facing the region (including major public safety concerns in the Central Business District). On the latter of which, she expressed concerns regarding the defunding of the DC Police force by the federal government that has impacted the District’s public safety, reducing the standing force by 300 officers.

Mayor Bowser’s discussion also covered technological investments that will better position the region’s workforce to contend with competitor cities nationally and internationally. Federal dollars to extend broadband and internet connectivity in the District have helped tremendously to expand and upgrade infrastructure.  She spoke specifically about the Internet Essentials Partnership Program and how this public-private partnership with internet service providers like Comcast has connected families and small businesses in underserved District communities to broadband internet. The mayor shared that “while everyone can connect to the internet, not everyone can afford to connect,” and it’s partnerships like these that elevate our region. 

Mayor Bowser briefly covered the effort to try and keep the region’s professional sports teams in the District, including her hopes of retaining the Wizards and Capitals, whose parent company, Monumental Sports, recently released plans of moving the teams to a new entertainment district in Northern Virginia’s Potomac Yard. The mayor has worked with DC Council to approve a $500 million arena refurbishment funding package.  

Conversation then turned to wooing the Commanders back to a new stadium in the District at the site of the old RFK Stadium in Northeast DC, a 10-year long campaign thus far with the federal government, which owns the site. Plans still involve building a new “NFL-sized” stadium at that location regardless of the Commanders’ plans, which would help the District hold larger concerts and outdoor events that currently cannot be held in DC due to the smaller size of some of its entertainment venues.  

Now in her third term in office, the most difficult term for any mayor, Mayor Bowser was asked how she sees her legacy, looking back through her tenure making her the second longest-serving mayor in DC’s history. With so much to be proud of it’s hard to choose any single accomplishment, she pointed to her ability to uplift communities in Ward 8 via affordable housing, through the building of a new hospital and creating meaningful jobs in DC’s most challenging ward from an economic and equity standpoint. 

This is the first RPLS event of 2024. We look forward to continuing to connect the business community to information directly from policymakers through our Regional Policy Leadership Series, ensuring that our members have the best up-to-date knowledge about how the region’s governments are planning for and reacting to a constantly changing environment.     

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor: Holland and Knight LLP, and our series supporting sponsors Comcast, First National Bank, Fox Rothschild LLP, G.S. Proctor & Associates, Inc., Giant Food LLC, MGM National Harbor, and McGuireWoods LLP, McGuireWoods Consulting, and Uber Technologies, Inc. 

The Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Regional Policy Leadership Series brought together Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in discussion with Uber Technologies’ Senior Public Policy Manager Michele Blackwell about topics ranging from the ongoing Meta lawsuit and artificial intelligence to combating the epidemic of crime in the region.   

AG Brown discussed key priorities around consumer protection and public safety, ranging from the Meta lawsuit and antitrust regulations to regulation around handgun qualification and addressing mass incarceration and recidivism, even indicating that he will be seeking to form a regional coalition among his colleagues on the call to create a task force in the mold of Illinois’ recent organized retail theft task-force to begin tackling the problem more holistically and collaboratively across the region.   

In the way of consumer protections, Brown delved into antitrust legislation around minimum price setting in Maryland and expressed a commitment to continuing to pursue a collaborative relationship with the business focused on the prevention of abusive behaviors rather than over-regulation and litigation. Conversation then shifted to the Meta lawsuits being pursued by 41 attorneys general across the nation and the need for social media platforms and the tech industry to take age gating and verification seriously so that kids are protected from some of the tactics that have become a vital part of monetization of social media platforms.   

In a discussion on violent crime, Brown pointed out that youth crime is actually on the decline with the very important exception of carjackings and gun violence and that wrap-around services in concert with a more pointed approach to prosecuting those crimes will be pivotal parts of any solution going forward. When asked how the business community can help, he suggested that continued investment in young people to get them off the streets and to inspire them with what their futures can look like through internship and mentorship will play a major role in preventing the cycle of criminality that plagues the region. 

AG Schwalb primarily focused on DC’s Cure the Streets broad approach to combating violent crime in the District and consumer protections around the Meta Lawsuit, as well as the District’s proposed legislation regarding the use of AI algorithms in the making of important life decisions for residents.   

Discussion of DC’s Cure the Streets program centered around the need to make people feel safe in the face of some disturbing trends around violence in the city. As the crimes associated with first offenses worsen and traditional prosecution has not seemed to be able to fix the problem, wrap-around services to keep children off the streets by providing after-school programs, jobs, internships, and mentoring may represent a viable path forward. Schwalb indicated that point as a way in which the business community is poised to get involved and have a major impact on both public safety and the lives of many of the District’s young residents.   

Discussion of the Meta lawsuit and protection of DC’s youth from business practices that may negatively impact young minds transitioned into discussion of DC’s proposed regulations around the use of AI, big data, and algorithms in the making of important life decisions when Schwalb acknowledged the importance of balancing the major benefits that many of these technologies can bring to residents with concerns around the data privacy and data set biasing endemic to them. He expressed his office’s desire to create guard rails that will prevent the technology from going over the line and doing harm rather than opening up access to products and services to a broader scope of the population.   

AG Miyares discussed, first, Virginia’s cease-fire program designed to combat gang violence throughout the state by intervening immediately within communities to avoid the retaliatory cycle of gun violence before it can begin and focusing on the prosecution of the disproportionately small number of repeat offenders, ~5%, who commit ~50% of crime in the Commonwealth. He, like his colleagues, pointed out that the business community can take a major role in preventing that cycle by providing pathways for young people to better themselves and develop relationships with the private sector, getting them out of bad situations associated with their being unsupervised after school and allowing them to envision themselves in positions and roles which may never have occurred to them.   

Miyares then moved on to the discussion of consumer protections in the Commonwealth, again reiterating the need to provide age-appropriate guard rails for children on social media platforms while still allowing for the social connection that they so desire before moving into discussion of his recent opposition to the increasing of greenbelt fares, expounding on the AG’s office’s role as the voice of the people in issues of consumer protection within the Commonwealth.  

Our Regional Attorneys General RPLS webinar was the last one of for 2023. During the 2023 year, we held six RPLS virtual policy discussions, including discussions with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Regional Police Chiefs and Regiona Labor Leaders from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

In 2024, we look forward to continuing to connect the business community to information directly from policymakers through our Regional Policy Leadership Series, ensuring that our members have the best up-to-date knowledge about how the region’s governments are planning for and reacting to a constantly changing environment.   

This Regional Policy Leadership Series webinar was presented by Uber Technologies. Supporting Sponsors of the event series are Comcast, First National Bank, Fox Rothschild LLP, Giant Food LLC, G.S. Proctor & Associates Inc., Holland & Knight LLP, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, McGuireWoods LLP, and MGM National Harbor. Thank you for supporting the Greater Washington Board of Trade and our region’s business community.     

On November 30th, the Greater Washington Board of Trade (the Board of Trade) and the Greater Washington Partnership (the Partnership) hosted the 6^th annual Capital Region Transportation Forum. This annual event brings together the Capital Region’s transportation leaders – from Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia – to discuss shared challenges and opportunities that require multi-jurisdiction collaboration. This year, the discussion centered around the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) fiscal challenges and regional efforts to overcome them. 

The Partnership and the Board of Trade work together to ensure the region is advancing comprehensive and strategic transportation investments that will keep our economy moving. An efficient, accessible, and reliable transportation system is essential to ensuring businesses and residents can thrive.   

We kicked off the morning by celebrating many of the region’s transportation wins from the past year, including the relaunch of the Baltimore Red Line, Metro’s post-pandemic ridership recovery and historic levels of service, as well as record-breaking ridership on Virginia’s passenger trains. Most notably, WMATA’s $750 million operating budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, remains a major challenge facing the region and we urged leaders and elected officials to work together toward a sustainable solution.  

Charting the Path to Sustainable Mobility 

The event opened with Dr. Cinzia Cirillo, who is a professor and the interim director of the Maryland Transportation Institute at the University of Maryland. Dr. Cirillo discussed recent research from the Maryland Transportation Institute regarding persistent traffic and congestion in the Greater Washington region despite the prevalence of remote work. She also shared the data science behind those insights, and how such models can be invaluable tools for decision makers going forward to forecast usage, expected impacts, and externalities of future infrastructure projects. “[Monitoring congestion] is not enough, because in order to make investments, we need to be able to predict the consequences of our actions, or no action,” Cirillo said. 

SEE MORE PICUTURES FROM OUR EVENT HERE

Randy Clarke: State of the Metro Address  

Randy Clarke, the General Manager and CEO of WMATA, updated the audience on WMATA’s current financial crisis. The transit agency, which is facing a $750 million operating budget deficit, has been working toward reforms, cost savings, and service cuts to help bridge its funding gap. Clarke outlined the major factors contributing to the agency’s deficit, including decreased ridership post-pandemic, inflation, and the depletion of COVID subsidies. If a funding agreement is not defined in the coming weeks, the immediate consequences could include significant service cuts and layoffs. “The state of Metro is strong but highly uncertain. We need to choose as a region what we want Metro to be,” Clarke said.  

Clarke presented various budget scenarios with the worst-case scenario requiring drastic cuts to bus and rail services, longer waiting times for commuters, the shutdown of numerous bus lines, and early shutdowns of the Metrorail system. Equally concerning is the huge number of WMATA employees that will face the prospect of layoffs and hiring freezes if funding is not secured. Layoff notifications and the hiring freeze could begin in January 2025, with impacts to service starting to show during DC’s busy cherry blossom season next spring. 

Panel: Regional Transportation Leaders Panel 

A panel discussion, moderated by WUSA9 anchor Lesli Foster, brought together the transportation leaders from DC, Maryland, and Virginia to discuss recent progress and collaboration on regional transportation initiatives. The panelists, Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, and Interim Director of the District Department of Transportation Sharon Kershbaum, shared insights on their administrations’ respective visions and shared regional priorities. Safety was stressed as a top priority across the region. All three secretaries emphasized their shared focus on reducing roadway injuries and fatalities.  “We lost over 1,000 people last year on our roadways. The problem is that we’ve gotten used to that fact,” said Sheppard Miller III.  

WMATA was another key concern and topic of discussion. The uncertain future of WMATA services, escalating costs, and impacts on service are creating instability across the region. “The importance of WMATA to Maryland and to the region cannot be overstated. It’s what makes us competitive nationally and internationally. We cannot let it fail, but we also have to work with our financial realities. We’re going to have to make some hard choices,” said Paul Wiedefeld. The panel explored how each administration is working to ensure stability for WMATA, its funding partners, and the broader community that relies on its services “WMATA’s survival is the District’s survival. The District is really trying to drive demand [for transit] because that is a lever that we have. Priority bus lanes have been key to that.” said Sharon Kershbaum. 

The Partnership and the Board of Trade were honored to host 200 leaders to discuss foundational issues for our region’s ability to grow and thrive. Thank you to Lesli Foster for serving as our moderator, all our panelists and presenters, and a special thanks to this year’s sponsors: Georgetown University, EXP, HDR, HNTB, Transurban, Aon, EY, and Lyft. We will continue to convene and look for opportunities to partner with the leaders who joined us at the 2023 Capital Region Transportation Forum to ensure the region continues to make the long-term investments needed to ensure this region remains one of the best places to live, work, and build a business. 

Watch the full 2023 Capital Region Transportation Forum here.

To watch and share clips from the 2023 Capital Region Transportation Forum, check out the below videos from our YouTube page:

WMATA (Metro) General Manager Randy Clarke discusses transit system’s $750 million funding gap

Capital Region transportation leaders discuss Metro funding and traffic congestion in DC, MD, and VA

Maryland Transportation Institute shares traffic research for the Greater Washington region