The Board of Trade held on July 18 the first part of its 2024 Election Watch series at the Downtown D.C. office of our series sponsor K&L Gates to engage members on how the 2024 Presidential Election could impact the Greater Washington region.
With our region being closely connected to the federal government and our nation’s capital, it was discussed how local governments would interact with the federal government depending on the administration elected. This included how the election could impact regional transportation, the possible influx of in-person or remote work for federal employees, local public safety initiatives, and much more.
While news of President Joe Biden stepping down as the Democratic nominee broke a few days after this discussion with our members, it was still valuable to see how the election is playing out, including hearing insights from experts at K&L Gates regarding what specific issues are being pinpointed by former-President Donald Trump’s campaign, and the campaign for the Democratic Party campaign. It was discussed in the meeting what the process of picking a new candidate would look like if President Biden stepped down, including if Vice President Kamala Harris took over the ticket.
The Board of Trade is committed to keeping our members, partners, and the greater business community informed on how elections and politics can impact our region. It was special for members in a variety of professions and industry fields to share perspectives and views on what the region faces during this election year.
In our next parts of our 2024 Election Watch series, we’ll further explore the potential election scenarios and their implications for policy, society, and regional dynamics with the help of data-driven analysis and informed speculation from those attending.
Thank you to K&L Gates for sponsoring and hosting this series.
After a 12-year hiatus, the Potomac Conference met at the Catholic University of America on July 9 to discuss the region’s economy, transportation, and security, focusing on one key point – public safety.
The Conference – co-hosted by the Greater Washington Board of Trade (GWBOT), the Greater Washington Partnership (GWP), the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), and the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area (Consortium) – brought together leaders in the region’s government, law enforcement, non-profit, private, and academic sectors, where they had the opportunity to address the critical issue of ensuring safe communities while strengthening economic growth.
The morning began with welcome remarks from Kathy Hollinger, President and CEO of GWP, who thanked sponsors and partners before introducing the Keynote Speaker. Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer delivered his Keynote Address, providing attendees with an overview of the national landscape and climate of public safety.
Andrew Flagel, President and CEO of the Consortium, also provided insight on the role of the region’s universities in promoting public safety before introducing a data-driven discussion on violence impacting the region, presented by Hanna Love of the Brookings Institute.
Love introduced her work at the Brookings Metro’s Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking, showcasing both the perceptions and realities of crime in the region. While local perceptions of crime spoke to a fear of its intensification, crime trends in downtown D.C. did not dramatically change. It was also made clear that place matters regarding types of crime and the necessary responses. Love called attention to a multifaceted approach to reducing crime, focusing on investments in economic stability, housing, access to quality education, and the built environment.
Strategies, Resources, and Building Community Trust for Public Safety
The Executive Director of COG, Clark Mercer, addressed the importance of partnerships between local governments and institutions before introducing a panel that illustrated such cross-sector collaboration. Moderated by Elliott Ferguson, President & CEO of Destination DC, the panel included Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department, Metro Transit Chief Michael Anzallo of WMATA, and President Peter Kilpatrick of Catholic University.
The three panelists answered several questions regarding their roles in public safety and crime reduction and provided insight on what was being done within their institutions to address the issues. A key point was the importance of partnerships between law enforcement, private and public institutions, and the Greater Washington community at-large.
Chief Smith emphasized the MPD’s Real Time Crime Center and its new community camera sharing program, CameraConnect DC, through which anyone can connect their security cameras to help law enforcement more accurately solve cases and obtain footage.
“One of the things that we’ve launched with the Real Time Crime Center is the ability to be able to connect your cameras,” said Chief Smith. “We are asking you, your partners, your business, please connect your cameras to our Real Time Crime Center. If you have business, mom-and-pop stores, we really want to use your cameras.”
Strategizing for a Thriving Region Workshop
Emergency Communications: First Net Case Study
The workshop portion of the day, focused around discussing and amplifying resources for a thriving region, was moderated and led by Jack McDougle, President and CEO of GWBOT. The first discussion centered on FirstNet – or First Responder Network Authority – a nationwide communication network for first responders overseen by Congress and AT&T. Melissa Ayala, Assistant VP of Government Programs at AT&T, provided updates on a new phase of FirstNet, including standalone 5G and expanded coverage. Many attendees expressed the need for closing the communication gap about public safety updates between organizations and law enforcement, reinforcing a core theme of the conference – public safety goes beyond policing.
Prevent Gun Violence: Research, Empowerment, Strategies and Solutions
The second workshop focused on gun violence and the role of businesses and communities to provide resources and support for its mitigation. Dr. Joseph Richardson laid out data collected through his work as Co-Director of PROGRESS at the University of Maryland, an initiative centered around preventing gun violence with multi-disciplinary, community-based approaches.
Key metrics stood out from this presentation, including a sobering view on the differences in life expectancy within D.C. itself – one loses 21 years of life expectancy in a 41-minute metro ride across the city from Northwest D.C. to Southeast D.C., according to Richardson’s work on contributing factors that lead to this statistic, which include disparities in economic investments and violent crime in these parts of the District.
Dr. Richardson also shared severe discrepancies in the cost of homicides versus investment in research and implementation, with gun violence costing America over $500B per year but only about $25 million invested in 2020 by the federal government in prevention research.
Attendees shared local stories and company ventures looking to combat this issue by providing after-school programs and gainful employment opportunities, giving those at risk another option beyond resorting to gun violence. Businesses have a responsibility to provide opportunities, many affirmed, with ideas such as increasing involvement to the community and opening hiring to those not “traditionally employable” discussed.
Barriers to Retaining and Attracting Business to the Region
The final workshop began with remarks from Colleen Hawkinson, Executive Director of the DC BID Council, and Shawn Townsend, President & CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.
Hawkinson reaffirmed the importance of public-private partnerships, especially in the DC BID council towards fostering DC’s Business Improvement Districts, while Townsend relayed the hospitality industry’s continued post-pandemic struggles, but also the sector’s focus on economic development and safety.
The workshop included suggestions such as promoting downtown safety and economic growth by recovering vacant spaces, making these vacancies attractive for businesses. The discussion centered again on providing accessible jobs for young people and creating pathways within those jobs for credential building, school programs, and career growth.
The Greater Washington Board of Trade was thrilled to help host and collaborate on this landmark event with our partners, multilateral institutions, businesses, and agencies in the region. Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Potomac Conference to facilitate cross-sector dialogue in the region and explore innovative, actionable approaches to enhancing community safety and economic stability.
With five generations in the current workforce, we’re experiencing a pivotal moment for every generation to come together and shape the future of workplace culture. That’s why business professionals from their early 80s to late 20s convened at the Tower Club Tysons Corner in Vienna, Virginia, on May 17th for the start of our 2024 TD Morning Star Speaker Series. Renowned expert Annie Griffiths from National Geographic captivated the audience by sharing how humor, body language, sincerity, and deeper listening can build a bridge to anyone.
With her decades of experience with National Geographic and her extensive global adventures, Annie offered a unique perspective on how different generations can learn from each other, bridge cultural divides, and foster a more collaborative and communicative workplace. Annie’s personal experiences of entering the workforce and learning from colleagues older and younger than her over the years were a highlight of the event.
From Annie’s speech, our members gleaned a wealth of practical information. She dispelled assumptions, emphasized the importance of building genuine connections, and highlighted the value of mentorship. Annie’s unique perspective helped those in attendance begin to explore how these principles can be applied in our professional environments. While our May 17th session featured an inspiring keynote, our upcoming June 7th workshop will be hands-on and designed to delve deeper into practical strategies for fostering collaboration.
Some additional key takeaways and principles were:
Never underestimate a person’s pride and resilience. People can care passionately about similar and different things. Understanding this can help form cultural and generational understanding in the workplace.
Sometimes, it’s okay to be an “idiot” to learn and understand people from other generations. Making conclusions about colleagues before you know and understand them can limit what you can learn from them.
Don’t assume people cannot learn or think of something that could be specific from one generation to another. As Annie stated, people can learn to do incredible things and are resilient when faced with wanting to understand someone or something when given the chance.
Register now for the second installment of the 2024 TD Bank Morning Star series – an interactive workshop on mastering inter-generational collaboration on June 7th: https://bit.ly/4bkiwvn.
Thank you to the TD Bank team and Terry Kenny, TD’s Market President of the Mid-South Region, for sponsoring the Morning Star Speaker Series. These Morning Star events have helped inspire workforce development and culture in the Greater Washington region for the last 17 years.
Over 600 members and friends of the Greater Washington Board of Trade gathered for the 104th Mid-Winter Dinner, graciously presented by PNC Bank, and hosted within the majestic walls of the Washington National Cathedral on March 13th.
In keeping with tradition, the evening offered a blend of sophistication and camaraderie, as leading business figures, community partners, and esteemed officials came together for an unforgettable experience.
Set against the backdrop of the Cathedral’s grandeur, guests were treated to the exquisite melodies of the National Philharmonic, complemented by the culinary delights of Ridgewells Catering. From the beautiful decor to the inspiring cuisine, every detail contributed to an atmosphere of connection and collaboration.
The Mid-Winter Dinner stands as a testament to the power of unity, demonstrating how forging bonds and fostering dialogue can fortify our region’s vitality and resilience.
Thank you to all our sponsors for making this signature event an evening to remember. This includes the Washington National Cathedral for hosting our event, and who is celebrating its first year as a Board of Trade member!
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 17th 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIUCjqrgYU
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0y8C7BY3I
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyN9NTkj2E8
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.
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.
The Board of Trade’s 2023 Annual Meeting, presented by Kaiser Permanente, was held on Dec. 12 at the MGM National Harbor Resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and recapped a year of growth for the Board of Trade. The meeting brought together nearly 300 members of GWBOT to celebrate recent accomplishments, look at the year ahead for the organization, and discuss the importance of the arts to the Greater Washington community, specifically in the context of violent crime, as it has become such a prominent area of concern in the region.
From the Stage:
Board of Trade President & CEO Jack McDougle, outgoing Board Chair Jermaine Johnson, and incoming Board Chair Steve Proctor started with discussions of what the Board of Trade has accomplished over the past year and where they see the organization moving over the next. This included sharing a 90-percent member retention rate for 2023, the growth of our policy and advocacy department to push forth and make an impact on our members’ positions in the region, how we will work with our partners to address the critical $750 Million funding gap for WMATA/METRO, and how we will continue to address growing public safety issues for regional businesses. The annual meeting also allowed a vote to confirm the upcoming GWBOT Board of Directors and introduce new 2024 Board Officers as part of the excitement for our organization heading into the new year and how we can enhance our impact, grow membership, and maximize member engagement.
We also had the pleasure of hearing from Ruth Williams-Brinkley, President at Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic States, on the great work Kaiser is doing to build healthy communities in our region before handing the discussion off to Deborah Rutter, President of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, who introduced the primary topic of conversation around the vital importance of the arts to the region, remarking on the enormous value of arts and culture for the region’s businesses, as well as the role that access to the arts plays in the mental and general wellbeing of the rest of the region’s communities.
In discussing what the region might look like without museums, arenas, theaters, and gathering spaces that shape the civic lives of residents, Deborah discussed a recent National Endowment for the Arts and Americans for the Arts poll in which 86% of respondents say that the arts vastly improve their lives in their communities and that arts in the non-profit sector make up a $13.8 Billion chunk of the DC economy and around $50 Billion regionally. Concluding that arts and entertainment are not luxuries but that they are necessary for prosperous communities, she mentioned some of the Kennedy Center’s community outreach work, including the National Symphony Orchestra’s ‘In Your Neighborhood’ program, which largely centers around bringing access to the arts to Ward 5 across non-traditional settings, and grassroots organizations participating in programs like the Cultural Caucus, which provides space and funding for local communities to curate the arts programming that they care about.
Deborah’s focus on art for non-art outcomes led to the presentation of a table read for playwright Niarra C Bell’s The Smiles Behind, a play born out of Enough: Plays to End Gun Violence, a program that asks teens to submit short works around gun violence and provides a platform for young artists.
The performance was followed by a panel discussion in which Jack, Niarra, Deborah, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department discussed violent crime in the region as contextualized by the play. Jack, moderating the panel, started the discussion with a personal anecdote about his experience with violent crime in the region before passing the discussion to the panelists. Chief Smith discussed her background, including how she came to be an integral part of the national law enforcement community and some of the broad impact that she has seen community-centric cooperative policing have on DC’s residents.
Deborah discussed her experiences with the large-scale defunding of arts education shortly after the start of her career. She reflected on the critical role that arts education and arts educators had on her life during her formative years before transitioning into a discussion of how the Kennedy Center represents a unique local and national platform for every form of art within the region and how its significant role has been an enormous part of the region’s cultural focus on the arts.
Niarra then discussed how increasing rates of gun violence can hit close to home in communities that aren’t expecting it and how such an instance led her to get involved with theater and later into arts advocacy and remarked on the importance of giving a platform to young voices as a part of the conversation about criminal justice reform.
The conversation then shifted more toward violent crime prevention as Chief Smith expressed a desire to partner with the Kennedy Center to help educate new officers and create a more humane policing community by sharing art like The Smiles Behind with new officers. She went on to discuss the arrest of 10 juveniles involved in a carjacking ring (an alarming issue in the District) and the impact that new programs like Operation ATLAS and the District’s new gun trafficking unit have had since their creation on the crime rates in the region. Also, Chief Smith spoke about future programs like the District’s crime center, which will be reaching out to the region’s business community to provide CCTV access in concert with the Mayor’s plan to double the number of CCTVs in the District, a measure which has substantially reduced crime elsewherel. Chief Smith concluded by discussing the importance of holding youth accountable and avoiding a culture where juveniles feel untouchable by the law.
Niarra echoed Chief Smith’s sentiments about the necessity of holding juveniles accountable, further discussing how the lack of accountability can lead to many of the problems communities can experience wherein bystanders can be grouped in with bad actors before Deborah concluded the discussion by calling out Duke Ellington High School’s gun violence support group, recently featured in the Washington Post, as being an incredible example of community support of those impacted by the region’s pandemic of violent crime.
Thank you to all our members for contributing to the work of the Board of Trade that helps our region and business community to stay competitive, engaged, productive, and inclusive to all who live and visit!
In 2024, we anticipate fresh challenges coupled with abundant prospects. Drawing from our enduring legacy in this region, the Board of Trade is unwavering in its dedication to amplifying your achievements and bolstering our region’s competitiveness. We’ll advance this by nurturing stronger connections, advocating more powerfully across federal, state, and local arenas, conducting in-depth analyses, and rolling out specific programs and initiatives.
On November 30th, the Greater Washington Board of Trade (the Board of Trade) and the Greater Washington Partnership (the Partnership) hosted the 6th 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.
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
The Greater Washington Board of Trade gathered more than 400 regional leaders and business professionals for our 30th Fall Business Classic on Oct. 26 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. This annual gathering celebrates the importance of working together to connect our business community.
The evening was highlighted by a spectacular and newly renovated venue, fascinating museum exhibits, and engaging conversations on regional business topics, which created a high-energy event.
Regional collaboration is at the core of the Board of Trade’s mission, which makes convening the region’s leading business executives, community partners, and elected and appointed officials for meaningful conversations a valuable part of enhancing our region and its communities.
Since our establishment in 1889, the Board of Trade has a history of bringing our region together for meaningful dialogues that lead to action. Over the decades this has included initiating D.C.’s subway development in the 1930s, helping form parks along our beautiful rivers, pushing for the development of the region’s airports, and helping bring organizations together to build entertainment and sporting venues in our region.
We’d like to extend our thanks to all the sponsors, participants, and staff who put in tremendous effort to make this event a success. We look forward to continuing to build a brighter future for the Greater Washington region, one meaningful connection at a time.
This 2023 Fall Business Classic was presented by M&T Bank. Supporting Sponsors of this event are Bank of America, Bechtel, Capital One, Giant Food LLP, Miles & Stockbridge P.C., National Museum of Women in the Arts, Pepco, Ridgewells, Washingtonian Magazine, Wells Fargo, Western Transportation Group.
Top labor officials from Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia came together to discuss the future of labor markets and workforce development as part of the Board of Trade’s Regional Policy Leadership Series on Oct. 19. Sec. Portia Wu, Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes, and Sec. Bryan Slater discussed topics across the labor and workforce landscape including workforce development and retention, labor environment, intraregional cooperation, and preparing the region for the future impacts of emerging technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) before addressing the potential impacts of a government shutdown on the region’s labor market and economy as well and more detailed discussion of what intraregional collaboration should look like going forward.
https://youtu.be/EXekjAV_XTc?si=CQUUmGIfkjKdTQh0
Sec. Portia Wu, Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes, and Sec. Bryan Slater each give an overview regarding labor and employment for their respective jurisdictions.
Across the region, all three jurisdictions are experiencing record low unemployment rates and are bouncing back from lower labor participation rates experienced throughout and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bolstered by concerted efforts on the part of each jurisdiction to shore up existing and create new pipelines from education to the workforce, these employment numbers paint a picture of a region which is recovering rapidly from the malaise of the pandemic and working to engage young residents in the labor market to ensure that this rate of growth is stable and sustainable over time.
Expansion of efforts to create labor pipelines from local resident students to the IT (Information Technology), Professional Services Management, and Hospitality and Tourism sectors promises to ensure that the region’s economy can be supplied with the local labor market, reinvesting in the current population. Job training programs like Virginia’s workforce innovation act, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, and DC’s infrastructure academy represent an enormous investment in young residents and in ensuring that departments of labor and employment are able to connect students with the workforce through internship programs, apprenticeships, and signing days, offering tax credits for training programs in critical and growing industries and incentivization of youth involvement in job training programs.
Continued investment into workforce retention programs like FAMLI and provision of mental health services at all points along the lifetime of an individual’s career promise to further improve the region’s bounce back from pandemic workforce participation levels and keep groups frequently at risk of dropping temporarily or permanently from the labor market engaged. Expanding the mental health care capacity through universal licensing recognition, telehealth services, and demand side subsidization will help to combat the burnout and provide much needed wrap around services to those working on the front lines of the economy.
https://youtu.be/j_Z1Crqe3y4?si=VSMZG0vnoYR4hUgy
Sec. Portia Wu, Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes, and Sec. Bryan Slater discussed how regional jurisdictions are also preparing for the expansion of AI in the workplace.
Regional jurisdictions are also preparing for the expansion of AI in the workplace and setting out guardrails for where and how AI can be used to prevent unfair labor practices while actively utilizing artificial intelligences to ensure that every resident has the ability to start on equal ground in the labor market when searching for employment.
Finally, panelists discussed their concerns regarding a potential government shutdown and the relative risks of a longer or shorter period as well as some loan programs designed to bridge unpaid working periods along with their desire to build a more robust model to protect the region’s largely federally reliant economy.
The Board of Trade will continue to connect the business community to information directly from policy makers through our Regional Policy Leadership Series (RPLS), ensuring that our members have the best up-to-date knowledge impacting regional policies. Stay tuned for our upcoming sessions with regional Senate Presidents, Attorneys General, Comptrollers, and more.
This Regional Policy Leadership Series webinar was presented by First National Bank. Supporting Sponsors of the event series are Comcast, Fox Rothschild LLP, Giant Food LLC, G.S. Proctor & Associates Inc., Holland & Knight LLP, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, McGuireWoods LLP, MGM National Harbor, and Uber. Thank you for supporting the Greater Washington Board of Trade and our region’s business community.
