“I’m here because some of the things that are going on in the community scare me,” he told the students at Maryland’s Gaithersburg High School in October. “I do believe that what happens in the community ultimately makes its way into the schools.”

In a 30-minute presentation, McCarthy discussed the increase in gun violence involving teenagers across the country and urged the students to play an active role in keeping the community safe.

McCarthy embarked on his gun education tour to all public high schools in Montgomery County in early September, as applications for gun-carry permits soared in Maryland.

Applications for carry permits grow 6-fold

Maryland State Police told 91���� by email that it has received 70,846 carry permit applications for 2022 through Nov. 17, compared to 12,189 for all of 2021. The number of disapprovals was only 1,399 through Nov. 17, the state police said.

This carry permits frenzy in Maryland was a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June. The conservative bench decided that a New York law requiring citizens to demonstrate a good reason to carry guns outside of the home was unconstitutional.

The ruling put at risk similar laws in other states, including Maryland. Within days, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued saying he directed the state police to stop requiring a “good and substantial reason” for issuing a carry gun permit.

Neil Kravitz, director of firearms at Guntry Club of Maryland that offers state-required training to obtain carry permits, described the surge as “mind-boggling.”

The number of people taking the training classes increased “exponentially from July to October” and then plateaued at a high level, Kravitz said.

Kravitz was helping in a booth at a gun show in Frederick in mid-November. He said it was a relatively slow day, but the venue was full of families and couples checking out firearms.

“Women and people of color are the biggest beneficiaries”

“Maryland is just catching up with the rest of the country,” said Mark Pennak, president of Maryland Shall Issue, a gun rights advocacy organization.

Maryland has been one of the most restrictive states in the country, Pennak said. “Judges, prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers were getting permits. But if you weren’t special enough, you simply couldn’t apply.”

Pennak said the biggest beneficiaries of the change are women, people of color and LGBTQ persons who often feel threatened, but did not have access to carry gun permits.

“When I teach the training course, there’s an awful lot of women,” Pennak said. Women now represent about 25% of participants in his course, while there were almost none before June, he said.

Pennak dismissed the idea that more people carrying guns will increase gun violence.

“The bad guys are going to get guns no matter what,” Pennak said. Denying law-abiding citizens the right to defend themselves simply increases the body count, he added.

On the other hand, gun violence prevention groups express concerns.

“The research indicates that whenever you have more guns in public places, there is likewise a rise in gun crime,” said Karen Herren, director of legislative affairs of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence (MPGV).

looked at states that weakened carry permits requirements from 1980 to 2019. It found that the average rate of assaults with firearms increased an average of 9.5% in the first 10 years after the change.

Herren said a big priority of MPGV for 2023 is “to get a child access prevention bill passed” in the Maryland state legislature.

“If we’re going to let more people carry firearms in public places, then we want to make sure that we are very clear about what safe gun ownership looks like,” Herren said. “There is a real need for it.”

Gun purchases and gun violence surged during the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a surge in gun purchases. shows that an estimated 7.5 million Americans became new gun owners between Jan. 2019 to April 2021, approximately half of them being female, 20% Black, and 20% Hispanic.

“With the pandemic, they felt less safe. They trust government less. And so they’re thinking that somehow a gun keeps them safer, which is so not true,” said Mindy Landau, co-founder of Brady United Against Gun Violence Montgomery County chapter.

In the meantime, gun violence surged across the country. According to the , total number of gun violence death increased by 14% from 2019 to 2021.

In Montgomery County, 20 people died in gun-related homicides between June 2021 to June 2022, according to .

County Council’s new law bans guns in public spaces

The Montgomery County Council has taken actions to contain gun violence.

The county became the first local jurisdiction in Maryland in April 2021 to pass a bill to prohibit the use and sale of ghost guns, which are not serialized and easily obtained online. The Maryland state legislature followed suit one year later.

“We know that individual laws don’t do a whole lot. But collectively, all of these laws together they make an impact,” said Landau.

The county council passed on Nov. 15, among growing criticism from gun rights advocates. The new law bans the possession of firearms in or near places of public assembly, even with a state carry permit.

Malaika Wande, student from the Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring who attended the council meeting as a ‘Councilmember for a Day,” was asked for a comment before the vote.

“It shouldn’t take another incident in order to fix it,” Wande said.

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MCPS plans to electrify its entire fleet in 10 years, setting an example for school districts across the country.

“I am lucky to drive this kind of bus. When you drive the neighborhood, they love it because it is not noisy,” said Moises Abrigo, who has been a school bus driver in Montgomery County since 2008.

Abrigo drives one of the 20 electric buses allocated to the Bethesda depot of MCPS.

MCPS reached an agreement with Highland in February 2021 to procure 326 electric school buses by 2025, which was touted as “the largest single procurement of electric school buses in North America.”

Eighty-six electric buses have been deployed, and 120 more will arrive in the school year 2023 and 2024. All of the six bus depots in MCPS will be equipped with the charging infrastructure by early 2023.

“Most of the school districts out there are buying just one or two [electric buses],” said Gregory Salois, director of department of transportation at MCPS. “The biggest thing was, it was cost neutral for the citizens of Montgomery County.”

Highland purchases the electric buses, installs the charging infrastructure at the bus depots, and pays for the energy cost and maintenance under the contract. In return, MCPS pays around $40,000 per bus per year for 12 years, which is the lifespan of an e-bus.

“Highland absorbs all costs of buses and infrastructure, and MCPS only pays the same yearly cost as we would if MCPS purchased diesel buses,” Salois explained. Without this scheme, an e-bus is still too expensive for a school district to introduce, he said.

Typically, an electric school bus costs around $370,000 to $380,000 to purchase, compared to $150,000 to $160,000 for a traditional diesel bus, Salois said. The fixed cost is too high, even though the yearly operating cost is around $10,000 lower for an electric school bus in MCPS than a diesel one due to lower fuel and maintenance costs.

The size of the school district also helped, Salois said. MCPS is the sixth largest school bus operator in the country, with around 1,400 buses. Eighty-six e-buses only represent 6% of the fleet, and “we can still rely on the other vehicles we have if we need to,” Salois said.

Electrification of buses brings benefits to the environment and the health of students and drivers.

On a typical school day, MCPS diesel buses use approximately 17,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which emit greenhouse gases and other harmful matter from tailpipes, according to. Also, toxic pollutants can be as much as 2.5 times more prevalent inside a diesel school bus than inside an electric one.

However, there are additional benefits that e-buses bring to the community, said Matt Stanberry, managing director of Highland during a Nov. 30 hearing at the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works.

“Because the ambient noise level in an electric school bus is so much lower than in traditional school buses, it makes for a safer environment for the bus driver,” Stanberry said. “Students can hear each other and naturally their volume drops, and the bus driver has an easier time hearing what’s happening outside the bus.”

Stanberry pointed out that school districts are using new electric buses as a way to recruit new drivers in the midst of a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers.

“Once they drive the bus, they will not give the bus up,” said James Beasley, depot manager at the MCPS Bethesda depot. “Drivers can control the speed much better. The bus slows down a little bit quicker and accelerates gently.”

Beasley said it takes about three-to-four hours to fully charge a bus, and the mileage depends on the season. In summer, a fully charged bus can run about 130 miles with air-conditioning, while the mileage decreases below 100 miles in winter when heating is on.

The mileage easily covers the 60-70 miles that a school bus in MCPS runs on a typical day, but Beasley said they charge the buses every day. For longer school trips, they are still using diesel buses to avoid the risk of losing power on the way, Beasley said.

Montgomery County experienced a massive power outage on Sunday, Nov. 27, but Beasley said “all the buses were fully charged. They were ready to go on Monday” even though MCPS closed all the schools for safety concerns.

An electric bus fleet in MCPS is expected to bring another benefit to the community.

“Most school bus fleets sit idle all summer and during school breaks. There is an opportunity to use those idle batteries to deliver power back to the grid,” explained Alison Mickey, managing director, head of marketing at Highland said in an email.

The “vehicle-to-grid (V2G)” services, that send stored power back to grid when demand spikes during the day, is slated to begin next summer in MCPS, Mickey said.

Aaron Viles, director of campaigns at Electrification Coalition, a transportation electrification advocacy organization, said “whether you have a kid in school or not, you should be excited to see some of the electric buses coming online because it can be a negative pressure on your overall utility rates.”

MCPS is one of many school districts across the country trying to expand its electric school bus fleet.

“We are seeing soaring fossil fuel prices drive more interest in electrification as school transportation departments are forced to ask their school boards for emergency funding for diesel fuel,” Mickey said.

The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021 was another boost, allocating $5 billion to electrifying school buses in five years.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced in September that it would double the funding for the Clean School Bus program in 2022 to $1 billion, twice the amount it originally planned due to a high demand.

The program received around 2,000 applications from all 50 states, requesting nearly $4 billion for over 12,000 buses. EPA plans to fund approximately 2,500 school bus replacements this year.

Viles pointed out that there have been psychological as well as economic barriers for school districts to introduce electric buses.

“Now at this point, especially when there’s federal money flowing to give you either a big tax break or this Clean School Bus rebate program, it’s irresponsible not to move forward,” Viles said.

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91���� 161,000 students commuting to 210 public schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) were affected. Childcare services provided before and after school hours at public school facilities were also cancelled.

Around 17,000 students had their classes cancelled today at Montgomery College, according to its media relations department.

“I had guests for Thanksgiving until this morning and did not have time to check the messages,” said a substitute teacher who identified herself as Ms. H, arriving at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda around 7:00 a.m. Monday.

Ms. H said she was shocked to find the empty parking lot, but it was good for students to close the schools as there could be issues in communication systems and other school facilities.

Several students who came to school without knowing the closure were waiting for their guardians to pick them up. At Walt Whitman, around a dozen students came to school between 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. One junior shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t know about the school closure before getting back on his bicycle.

Approximately 85,000 residents across the county experienced an outage after a private plane crashed into Pepco transmission lines in Gaithersburg around 5:30 p.m. Approximately 125 traffic signal lights were without power as of 11:15 p.m. according to Montgomery County Department of Transportation.

Ben Armstrong at Pepco media relations said the electric lines impacted by the incident remain deenergized, but the company was able to restore electric services to all affected customers by 11:58 p.m. Sunday due to redundancy built into the local power grid.

MCPS’s decision to close the school system after the power was restored drew some criticism. People on Twitter questioned that decision.

Esther L. Wells (@EstherLWells) tweeted, “Closing all childcare programs at schools, now that power has been restored, is odd. Childcare is there for the convenience of working parents.”

ChessboardKings (@ChessboardK) tweeted, “Parents have commitments, kids should be learning. Closing Schools shouldn’t be done on a whim, a chance or possibility.”

Christopher Cram, director of the Department of Communications at MCPS, said the decision to close the school system the next day was made around 11:25 p.m. Sunday. Cram said 44 schools and six offices, including two bus depots and the food and nutrition services divisions, were out of power at that time.

“You have to ensure safety systems, communication systems, keep water and power up and running in a safe and manageable way. But there was no way that we could do that in time for any morning operations,” Cram said.

With regard to communication issues, Cram said, “91���� 20% of MCPS families do not have or provide updated communication information,” partly because many families move from different parts of the country or have language barriers.

“Families need to understand that, in order for us to reach them, they need to ensure that we have the most up to date information with emergency messages like that. We send it to every contact provided,” he said.

MCPS is expecting to resume normal school operations tomorrow.

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The effort for a “Theatre for Everybody” is a strategic choice as well as a moral one.

“My huge goal is to find ways to dismantle historically systematic structures that have kept people from accessing the theater,” said Israel Jiménez, the new director of EDIA (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility) and community engagement who joined the theater last month.

Over 50 organizations sign up for “On The House” program

One of such ways is the “On the House” program. It started in 2019 and provides free group tickets to qualified nonprofit and community serving organizations in the region. The organizations can request tickets for shows they like, and the theater will allot the tickets depending on the availability.

Over 50 organizations have already partnered with the theater, such as a group working with people with intellectual disabilities and a group bringing non-white students to art. Jiménez said he plans to expand the list by reaching out to “any organization that has constituents that may not have had access to the theater otherwise” because of socio-economic or logistic barriers.

Another approach to reach broader audience is “Community Nights,” where the theater invites specific cultural communities that relate to the theme of the show.

The theater hosted a Caribbean Community Night on Sept. 30, as it ran a show called ‘Nine Night.’ The theme of the show was a Jamaican tradition to celebrate the deceased, and the theater offered free tickets and a discount code to the Jamaican Nationals Association of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area (JNA).

“We disseminated the information widely,” said Elaine Knight, president of JNA. Knight said a lot of Jamaicans turned up on the Caribbean Community Night, including the ambassador to the U.S. The show was sold out that night, Knight added.

Knight said the partnership with the theater matched the purpose of JNA, which is to unite persons of Jamaican heritage and maintain and promote Jamaican culture. “We will continue to connect our members to the theater,” Knight said.

“It was a very positive experience,” said Abi Jinadu, president of Nigerians in the Diaspora (NIDO) Washington, D.C. Chapter, about the Nigerian Community Night in June. The theater invited members of NIDO to the “Nollywood Dreams” show, which was about the Nigerian film industry.

“It was really surprising how the storyline showcased the African values and embodied cultural expectations,” Jinandu said. “Our members loved that there was nostalgia for how things used to be.”

Community Nights have positive impact on audiences, artists

The event also had a positive impact on the cast.

Jacqueline Youm, one of the six actors in the production, said, “We wanted to be as honest and truthful in our depiction of these people as possible, because we wanted to honor the Nigerian community, and make sure that they really saw real people they could relate to.”

Another actor, Renea Brown, said it gave the cast a “huge boost” to see the Nigerian audience laughing at inside jokes that did not make much sense to people from other cultures.

“That night it felt like we were all family. Like we were all sitting at a table for a Christmas dinner or a Thanksgiving dinner. It felt like we were all connected,” Brown said.

“There is a value both to the audience and to the artists to having the experience of the show without a predominantly white audience,” said Ed Zakreski, managing director of the Round House Theatre.

Zakreski said that the Round House Theater has been actively fighting against the tendency of inequality and racism in the American theater industry.

Industry called out after BLM

The industry-wide issue was called into attention when a group of non-white theater professionals issued a statement, titled “” in July 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. The statement condemned the pervasiveness of anti-Blackness and racism in American theatre industry.

“The metaphor I use is, we were already on the road to equity and inclusion. We were driving the car. We just realized we needed to push the accelerator faster,” Zakreski said.

Since 2013, the theater has committed that at least 50% of the shows it produced would be by women playwrights. “Depending on the year, women represent about 30 percent of plays produced on American stages, which just shouldn’t be,” Zakreski said.

The theater also made a commitment that at least 50% of the shows would be by non-white or Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) playwrights, while the industry average is around 23-25%, according to Zakreski.

The commitment evolved from playwrights to all artists who work for the theater. Currently, at least 50% of the production staff including actors, directors, choreographers, and lighting designer are women, and at least 50% are BIPOC over the course of a season.

“That’s our attempt to counteract the disparities in regular American theater,” Zakreski said.

The approach has now expanded into the audience side, in forms of On the House and Community Nights programs.

“I can’t force the audience to buy my tickets. All I can do is open the door as wide as possible and say, ‘you’re welcome here, you’re safe here, you have a home here,’” Zakreski said.

The theater is currently creating an organization-wide racial equity plan, which will lay out what each department should do in the next three to five years, Jiménez said. The theater is also launching a new anti-racism training for all staff this month.

Zakreski said that the theater’s approach to equity, diversity and inclusion is not purely a moral decision. “If Montgomery County is quickly on its way to becoming less than 50% white, a business plan that focuses on a diminishing population is not smart. It also makes sense from a business perspective.”

Generational change put theaters at risk

More broadly, a generational change of theatergoers is underway. Baby Boomers, the largest and wealthiest cohort, are aging out of going to theaters and are replaced by the much-smaller Generation X, Zakreski said. “Theaters are at risk because they will not have the attendance and the financial support they’ve had.”

The Round House Theater announced a new fundraising initiative called “Theatre for Everyone” in May.

“All of these things we are doing to create more equity and inclusivity at Round House, none of it brings in money. So, we’re launching an initiative to get those who can to support all of this great work that we’re doing,” Zakreski said.

It is a deviation from the conventional fundraising that ask for support to put shows on stage, Zakreski said. The new initiative is “not about primarily the art on stage. It will benefit the art on stage, but it’s really about building the audiences, the artists, and the administrators of the future.”

Zakreski said the new initiative fits well with the expectations of younger donors.

“With the Baby Boomer generation, it was very much about what you do to support these great institutions whereas younger generations want to know, ‘what exactly is my money going to? What is the cause?’”

The first round of Theatre for Everyone campaign raised $75,000, which was matched by an anonymous donor. The second round, which started this month and runs until Dec. 31, aims at raising $25,000, which will be matched by the theater and the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

“I believe strongly that the theaters that are going to survive and thrive are the ones that are considered integrally connected to their community,” Zakreski said.

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Kyra May, 15, was busy assisting voters at the entrance of the polling place at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.

“I was interested in elections, in how they worked. I wanted to see what it would be like before I voted,” Kyra said.

Lorenzo Antico, 15, said, “Every two years this happens, and it’s a pretty big deal. I’m curious to see how it looks.”

Lorenzo also said politics does seem confusing, hearing all the advertisements on TV. “It also seems kind of stressful for everybody a little bit, but it’s definitely interesting,” he said.

Election Ambassadors take on a wide range of tasks. They issue “I Voted” stickers to the voters, encourage them to sign up to be election judges, discard partisan literature from voting booth, and direct voters to restrooms.

Students need to attend a one-hour, in-person training to work as ambassadors on Election Day. Kyra said she was struck by the strictness of the protocols, such as “no logos on T-shirts that indicate any political affiliation.” Raphael Alkon, 15, said he learned that, “in order to do this whole thing, you had to pay attention to the tutorials and know everything.”

Nahid Khozeimeh, president of Montgomery County Board of Elections, said she was impressed to see young volunteers at 6 a.m. when she arrived at the high school. “We always have shortage of manpower and the student aides have been great help to us. They are so good at handling technologies.”

The Montgomery County Board of Elections has been operating the “Future Vote” program since 2004, except for 2020 when it had to cancel the program due to the pandemic. More than 45,000 students have participated in the program so far.

“Students leave the program with experience in how elections are set up and a greater understanding of and trust in American democracy,” the says.

The Election Ambassador program is open for all students from sixth through 12^th grade. US citizenship is not required, but the students need to be able to speak, read, and write in English. Students who are 16-years-old or older and able to register to vote can serve as election poll workers under the Future Vote program.

Ambassadors are not paid, but they receive Student Service Learning (SSL) hours for the hours they work, which is a Maryland state graduation requirement.

Patrick Flynn, chief judge at the polling site at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High, said being an Election Ambassador is an incredibly unique way to participate in democracy. “You can volunteer with candidates and other things that are more partisan in nature. But this is you just helping people all day, as long as you’re here, to vote. It is extremely non-partisan.”

“I was surprised when the young man said, ‘I can only work until 9 a.m. because I am under 15.’ It’s great to see them taking actions,” said Natalie Watson, a marketing assistant who came to vote at the high school.

Parents of ambassadors also welcomed the opportunity for their children to have the firsthand experience of democracy.

“To see the volume of people coming to cast their votes and try to make a difference is important for her,” said Katya Marin, Kyra’s mother.

Cinzia Furlanetto, Raphael’s mother, said, “This election will be a piece of history. So I think for them it is very important to be here.”

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Only four people showed up in a meet-and-greet that David Krucoff held in a private home in the Van Ness neighborhood. If Krucoff, candidate for the Ward 3 seat, was disappointed by the low turnout, he did not show it.

He talked almost non-stop about his opposition to the plan for installing protected bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue, his disapproval of fare gate jumpers in the Metro, and his advocacy for retrocession, a plan for D.C. to become a part of Maryland.

Washington is a largely Democratic city where President Joe Biden received 92% of the vote in . The city’s voters have not elected a Republican member of the council since 2004, when Carol Schwartz was re-elected for an at-large seat. No Republicans have ever held a ward-level seat.

Who would take on such a long shot?

Krucoff is a third-generation Washingtonian, and a realtor by profession. He calls himself an “underdog,” but he said he believes he has a fair chance of winning the race against the Democratic candidate Matt Frumin, an attorney and former political appointee at the U.S. State Department during the Clinton administration. The Libertarian candidate is political activist Adrian Salsgiver.

“When I meet people, I keep on meeting Democrats. They say I am the first Republican they are ever going to vote for. They think that the council has gone too far to the left,” Krucoff said.

91����ington Post agreed with that view. It saying “one-party rule has been unhealthy for D.C., so we endorse Mr. Krucoff and urge Ward 3 voters to give him a close look.”

The last time 91����ington Post endorsed a Republican for a ward seat was in 2010, when Dave Hedgepeth was running for Ward 3 against Democratic incumbent Mary Cheh, who won.

91����ington Post also said that Krucoff’s call for lower taxes, better support for the police and continuing mayoral control of schools are “the right positions.”

Krucoff does not think his Republican affiliation would be too big an obstacle to gain support from non-Republican voters. He calls himself “a centrist” and has been openly criticizing former President Trump.

“Trump is not only a pig, but he’s also an authoritarian. I’m a democracy guy,” Krucoff said.

In fact, when Krucoff ran unsuccessfully for D.C. delegate in U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, he was an independent candidate. Krucoff said his decision to run as a Republican this time was strategic.

“The party is a vehicle. It is not a religion to me,” Krucoff said.

However, being a Republican candidate in D.C. comes with disadvantages. As of Sept. 30, 76.6% of 503,740 registered voters in the city are Democrats and 16.5% don’t identify with a party, while Republicans represent only 5.3%, according to the city Board of Elections monthly report.

In terms of campaign finance, Krucoff is dwarfed by his Democratic opponent. As of Oct.31, Krucoff raised $94,526.00 while Frumin raised $301,145.47, according to the finance reports the campaign committee of each candidate filed to the city’s Office of Campaign Finance.

“It’s not easy in Ward 3 running as a Republican to recruit volunteers,” said John Muller, a long-time friend and an advisor to Krucoff.

“David is doing a lot of the groundwork that in other campaigns you’d have maybe teenagers or volunteers doing,” Muller said.

Krucoff’s campaign team consists of a few close friends and some consultants. In contrast, Frumin said he had “around 12 people on the core team” and “hundreds of volunteers.”

While Krucoff said the endorsement from 91����ington Post gave a momentum to his campaign, Frumin garnered a wide range of endorsements from the Washington Teachers’ Union to Sierra Club D.C.

Tom Sherwood, a political analyst at WAMU 88.5, said in an email that the race is “a high hurdle” for Krucoff.

Sherwood pointed out that Frumin had strong support among both Democrats and much of the ward’s influential public school parents.

“Most political observers I know agree that Krucoff still needs to become better known in the remaining days of this campaign if he is to win an upset victory,” Sherwood said at the end of October.

Muller, who worked as a coalition director for students and veterans in Florida for John McCain’s campaign during 2008 presidential election, recalls similarities between McCain’s and Krucoff’s campaigns. “What they lack in resources or staff, they make up in charisma,” Muller said.

Muller described Krucoff as “spunky.”

On one late October Saturday, Krucoff dashed back from a tennis court around 1 p.m. He fixed a sandwich, ate while standing, and rushed out to canvas.

Running up and down hundreds of stairs to the porches, Krucoff managed to talk to only a few residents.

“Every time I knock, only one out of every six doors is there a person,” Krucoff said nonchalantly. Then he walked to a meet- and-greet in a nearby apartment complex and mingled with voters for two hours.

While walking home, Krucoff came across a soccer field. He found an abandoned ball, went running up and kicked it.

It was a long shot, but he made it.

WAMU 88.5, D.C.’s NPR station, is owned by American University.

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Its arrival would be beneficial for young families in Ward 3, which has no public school options for 3-year-olds or no public charter schools at all.

Apple Tree already leased the proposed site in June and engaged with local stakeholders like the advisory neighborhood commission. The Public Charter School Board has closed public comments for this school and will vote on Apple Tree’s application on Nov. 21.

Some question, however, if a public charter school in Ward 3 is the best way to solve the lack of capacity for young learners in the neighborhood and in the city as a whole.

“The demand is there,” said Jamie Miles, Apple Tree’s chief of schools, at a public hearing held by D.C. Public Charter School Board on Oct. 17.

Apple Tree, which operates six public charter schools for pre-kindergarten children across D.C., is seeking authorization to open a new facility next August in Spring Valley. It will have seven classrooms for 3-year-old (PK3) and 4-year-old (PK4), which will accommodate up to 154 students.

Public charter schools are run by nonprofits and have distinct curricula, in contrast to traditional public schools run by a central authority, the chancellor of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). Public charters are tuition-free and open to all D.C. residents. Currently, 48% of students attend public charter schools in D.C.

“Absent of facilities in the area, parents of preschoolers will have to continue to invest in private schools or travel outside their ward as access to public preschool for free,” Miles said at the hearing.

According to the Apple Tree filed to the Public Charter School Board,  Ward 3 has eight public schools, but none offer PK3. The schools offering PK4 have a total of 326 seats, but “with an estimated 828 four-year-olds in Ward 3, that means there is a significant lack of capacity,” the document said.

DCPS , allowing all parents to apply for spaces, but individual schools are not required to offer preschool classes if they don’t have space.

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh wrote a to her constituents last July, saying, “Many principals—including those at Key, Stoddert, and Mann—have been forced to convert preschool classrooms to serve older grades” due to overcrowding. “As a result, families in the catchment area for these three schools are unable to send their preschool-age children to their neighborhood school,” she wrote.

The Apple Tree application document lists some private preschools in the area along with their respective tuitions. Spring Valley Montessori Academy’s morning-only program costs $11,800 a year, while Crestview Montessori School in Bethesda, Md., charges $19,365 a year for its full day program, according to the document.

Ward 3 is generally wealthier than the rest of D.C. The median household income is $128,670, versus $86,420 for all of D.C., according to the Apple Tree document. However, the document also points out that “7.6% of Ward 3’s residents are below the poverty line,” underscoring the need for a public-funded option.

Unanimous support from ANC

At the board hearing, Tom Keane, general counsel and chief of strategic initiatives of Apple Tree, said the advisory neighborhood commission 3D, which would host the new school, unanimously approved a letter supporting the new facility.

“The level of enthusiasm that was expressed by the commissioners was almost startling.  There clearly is a strong, strong desire among a number of commissioners with young children to have this kind of option in their community,” Keane said.

Many parents in the neighborhood welcome the new school.

“There is a huge waitlist” to get into a public prekindergarten school, said Tatyana Cabrejo, mother of a 4-year-old son. Cabrejo’s family moved to D.C. about 6 months ago, and she immediately started looking for a preschool for her son.

“Every house in this area costs around 1 million. Parents want at least free pre-k.”

Cabrejo’s son was on the waitlist for two months before getting admitted to PK4 class at his neighborhood public elementary school, Janney, which is about 1 mile from the planned Apple Tree public charter school. Cabrejo said she applied to 12 public and public charter schools in D.C., and for most of the schools, her son was “around 120th” on the waitlists.

Kate Legidake, mother of three, also welcomed a new public charter school for prekindergarten students, saying “more options are better.”

However, there is a caveat. Legidake has a 4th grader and a kindergartener in Janney. Her youngest son is 1-year-old. She said it would be better if she could have all her children in one school.

“People want to send their kids to neighborhood schools”

“I am not against a charter school, but if most people here want to be in a DCPS school, open a DCPS school,” said Ruth Wattenberg, Ward 3 representative for D.C. State Board of Education.

Wattenberg pointed out that, if given a choice, most people in the area would send their children to neighborhood public schools. “It is much easier for the parents if the children are in the same school and have the same vacation schedules.”

In Ward 3, public schools are high performing and residents are generally satisfied with sending their children to neighborhood public schools. Currently, it is the only ward in D.C. that has no public charter schools. In school year 2020-21, about 440 students residing in Ward 3 attended public charter schools, representing only about 1% of the charter school population in D.C.

Wattenberg also pointed out that neighborhood, public schools have an important role in strengthening bonds in communities. “What you want is for people to be able to start building the community,” she said. Public schools are neighborhood-based and guarantee spots for all children in the area, while public charter schools accept students across D.C. through a lottery system.

DCPS announced a in May to build a new public elementary school in Ward 3. Foxhall Elementary School will be built in Hardy Park, in Foxhall Village, and accept students in PK4 to 5th grade. However, the school will not open until 2025 or later, “given procurement and construction timelines,” the announcement said.

Fair use of government money?

Some people question the decision to put government money into a new Pre-K school in the wealthiest ward in the city.

“Government resources are very limited,” said Abena Apau, who has a 4th grader and a kindergartner in Janney Elementary School. Apau sees it “unfair” that the government is financing a public charter school in the Ward 3, while other wards are in much greater need for investments in neighborhood schools.

Karim Marshall, a candidate running for a D.C. council at-large seat and who is endorsed by the Washington Teachers’ Union, pointed out that the public schools in wards 7 and 8 lack resources and many parents opt to send their children to public charter schools through the lottery system.

“The idea that the quality of your education is wholly based around chance is not equitable,” Marshall said.

Marshall points out that the lack of reliable neighborhood schools in walking distance has several negative impacts on children’s lives. They have to get up earlier, and they cannot participate in after-school enrichment activities as they spend time commuting back and forth to school. They also lose opportunities to play with classmates that live nearby, building and strengthening a community.

“If every neighborhood had a reliable school that was public or charter that was a by-a-right school, we would have a lot less of the conflict over placement of charter schools,” Marshall said.

The post First public charter pre-k school in Ward 3 slated to open next August first appeared on 91����.

The debate has found its way into the fall campaign, with candidates for the D.C. Council and advisory neighborhood commissions staking out a side.

“We want safety. Everybody wants safety. But putting protected bike lanes on the Connecticut Avenue is nothing about safety,” said Ronald Kahn, who lives by the Connecticut Avenue. Kahn is a supporter of the SaveConnecticutAve.org, a nonprofit organized by residents against protected bike lanes on the avenue.

SaveConnecticutAve.org started an calling for cancellation of the bike lanes about a month ago. It has collected about 1,550 signatures as of Oct.11.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced in December 2021 a decision to select , a plan to remove two reversible rush hour lanes permanently and add one-way, protected bike lanes on both sides of upper Connecticut Avenue NW.

“It was estimated that eliminating the reversible lanes would decrease crashes there by about 17 percent. The addition of protected bicycle lanes also helps to reduce the speed of vehicular traffic, reducing crash severity and making the area safer for pedestrians,” said DDOT in a statement issued at the time of announcement.

The new design applies to a 2.7-mile strip from Calvert Street to Legation Street on the avenue, where the reversible lanes used to run before the pandemic. DDOT will consider the extension of the project from Legation Street up to Chevy Chase Circle over this winter.

“Protected bike lanes pose a public safety issue”

Lee Mayer, one of the organizers of SaveConnecticutAve.org, pointed out that the new plan poses a public safety issue.

“One of the remaining two lanes [on each direction] will be taken up by busses and delivery vehicles and there will be a gridlock. Emergency responders won’t be able to respond to a call in a timely manner and people’s lives are at stake.”

Mayer was also concerned about the safety and inconvenience of older and disabled citizens, who would have to cross the bike lanes to get on buses or have to walk longer distances to be picked up by ride share services.

“The city is trying to be green because everybody is in favor of it. But we have to do it in a responsible, caring manners that all residents benefit from this plan,” said Mayer.

“Two protected bike lanes here just make no sense” considering the accumulation of small businesses along the Connecticut Avenue, said Mark Rosenman, a professor emeritus at Union Institute & University and a veteran nonprofit activist.

Rosenman had worked with local small businesses for decades and had seen how their revenues were affected when parking spaces were removed from their storefronts. Rosenman said he knew of one shop owner along the avenue who decided not to renew a lease contract because he was upset about the bike lane plan.

Rosenman said small businesses defined the neighborhood character. “The current plan is detrimental for the character and quality of life in our neighborhood. It frustrates me that it is in denial of these facts.”

Candidates for City Council, ANC respond

These voices have been heard by a candidate for a City Council seat in the November election. David Krucoff, a Republican running for Ward 3 who was recently endorsed by the Washington Post, is against the protected bike lanes on the avenue.

“Concept C on the Connecticut Avenue is a bad idea. Everybody else knows that is a bad idea. I am the only one that has the guts to say something about it,” Krucoff said. “Bike lanes hurt commerce. We have a dynamic economy, and bike lanes are not the answer. If you want to talk about a policy, you should be talking about making buses sexier.”

Matthew Frumin, a Democrat candidate for Ward 3, supports the Concept C, while he stresses the needs to balance all the different interests of residents and small businesses.

However, bike-lane supporters are working to ensure support for their cause.

91���� a hundred cyclists and candidates running for advisory neighborhood commissions (ANC) in the November election gathered at Fort Reno Park on a Sunday afternoon late September. Candidates shared their views on the bike lanes and called for support for their campaigns.

“Make the road for people who live in the area, not commuters”

Josh Rising, co-founder of Ward 3 Bicycle Advocates (W3BA) that organized the gathering, said the majority of ANC candidates support installation of the protected bike lanes. Rising said that 68% of all ANC candidates responded to a recent survey by W3BA, and 86% of those respondents said they support the current plan to install the bike lanes.

“Connecticut Avenue should be more than just a road to get Maryland commuters into downtown and back. There are people who live on the Connecticut Avenue, there are lots of great shops on The Connecticut Avenue. It is really important that we make this a road for people who live in the area,” said Rising.

“There is a better world we can live in, which actually makes the roadway safer, and give options we don’t have now,” said Sauleh Siddiqui, a candidate for a commissioner in ANC 3C who is endorsed by W3BA. Siddiqui pointed out that Concept C is “a wonderful compromise” compared to other options DDOT considered, because it adds dedicated 24-hour pick-up/ drop-off, loading and parking zones on one side of the avenue that do not exist now.

“Dangerous roads kill more children than anything else. If traffic moves slower, that’s a good thing.”

Ample time for dialog remains before construction starts

Both sides still have time for dialog. According to the timeline provided by DDOT, concept refinement will continue until January 2023. Then, the preliminary and final design phase will run until early 2024, and actual construction starts only in late 2024.

“I am glad that now more people are finding out about it. That will make for a better design,” said Siddiqui.

“There hasn’t been a conversation yet where everybody has come to a collected table and discuss ‘these are the things we do agree on, these are where we disagree, and how we can come to a place where most us feel good about’,” said Peter Lynch, a candidate for ANC commissioner in Ward 3/4G, an area facing the extension part of the bike lanes project.

Lynch said the reason for his candidacy was to increase engagement of residents on important issues like protected bike lanes. He said that people are not as far apart as it seems. “Everybody wants a vibrant Connecticut Avenue. Everybody wants safety for bicyclists. Everyone wants this community to thrive and grow. Those are some great common points we can all start from.”

“I know people on both sides. I talk to them and they are reasonable people,” said Jerry Malitz, a former ANC commissioner and publisher of a local newsletter . “People really need to engage, they need to mobilize people, and they need to be honestly constructive, not to just say things without proof.”

Malitz personally walked along the segment of Connecticut Avenue that will be examined for extension of the protected bike lanes. He counted the legally metered parking spaces on the avenue and side streets, and he found out that 37 out of these 86 spaces would likely remain after the bike lanes are installed.

He also found that there are 364 spaces along the strip that are exclusively used by businesses but are underutilized. “People keep talking about parking, but I think there are ways to mitigate parking losses,” said Malitz.

“Not a zero-sum game”

Elissa Silverman, an at-large councilmember running for re-election, said, “bike lanes will be there.” But she also emphasized that the project is still in a design phase and citizens who have concerns about mobility or parking should participate in DDOT sessions to give their input.

“We can do this without being polarizing. I do not think it is a zero-sum game. But you can’t come to a compromise if people cannot talk,” Silverman said.

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Forty restaurants that operate in downtown Bethesda will set up tents and sell samples from their menus in the Woodmont Triangle, an area located three blocks away from the Bethesda Metro station. Bands and dance groups will have live performances at five stages set on the site.

“What is unique about Taste of Bethesda is that people have the opportunity to just try so many different foods in one day,” said Stephanie Coppula, director of marketing and communications at Bethesda Urban Partnership, which produces the event.

Tickets are sold on the site, and a bundle of four tickets costs $5. Food samples are offered in small portions and typically cost one-to-four tickets.

Bethesda Urban Partnership cancelled Taste of Bethesda in 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It attempted to resume the event last year but gave up the plan when not enough restaurants and volunteers signed up. This year, the number of participating restaurants is smaller compared to 2019, when 50 restaurants signed up.

Restaurants welcome the opportunity to connect with customers

The participating restaurants welcome the occasion to appeal to a big crowd.

“This is the opportunity to set the tone of who you are,” said Renè Martinez, operating partner of Silver. The American brasserie has been participating in the event since 2015.

Martinez said he is taking this event very seriously. He used to assign younger associates to the event, but this time he is leading “an ace team” that includes his sous-chef, lead cooks and the marketing manager.

“I want to show the guests how confident we are about what we are serving,” Martinez said.

At the event, Martinez plans to distribute small cards that explain the hospital grade air purification system the restaurant installed.

“I want the community to know we are still here, the same great food, great service, and bring all the safety precautions to the table.”

Taste of Bethesda is also an important opportunity to get to know other restaurants in the area, Martinez said.

“Everyone is setting up at the same time. We share business cards and start from there. We are friendly competitors. It is very important to connect to the peers.”

Susan Lennon, owner of Smoke BBQ, also has a high expectation for Taste of Bethesda. Smoke BBQ has been participating in the event since 2013, the year the restaurant opened.

“It is a profitable event, not so much in money you make at the event but gaining new customers as a result of that. We always had a lot of exposure because of the event,” Lennon said.

According to Bethesda Urban Partnership, between 35,000 to 45,000 people visited Taste of Bethesda before the pandemic. Lennon expects “just as many people as before covid” if weather is good, which will mean larger sales for the fewer restaurants participating this year.

Fifteen out of 40 participating restaurants are new to the event, representing the turnover of businesses in downtown Bethesda. Hawkers Asian Street Food, which opened in August 2020 is one of them.

“I think we are offering a few dishes that hopefully will stand out in some way,” said Asher Kline, service manager at the restaurant. “I am excited. I want everyone at Hawkers to learn a lot. The main goal is to show who we are.”

“Bethesda is a wine town”

Another addition to the event is beer and wine. Jeff Burton, executive director of Bethesda Urban Partnership, said the partnership originally planned and worked with Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services to offer alcohol at the 2020 event but had to postpone it because of the pandemic.

Martinez from Silver expects that “alcohol will be a big sales driver,” as “Bethesda is a wine town. People really enjoy meals with wine.”

Jocelyn Rawat, communications manager at Alcohol Beverage Services, said in an email that restaurants are extending their annual licenses to offer alcohol at the event and are responsible for preventing alcohol consumption by people who are under 21 as well as overconsumption by the customers.

“People wishing to enjoy alcohol at the event should be prepared to show valid ID. Festivalgoers may not bring their own alcohol onto the festival grounds,” wrote Rawat. Alcohol is restricted to designated areas. An officer from Alcohol Beverage Services as well as active police officers will be on site, according to Rawat.

Restaurants face new and old challenges

The comeback of Taste of Bethesda seems like a step toward normalcy, but Lennon from Smoke BBQ pointed out that several restaurants in downtown Bethesda are struggling because many office workers are still working remotely.

“Our evening business is doing well, but lunch business is completely gone,” said Lennon. “I hear anecdotally from my customers that many office buildings are only 30-40% occupied compared to pre-pandemic level. We just don’t have the office lunch population we used to have.”

Martinez said breakfast is very slow at Silver compared to pre-pandemic. “Office people were coming to have their meetings. Now you see a lot less of that.”

On top of the persistent impact of pandemic, restaurants are now suffering from staff shortages and the rising cost of inflation. Lennon said the major reason her neighbors did not sign up for Taste of Bethesda this year was “staff shortage.”

Linda Hunter, events and education coordinator at Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, said her organization is hearing that local restaurants continue to struggle.

“Today our surveys show that while some operators have returned to 2019 levels of revenue or are exceeding it, they are falling behind financially due to the effects of rising inflation and costs of goods, labor costs, and many other challenges,” Hunter wrote in an email.

A survey of 4,200 restaurant operators conducted by the National Restaurant Association between July and August showed that 88% of respondents found their total food and beverages costs higher than in 2019, and 86% found their total labor costs are higher than in 2019.

“People have the impression that downtown Bethesda is a gold mine for restaurants, when the reality is a very, very difficult economic environment,” Lennon said.

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