Set in-between the Crystal City Metro andĚýVRE stations, Alamo Drafthouse would be the closest movie theater Arlington residents can access by transit.ĚýĚýĚý

But, the theater is opening less than two years after the closing of Regal Theaters in Potomac Yards, and at a time when fewer people are going to the movie theater. 91ÇŃ×Ó 67% of Americans 18-29 said according to the Pew Research Center.ĚýĚý

During 2021, Americans saw an average of 1.4 movies in theater, compared to a 4.8 average between 2001-2007, according to a Gallup poll.Ěý

National Landing Business Improvement District President Tracy Gabriel sees Alamo Drafthouse as an “exciting addition” to National Landing.Ěý

“The opening of Alamo Drafthouse on Crystal Drive this fall marks an exciting addition to National Landing as we look to grow our entertainment and experiential offerings across the neighborhood,” Gabriel said in an email.Ěý “One of our goals at the BID is to continue bringing exciting new businesses to National Landing and Alamo Drafthouse offers the perfect blend of food, drinks and film for residents, office workers and visitors to enjoy.”ĚýĚý

Just last year, Alamo Drafthouse filed for . Two months later, Alamo Drafthouse re-emerged from bankruptcy, .ĚýĚý

ĚýBut, just this month, an Alamo Drafthouse in Omaha, Neb. shut its doors.ĚýĚý

“It is with a heavy heart that we officially announce that today was the final day of screenings at Alamo Midtown due to the lasting impact related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Alamo Drafthouse Omaha said in a Facebook post Oct.10.ĚýĚý

American University Film & Media Professor John Douglass’s theory is that small and large movie theaters will not survive. Movie theaters need to find a way to connect to their communities, according to Douglass.ĚýĚý

The movie theater “needs to find its level in that community, whatever it is,” Douglass said. “If it’s a small town and the only way to get out for an evening is to go to a restaurant, and there’s a movie theater attached then that sounds like a good evening. Other communities are going to be different.”ĚýĚýĚýĚý

Douglass said Alamo Drafthouse’s business model of serving food and drinks during the movie fits the D.C. area well.ĚýĚýĚý

“It looks fun,” Arlington resident Avery Austin said about Alamo Drafthouse.ĚýĚý

Austin said she doesn’t go to theaters as much since COVID-19. One of the two movies she saw recently in theaters was ‘Spider-Man No Way Home’ at the end of 2021. Three days later, she got COVID for the first time.Ěý

Austin said she will continue to go to movie theaters, just not as much.ĚýĚý

“It’s really fun that a movie theater is going to open up so close,” Austin said. “I kind of miss going to the movies.”Ěý

Austin said her plans are to invite her friends to the opening night of the theater.Ěý

ĚýAlamo Drafthouse waiters serve customers while they are watching the movie. Then will bring the check 30 minutes before the movie ends, according to the Alamo Drafthouse site.ĚýĚý

The new Crystal City location will have nine auditoriums, totaling to 915 seats all in Alamo Drafthouse’s “Big Show” format.ĚýĚý

“The Big Show is our attempt to create the best film-watching experience possible,” Director of Presentation Mark Louis said in a quote on the company’s site.ĚýĚýĚý

“The Big Show format” uses 4k projection systems, Dolby Atmos technology, and 100% recliner seats, according to the company site.ĚýĚý

Even with such luxury, Arlington residents like Matilde Jacobson still prefers to stay home to watch movies.ĚýĚý

“I got out of the habit of going to the movie theater after COVID,” Jacobson said.Ěý

Jacobson said she’ll check out Alamo Drafthouse at least once but watching movies at home is “just cheaper.”Ěý

Last year, 61% of Americans didn’t go to the movies, according to a Gallup poll.ĚýĚý

The recent dual release of the movie Halloween Kills in theaters and streaming on Peacock is one of many films that are now having dual releases.ĚýĚý

Even though streaming changed the movie theater industry, Douglass said movie theaters are not going anywhere any time soon.ĚýĚý

“We may find movie theaters in different places than we have traditionally, ” Douglass said. “We may find fewer theaters, we may find theaters that are tied in with combinations like bars, restaurants. But I think that group experience is something that people like.”ĚýĚý

Alamo Drafthouse public relations team FONS PR declined to comment in time.ĚýĚý

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These owners know that one themed month is not enough to compensate for the losses caused by COVID-19. But, the month is just one of many ways they hope to bring in new business.

Hispanic Heritage Month started on Sept. 15 and will last until Oct. 15. This is a month to celebrate and recognize Hispanic culture and history. And it comes at a great time, as Hispanic-owned businesses are still trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 slowed everything down. We didn’t close, but we changed our hours. We used to open the whole day, now we just open in the evening,” said operations manager William Martinez of Tequila and Mezcal, a Mexican and Salvadoran family-owned bar and restaurant in Columbia Heights, in D.C.’s Ward 1.

It’s hard to say if it will go back to normal, but Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to bring in new customers after the COVID-19 loss, Martinez said. “There is a new wave of customers to show support during the Hispanic Heritage Month.”

The U.S. government started the Paycheck Protection Program in April 2020 to help small businesses pay their employees, said Walda Yon, a chief executive at the Latino Economic Development Center. LEDC also started loan programs to help Latino businesses pay their rent, she said. However, only 3% of Latino business owners had access to total funding through PPP, compared to 7% for white owners, according to a study by Marlene Orozco and Inara Suman Taraque.

“Clients were not here. They simply went back home,” said Yon.

And Columbia Heights was not spared. The neighborhood is the heart of the Spanish-speaking Latin American population in D.C., with 22% of residents identifying as Hispanics, which is the highest number in the city, according to US Census Bureau figures. District Bridges, a nonprofit organization that aims to help businesses in a large portion of Northwest D.C. to thrive, said that Columbia Heights had the largest number of Hispanic restaurants in Ward 1, with 13 different options.

“I wish I could do more,” said Amanda Monaco, Main Street manager of Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant for District Bridges, about Hispanic Heritage Month.

She helps Latino business owners to develop their businesses.

This ranges from helping fill out government documents to advising them on how to promote their businesses. This summer, the group launched workshops on how to create promotional websites. In the next few months, District Bridges will keep on reaching out to Latino business owners to ask them what they need, she said.

So far, Hispanic Heritage Month hasn’t changed the number of customers visiting Mi Casita Bakery and Deli, explained Brigitte Galicia, the restaurant’s cashier. Customers have passionate conversations in Spanish on the restaurant’s terrace at the corner of a street.

“We welcome everyone, Black, white, Hispanics,” said Deisi Aleman, a Honduran employee of La Cabaña Restaurante at Columbia Heights.

The Mexican-Salvadoran restaurant skipped over Hispanic Heritage Month, as it already painted its windows with Halloween themes. Aleman said there will be “a big happy hour” during the weekend of Halloween. Tex-Mex fajitas, pollo con tajadas and margaritas are very popular and are expected to be widely served during Halloween, she said.

After Halloween, the neighborhood will have another event to attract visitors. Small business owners are encouraged to decorate their stores as Columbia Heights’ Main Street will be part of D.C. Holiday Lights from Nov. 18 to Jan. 8. District Bridges’ Monaco hopes that it will promote the businesses of Columbia Heights outside Ward 1.

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Over the past 11 weeks, police responded to 48 reported assaults within the county’s public school system. Students and county council members alike cite pandemic-related mental health concerns as a key contributor to the increase in school violence.

“We’ve had three fights in my school in the few months we’ve been in-person,” said Kyson Taylor, a junior at Rockville’s Richard Montgomery High School and co-chair of the county’s Student Wellbeing Action Group (SWAG). “I had never seen a fight in school until this year. I think that says something.”

Students continue to demand increased mental health support to counter the effects of the pandemic, but Taylor said he’s frustrated by the county’s lack of action.

“Students’ mental health needs grow more intense by the day,” he said. “Every second we wait on this, the more harm it causes students and the school environment.”

Complicating COVID factors

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are widespread and varied but share an underlying consequence — severe damage to mental health, particularly in vulnerable populations like , people subjected to , and .

On Monday, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released findings from a titled “Gen Z and the Toll of the Pandemic.” Among participants ages 13 to 24, 46% said the pandemic made it harder to pursue their education or career goals. Roughly half of respondents across all generations said the pandemic led to struggles with mental health maintenance.

Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Navarro said, “While everyone has been through a tough time in the last few years, children are the ones who will have the greatest lingering effects of the pandemic.”

points to pandemic-generated factors like social isolation, loneliness, lack of physical exercise and family stress as significant stressors on adolescent mental health. In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a alongside the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association declaring this issue to be a national emergency.

“Across the country we have witnessed dramatic increases in Emergency Department visits for all mental health emergencies, including suspected suicide attempts,” the statement read, going on to call for increased funding of mental health support at all levels of the government.

In Montgomery County, Councilmember Will Jawando said loss of learning and socialization have resulted in heightened anxiety and depression for students. These effects are exacerbated for students of color and students from low-income households, he added.

Taylor described his own experiences wrestling with his mental health during the pandemic.

“I’ve developed a lot more anxiety than I’ve had in the past around school and other things relating to workload,” he said. “It’s common knowledge between students that during the pandemic, there were a variety of stresses that led to the deterioration of our mental health. We came back to school, and there was nothing in the school to help with those concerns.”

Jawando also pointed to economic fallout as a major contributor to the issue. He reported that around 60,000 county residents experienced food insecurity before the pandemic, meaning they didn’t know where their next meal would come from or didn’t have consistent access to food. As of August 2021, he said that number had risen to 100,000 — nearly double the pre-pandemic figure.

As a father of four, Jawando said he has personally had many opportunities to witness the severe impacts of the pandemic on children within local schools.

“The system is strained,” he said, “because we’ve all gone through a lot.”

Elimination of police presence

On top of the many pandemic-related shifts surrounding the reopening of schools, Montgomery County introduced another variable over the summer months. For the first time in almost two decades, no armed police officers are stationed within MCPS high schools.

The removal of school resource officers, or SROs, from public school facilities resulted from strong community pressure following the 2020 surge in civil rights activism and Black Lives Matter protests.

Instead, MCPS replaced these officers with “Community Engagement Officers.” These officers patrol the areas around school property without directly engaging with students or school staff, except when responding to a call.

Taylor said SWAG has been integral in pushing for this change. The work group was created in May 2021 with the goal of centering student voices in the county’s decision-making. Taylor said Councilmembers Jawando and Craig Rice tapped him to co-chair the committee because of his extensive prior experience testifying in front of the council on community issues.

ł§°Â´ˇłŇ’s , released in July 2021, expressly called for the removal of police presence from school campuses. The work group wrote that allowing officers to remain would “hinder our ability to move away from punitive punishment and subject students of color to the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Jawando cited data that is “devastatingly disproportionate” regarding the number of students of color and students with disabilities who experience negative police interactions in their schools. Despite African American students representing only 20% of the total student population, Jawando said they make up half of students who are arrested or have negative interactions with police. That number increases to 75% when Latino students are included.

Jawando asserted that for students to return to the classroom setting and be met with armed police officers could actually have resulted in even more trauma than what is already being observed.

“There’s better people to deal with these challenges,” he said, pointing to the need for more school counselors, social workers and psychologists.

Increasing mental health support

Councilmember Evan Glass said there is “universal agreement” that every public high school in the county needs a licensed clinical social worker on staff. “That is the bare minimum,” he said.

When the council was negotiating the county budget in the spring of 2021, Glass suggested devoting $2 million in funds to further this goal. “My colleagues did not agree with that decision,” he said, calling it a “missed opportunity.”

“We need bilingual, queer mental health professionals,” Glass said. “Managing stress is a lifelong journey. We need to teach our young people to self-regulate and self-assess so that they are better prepared for success.”

In November, the council passed $252 million in additional funding for school staffing via federal aid from the American Rescue Plan Act. Councilmember Navarro said these funds would support 271 new positions in the public school system, including 40 counselors and 50 social workers.

Jawando said the county council needs to pass their 2022 budget by May and is currently in communication with MCPS to “identify realistic timelines” for hiring new mental health professionals.

SWAG continues to be involved in the budget negotiations, Taylor said. The next step is to meet with the county council’s Education and Culture Committee, but Taylor said the ongoing discussions have not yet amounted to any tangible progress.

“I’m kind of sick of having conversations,” he admitted. “It’s time for us to put the funding aside and get these social workers hired immediately.”

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