The Washington Post - USA (2020-12-11)

B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020

BY JUSTIN GEORGE

Despite the objection of two
board members, Metro leaders
moved a s tep closer Thursday to
adopting a plan that severely cuts
transit service — a patch for a
half-billion dollar deficit as time is
expiring for Congress to bail out
transit agencies this year.
The board’s 6-2 vote was a rare
exception to its typically unani-
mous decisions on financial mat-
ters, showing how the crisis is
unlike any Metro has faced. With
the pandemic decimating rider-
ship and fare revenue, the agency
is looking to cut one-quarter of its
$2 billion in annual operating ex-
penses from next year’s budget.
The board’s approval Thursday
sent the grim proposal to the pub-
lic for review. The move gives rid-
ers, businesses and local govern-
ments time to lobby for bus routes
and agency services they hope will
be retained. If Congress or the
incoming Biden administration
were to provide federal aid, cuts
could be rolled back, board mem-
bers said.
Metro board Vice Chairwoman
Stephanie Gidigbi, who repre-
sents the District on the board,
and board member Michael Gold-
man, who represents Maryland,
voted against the proposal. They
said Metro should wait until Janu-
ary, when there would be more
information on Congress’s inten-
tions and vaccine distribution
schedules, which could ease the
pandemic and bring back riders.
Goldman said putting out a
budget with such severe cuts will
do irreparable harm to Metro’s
image. The budget’s projections
for ridership next year were too

bleak, he said, and not based on

when scientists say people might

return to normal behavior.

“ My prediction is that this

doomsday budget will never be

implemented for fiscal year ’22,”

he said. “But the problem is to

make it the focus of discussion and

debate for the next four months

will only discourage riders to re-

turn to the Metro system in the

summer and fall.”

The vote formally opens a pub-

lic comment period during three

to four weeks beginning in mid-

January. Metro will hold hearings

to gather responses, then launch

an outreach campaign to solicit

more feedback. The board’s ap-

proval Thursday is a first step in an

annual budget process that lasts

until March, when the board is

expected to approve the 2022 fis-

cal year budget.

The transit agency has estimat-

ed few ridership gains by July,

when the new fiscal year starts.

Metro is projecting a $ 494.5 mil-

lion deficit.

Transit agencies across the

country are hoping Congress will

pass a second coronavirus relief

aid package that includes at lea st

$32 billion to help public trans-

portation, but lawmakers have

been unable to reach an agree-

ment during a lame-duck session

that is coming to a close.

Without aid, Metro has pro-

posed eliminating weekend

Metrorail service, while ending

weekday service two hours early.

Fewer trains would mean waits

between 15 and 30 minutes.

Metrobus routes would be cut by

more than half.

The plans have shaken transit

users across the Washington re-

gion.

“This is a mistake. We tried to

warn them it was a mistake,” Met-

ro’s Riders’ Advisory Council,

which advises the board on riders’

issues, said on Twitter. “THERE IS

NO REASON THIS CAN’T WAIT A

MONTH.”

Metro General Manager Paul J.

Wiedefeld said even if a bailout

happens, Metro may still need to

make cuts because the aid amount

could be small.

“I think it’s important for the

public to weigh in now so we can

get a better sense of, with whatev-

er limited dollars we may have,

what can we bring back, where it

makes the most sense, and again,

trying to meet the public demand,”

he said.

But the riders’ council, as well

as local transit advocate James

Pizzurro, pointed out the board on

Thursday skipped over several

submitted public comment emails

and phone messages during the

meeting and mistakenly replayed

la st month’s video report from the

riders’ council.

“My colleagues and I give up a

lot of time and energy to be as

effective as we can,” said riders’

council chairman Andrew Kierig.

“It’s li ke talking to a brick wall.”

Gidigbi pushed Metro to do

more to gather public input on the

sweeping service cuts than host-

ing three weeks of hearings and

outreach.

“I hope that the general manag-

er and the staff will really work to

think about how we move beyond

these three weeks, thinking

[about] stakeholder feedback at

every level, especially those who

are most impacted by the system

and these decisions and the cuts

that we’re making,” she said.

Goldman said Metro last year

delayed a s imilar vote to Januar y,

and wondered why officials

couldn’t do the same during this

yea r’s bu dget process.

“I have heard nothing which

tells me or that convinces me that

that wasn’t good strategy then,

and that we shouldn’t wait for

another month and do this in Jan-

uary this time,” he said.

Board chairman Paul C. Smed-

berg and members Gregory Slater,

Matt Letourneau, Steve McMillin,

Devin Rouse and Jeff Marootian

voted in favor of pushing the budg-

et forward.

Slater, also Maryland’s trans-

portation secretary, said putting

the plan out now gives the public

more time to consider the propos-

als.

“It’s even more challenging in a

remote environment, so we need

to take th at ext ra time to get that

appropriate feedback,” he said. It’s

important to me that we under-

stand where their priorities are.

... But, you know, in my mind, we
have to always plan for the worst
and adjust as things improve.”
Even as he voted for the propos-
al, Letourneau, a Loudoun County
supervisor, noted that such seri-
ous cuts could prompt local gov-
ernments that subsidize Metro to
question that funding if service is
curtailed so extensively.
“But the answer is, if we do want
to recover as a region, Metro is
absolutely critical to that. Metro is
cent ral to it,” he said, adding that
Metro has been a factor in land use
decisions across the region and
along the Dulles Toll Road corri-
dor, where Phase Two of the Silver
Line is underway.
Board members Thursday also
heard updates on the second
phase of the Silver Line, which will
extend into Loudoun Count y. The
project, overseen by the Metropol-
itan Washington Airports Author-
ity, has seen delays over construc-
tion problems.
Metro staff members said they
have identified at least 14 new
significant issues that need to be
fixed before they recommend that
board members accept the project
and begin service. None of the
issues are functional, but they
could affect durability and safety
in the long term, a Metro staff
member said.
While the authority could be
ready to turn the project over to
Metro in April, tentatively push-
ing a start date for service to the
fall, Metro’s staff members said
more work is needed to resolve the
problems. The problems include
cracked insulators that shield the
electrified third rail, malfunction-
ing fans and noncompliant snow
melters, according to a Metro re-
port to the board.
[email protected]

REGION

Metro advances ‘doomsday’ budget to public for review

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

A rider waits for a t rain at Metro Center on Dec. 1. The Metro board on Thursday advanced a proposal

that would severely scale back service, including the elimination of weekend Metrorail transit.

Plan would severely cut

transit service in face of

half-billion dollar deficit

tions between Nov. 18 and

Wednesday; they said that 78 per-

cent of people met mask-wearing

criteria.

Although 83 percent of people

required to wear a mask wore

one, officials said only 72 percent

wore it correctly. Seventeen per-

cent of people wore no mask,

while the lowest percentage of

individuals wearing masks cor-

rectly were in Ward 7 (55 percent)

and Ward 8 (58 percent).

Bowser said the city “antici-

pates the education route in re-

minding people of proper mask

usage — not the fining route.”

The new restrictions in Prince

George’s on Thursday came as the

county’s coronavirus metrics

have worsened along with those

of the rest of the region.

The county reported 2,908 new

confirmed cases last week, with

the average daily case rate hitting

45.7 per 100,000 residents — both

records. County Health Officer

Ernest L. Carter said the numbers

indicate “the virus is spreading at

a very rapid rate.”

“We have to fight through the

fatigue,” he said, urging residents

to remain in their homes as much

as possible and avoid holiday

shopping and gatherings. “We

have to forge ahead and do the

right thing.”

Prince George’s will soon roll

out public awareness and educa-

tion programs about the vaccine,

officials said, noting that distrust

is widespread in the majority-

Black county. A pediatrician by

training, Carter urged residents

to take the vaccine when it be-

comes available.

As a r eminder of the pandem-

ic’s continued economic toll, first-

time unemployment claims last

week jumped in Virginia to their

highest level since Aug. 8, the

state’s Employment Commission

announced Thursday, as season-

ally unadjusted claims rose to

16,654.

That is an increase of 8,048

from the previous week but much

smaller than the 147,369 claims

filed during the April 4 peak.

[email protected]

[email protected]

michael.brice-saddler

@washpost.com

[email protected]

Ovetta Wiggins and Patricia Sullivan

contributed to this report.

Thursday to a record 6,989. The

recent average hit records in Vir-

ginia and Maryland, at 3,791 and

2,922, respectively, while in the

District that number stood at 276,

just shy of a record set a day

earlier.

D.C. leaders on Thursday said

social gatherings, including those

over Thanksgiving, were mostly

responsible for its rise in cases.

City officials urged residents not

to tr avel for holidays later this

month.

“We were optimistic that peo-

ple would not have traveled and

got tog ether in groups, but if they

have — and it appears that they

did — this is the result,” D .C.

Health Director LaQuandra Nes-

bitt said.

D.C. also unveiled results

Thursday from an audit that mea-

sured mask compliance. The city

sent contact tracers to 151 loca-

will be necessary. He said broader

statewide closures are being

weighed against economic inter-

ests and will b e implemented

only if absolutely necessary, call-

ing them a “death sentence” for

some small businesses.

Hogan said he, Northam and

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D)

have scheduled a call for Wednes-

day to discuss a regional ap-

proach forward.

“It is clear that we are experi-

encing a post- Thanksgiving

surge, and the worst days of the

pandemic are still ahead of us,” he

said.

New restrictions this week in

the Washington region come as

the rate of infection has surged in

recent days, mirroring a national

rise.

The seven-day average of new

daily infections across D.C.,

Maryland and Virginia rose

Larry Hogan (R) resisted the call

from local leaders to implement

statewide restrictions, instead

laying out steps to address the

ongoing economic crisis.

The governor said $75 million

worth of loans to small business-

es will be forgiven and converted

into grants, and companies will

get a reprieve on an expected

increase in unemployment taxes.

He also announced an initiative

to construct affordable housing, a

federal grant that could help pro-

vide PPE and testing kits to Mary-

land State Police, and a $94 mil-

lion program to help residents

detect and treat prediabetes and

diabetes, conditions that can ex-

acerbate harm from the coronavi-

rus.

Hogan said he is closely watch-

ing data and projections to deter-

mine when and what additional

“statewide mitigation efforts”

cap.

Enforcement of capacity limits

is up to police, and violators can

be charged with a Class 1 misde-

meanor. State officials said police

will continue to emphasize edu-

cation over criminal charges.

Northam, a physician, outlined

the changes a day after Montgom-

ery County and Baltimore reim-

posed Maryland’s strictest rules

since the first wave of infections

in the spring.

On Wednesday, Montgomery

County Executive Marc Elrich (D)

proposed banning all indoor din-

ing — a move that requires c oun-

cil approval — while Baltimore

City forbade any dining at restau-

rants, indoors or outdoors. Lead-

ers of Maryland’s most populous

jurisdictions pushed for unified

shutdowns Wednesday during a

joint call.

On Thursday, Maryland Gov.

Executive Steuart Pittman (D)
said the jurisdiction will prohibit
indoor dining and reduce capac-
ity for retail stores, personal ser-
vices shops, religious facilities,
fitness centers and casinos.
“These restrictions will be a
burden, and I had hoped to avoid
them,” he said. “But we cannot
ignore the projected hospitaliza-
tion numbers that will result
from today’s case rates, nor can
we let those numbers increase
further with continued commu-
nity spread.”
County Health Officer Nilesh
Kalyanaraman said that starting
next week, contact tracers — who
are increasingly overwhelmed by
the number of new infections —
will limit their efforts by focusing
largely on those who are at higher
risk.
Frederick County became the
fifth Maryland jurisdiction to is-
sue tougher restrictions in the
past two days, announcing that
public and private indoor gather-
ings will be capped at 15 people.
As part of his executive order,
Northam on Thursday called for
Virginians age 5 and older to wear
masks in all indoor settings
shared with non-household
members and in outdoor settings
that do not allow for physical
distancing.
That’s an expansion of the cur-
rent mandate, which requires
ma sks in indoor public spaces
such as stores. The new order
requires masks in indoor private
spaces such as shared office spac-
es, while someone visiting an-
other home also will be required
to wear a mask.
The Virginia Department of
Health will step up enforcement
of the m ask mandate in business-
es open to the public, such as
convenience stores. But Northam
acknowledged that enforcement
is not generally possible in newly
affected locations, such as offices.
“We’re not going to go into
private places of business,” he
said.
Northam capped private and
public gatherings at 10 people,
down from the current 25. The
limit does not apply to houses of
worship, employment settings or
schools. Restaurants and stores,
already governed by capacity lim-
its, will not be affected by the new

REGION FROM B1

Leaders across D.C. region tighten restrictions, consider regional approach

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Diners at Tsunami, a ramen and tapas restaurant, in Frederick on Wednesday. Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties are eliminating

indoor dining, while it has been proposed in Montgomery, and Baltimore City forbade any dining at restaurants, indoors or outdoors.

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