recognizing that individuals with
an understanding of science and
technology are critical to this
region’s long-term success.”
The decision to tap engineers
for top campus roles underscores
a trend that has been unfolding
for about a decade, said John L.
Anderson, president of the na-
tional Academy of engineering,
an organization for engineers.
Universities have spent the past
several years broadening their
engineering curriculums to em-
phasize skills outside of the disci-
pline, including communication
see unIVersItIes on B4In the span of two weeks, two
of the largest schools in the Wash-
ington region — George Mason
and the University of Maryland at
College Park — named engineer-
ing deans to lead their campuses.
Before being chosen for the top
job at GMU, Washington led the
engineering school at the Univer-
sity of California at Irvine. And
the new president at U-Md., Dar-
ryll J. Pines, has been at the helm
of the engineering school there
since 2009.
“It’s not a coincidence. It’s hap-
pening by design,” Washington
said in an interview. “People areKLMNO
METRO
MONDAy, MARCH 2 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONAL eZ re B
JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON
As five eagle scouts are
celebrated, a 90-year-old
receives special scouting
recognition. B3THE DISTRICT
lime and bird will have to
leave the city after losing
appeals to continue their
e-scooter operations. B3OBITUARIES
lego minifigures creator
Jens nygaard Knudsen
brought a human element43 ° 56 ° 60 ° 54 ° to plastic playscapes. B7
8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.High today at
approx. 2 p.m.62
°
Precip: 25%
Wind: SSW
8-16 mphnever really took off in large cities
until recently. In the 1970s, Den-
ver and Trenton, n.J., experi-
mented with free rides during
off-peak hours, and while the pro-
gram increased ridership, it cre-
ated too many problems and both
cities discontinued their pilot
programs after a year, according
to a 2002 study by the national
Center for Transportation Re-
search at the University of south
Florida.
In 1989, Austin offered free
transit across its system for one
see trAnsIt on B4“ I think we need to put it right
back into residents’ hand,” Allen
said. “We are not raising taxes to
do this.”
The legislation, which Allen
plans to announce later this week,
is being co-introduced by seven
council members, including
Chairman Phil Mendelson (D);
Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large),
chair of the Metro oversight com-
mittee; and Mary M. Cheh (D-
Ward 3), chair of t he panel’s t rans-
portation committee.
T he idea of making public tran-
sit free dates back decades, but itIf it all sounds too pie-in-the-
sky, Allen said it shouldn’t. He
said the proposal would not re-
quire any cuts to city services or
emergency savings. At an estimat-
ed cost of $54 million to $151 mil-
lion a year, depending on factors
that include usage and negotiated
discounts, the program would be
paid for with tax revenue above
what the government budgets to
spend annually.
Allen said tax revenue has con-
sistently overshot projections the
past five years, and that city offi-
cials expect that to continue.transit system vibrant, and it
would specifically target the be-
leaguered Metrobus system for
improvements, creating a cash
fund of about $10 million to boost
service in some of the city’s needi-
est, transit-deprived corners.
The money to residents would
be paid in the form of $100 in
monthly smarTrip card credits.Free transit also would remove
one of the top obstacles to jobs for
many low-income residents, and
it would keep the city affordable
and accessible to families of color
who are being priced out, Allen
said.
He said his plan would provide
Metro with new fare revenue to
keep the region’s preeminentBY JUSTIN GEORGEThe District could become the
next U.s. city to make transit free
under a proposal by a D.C. Coun-
cil member that would give each
resident $100 a month to use for
public transportation.
Council member Charles Allen
(D-Ward 6) said the plan would
boost the region’s economy by
helping businesses retain em-
ployees and recruit new custom-
ers who have been turned away b y
the city’s parking costs and traffic
congestion.D.C. lawmaker proposes free public transit for residents
extrA tAx reveNue wOuLD FuND prOGrAm
Allen’s plan calls for $ 100 a month in SmarTrip credits
BY GREGORY S. SCHNEIDERrichmond — It was an odd line
of questioning. As a freshman
delegate presented a bill aimed at
holding down consumer electric-
ity rates, a bipartisan pair of
senators quizzed him on where
he got the idea and why he was
sponsoring it.
“I know the legislators that
work in electrical-related issues,”
said sen. Thomas K. norment Jr.
(R-James City), “and just was
kind of curious.”
In other words, Del. suhas
subramanyam (D-Loudoun) was
not part of the usual club. Law-
making that affects electric utili-
ties in Virginia — especially the
biggest one, Dominion energy —
has long been an exclusive arena
of big dollars, connected lobby-
ists and predictable outcomes.
Democrats ran last year on a
crusade to shatter that tradition.
With majorities in both cham-
bers now, they’re achieving
mixed results. Lawmakers are on
the verge of enacting sweeping
environmental bills that commit
the state for the first time to
eliminating fossil-fuel-based en-
ergy. In a switch, the bills origi-
nated from the work of a group of
energy technology companies
and environmentalists, instead
of from Dominion and its army of
lobbyists.
But the giant utility has negoti-
ated details of the bills. And
separate efforts to break Domin-
ion’s monopoly on most of the
Virginia market and to restore
fuller state oversight of consumer
electricity rates have largely
failed.
“Dominion was a big issue last
fall... and here we are just a few
months later, and Dominion is
going to end up in an even
stronger position,” said Jesse
Dickerman, a spokesman for Di-
rect energy, which backed legis-
see energy on B5Dominion’s
influence
persists in
Richmond
Va. Democrats push for
environmental change
with mixed resultsBY FREDRICK KUNKLEA Charles County Circuit Court
judge has been asked to appoint a
trustee to oversee a specialty bar
association, whose l eadership has
included members of the county
state’s attorney’s office, after a
lawyer filed a complaint alleging a
lack of transparency and financial
mismanagement of the organiza-
tion.
Court papers filed Tuesday by
Makeba Gibbs say her requests toreview the treasurer’s reports,
ba nk records and other docu-
ments of the salome A. Howard
Bar Association, which raises
money for college scholarships,
have been rebuffed for the past
two years.
Charles County state’s Attor-
ney Anthony B. Covington served
as the organization’s past presi-
dent and Karen R. Piper Mitchell,
who is a deputy state’s attorney in
his office, is listed as the bar
association’s treasurer and for-
mer president.
Covington did not respond to
calls or requests for comment left
at his office. Piper Mitchell,
reached by telephone at h er office,
declined to comment.
In a n interview at h er law office
Friday, Gibbs said her concernsincreased after the organization
handed out $1,500 scholarships
to perhaps four students a year
and canceled this year’s annual
black-tie fundraising gala.
Gibbs said Covington and Piper
Mitchell have been uncooperative
in providing an accounting and at
times combative during recent
meetings of the organization. she
said unanswered questions about
the leadership’s transparency, in-
cluding a failure to collect dues
and account for the proceeds
from previous galas, led her to
seek court action.
“I feel I was being bullied. And I
wasn’t getting anywhere,” said
Gibbs, a former public defender
who first expressed her concerns
in a Jan. 16 Facebook post after a
see ComplAInt on B3Lawyer alleges lack of transparency
Complaint seeks access
to f inancial records of
specialty bar associationafternoon, a pizza restaurant
worker deposited a box of food
into the robot’s hood before send-
ing the machine to meet its hun-
gry recipient.
The shiny robot’s arrival at the
celebration for incoming presi-
dent Gregory Washington offered
a glimpse into the university’s
future — and into the science-
and technology-focused land-
scape of higher education in the
region.Va., campus in the same way
squirrels scamper across the
grounds at o ther universities. The
robots roll through pathways and
across sidewalks. on a recentBY LAUREN LUMPKINA boxy white robot wheeled
itself in front of a crowd at G eorge
Mason University, where hun-
dreds had gathered to welcome
the school’s new president: an
engineering dean from Califor-
nia.
The autonomous delivery ro-
bots, designed by a san Francisco
company called starship Te chnol-
ogies, roam through the Fairfax,GMU, U-Md. follow higher-ed trend
Choice of engineers a s
new presidents reflects
area’s economic demandMArVIn JosePH/tHe WAsHIngton PostLysander Guldbrandtsen enjoys a sun-drenched afternoon on a giant swing at the Wharf in Southwest Washington. Temperatures hit 50
degrees in the Washington area Sunday and are expected to top out in the low 60s on Monday. For a full report, see Weather, B8.Getting into the swing of a new month
When Virginia’s
first female
speaker o f the
House of
Delegates asks t he
chamber’s first
female clerk t o
read an amendment or call the
roll for a vote, she says “please.”
The man who previously
served as speaker, arguably t he
second-most p owerful state office
after g overnor, didn’t use the
pleasantry for such r equests.
speaker eileen Filler-Corn’s
routine i s one s mall sign of what
legislators and other observers
say is a more inclusive,
consensus-oriented style that she
and o ther newly ascendant
women in the General Assembly
see regIonAl memo on B5S hattering glass and shattering norms
regional
memo
ROBERT
McCARTNEYsteVe Helber/AssocIAted Press
Virginia House speaker eileen Filler-Corn applauds as she and
Dels. Charniele l. Herring, left, and Jennifer Carroll Foy promote
the erA measure at a Jan. 27 news conference at the Capitol.