"And this is something that we’ve been working with WMATA on.” Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery Advocacy Manager, at the Coalition for Smarter Growth, mentioned two important routes in the draft plan, 170a from Bethesda to Germantown, and 102a from Silver Spring to Germantown, with connections to White Oak and Aspen Hill. “The Express routes will be run 7 days a week at high enough frequencies to provide truly useful upcounty-downcounty connections,” she explained, providing service to areas with great need.

October 2, 2023 | Virginia Mercury | Nathaniel Cline “We certainly think there’s a lot of focus on highway road expansion statewide and no focus on climate change impacts with this approach,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“I think they’re frustrated with having to lead the way, but I do think it is so much easier for the District to lead on this,” says Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the influential Coalition for Smarter Growth and a veteran of many Metro funding debates.

Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the transit advocacy non-profit Coalition for Smarter Growth, says it’s “concerning” that the agency may have to rely more on capital budget funds to reduce the deficit.

Bill Pugh lives in Alexandria and is senior policy fellow with Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Would you go so far as to say we have a housing crisis?,” Zebra asked Pugh in a phone interview two days after the community forum. “Alexandria has a housing shortage like many jurisdictions,” said Pugh, “and it also has an affordability issue as well. Whether we call it a crisis or not, the data that was presented by the Urban Institute has clearly shown there’s not enough housing in the DC region on all income levels. And we see that in day-to-day examples. My kids attend ACPS schools and many of their teachers drive in from Prince William and Prince George’s counties because they can’t afford to live here."