Hi there,

Every week, Dan and I write a post for the blog called Do Something [[link removed]] . It's what it says on the tin: We talk about things you can do to take action on relevant issues around housing, transportation, and land use throughout the region. As the policy directors at Greater Greater Washington—Dan works in Maryland, and I work in D.C.—it's part of our job to figure out when, where, and how you can make a difference on our issues.

But we definitely don't expect people to regularly be typing " ggwash.org [[link removed]] " into their browser, and so: We're sending, for the first time, Do Something via email. You can read it on ggwash.org here [[link removed]] , or...below!

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you, too, that GGWash's spring gala [[link removed]] is next Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at 6 pm at Pearl Street Warehouse at the Wharf. This is our annual ~fancy-ish~ fundraiser, and proceeds from it support GGWash's work. Contributing to our organization enables us and our colleagues to do our jobs, of which things like Do Something are a part. The $185 general-admission ticket gets you heavy hors d'oeuvres and an open bar, and it's a really fun night of socializing with people who share our values [[link removed]] .

We hope to see you on Tuesday, and will endeavor to get Do Something in your inbox more frequently. You can always reach out to me at [email protected], and Dan at [email protected], with any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading,
Alex

Alex Baca
D.C. Policy Director
Greater Greater Washington
[email protected]




Do Something: The week of April 21, 2025

[[link removed]]

DC

At-large councilmember Robert White, who chairs the Committee on Housing, is holding two “community conversations” under the banner of “let’s talk about housing.” The first [[link removed]] is tonight, Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 5:30 pm at the Cleveland Park Library; the second [[link removed]] is at 11:30 am on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at Paramount Baptist Church in Anacostia.

The councilmember is billing these as “open forums where residents can share what’s working, what isn’t, and where we can make real progress on housing together,” which I am skeptical of. The politics of housing are fractious, and the prevailing narrative is to blame tenant protections rather than to challenge the fact that the character of many neighborhoods is not particularly solicitous of housing that people don’t find insanely expensive. But I don’t chair the housing committee! You should share your feelings with the guy who does.

Now-standing sub-Do Something re: Comp Plan rewrite

It’s happening. [[link removed]] Read Office of Planning Director Anita Cozart’s responses [[link removed]] to the AMA she hosted on Reddit today. There isn’t anything particularly surprising there, but Cozart’s responses are a good primer on materials OP has produced over the past few years pertaining to land use.

Fill out OP’s survey [[link removed]] by May 18, 2025, and poke around [[link removed]] on the DC2050 website and make sure you are signed up for the Office of Planning’s emails. OP has a number of pop-up events throughout April; see them here [[link removed]] . There will be two more in-person workshops: One on Saturday, May 31, 2025, from 11 am to 1 pm, and Wednesday, June 4, 2025, from 6–8 pm, locations TBD. You can watch a recording of the virtual introductory session here [[link removed]] .

Again, make sure you and all your friends, and all their friends, have filled out the survey [[link removed]] . The deadline to do so is May 18, 2025. —AB

Maryland

Thanks to everyone who wrote the Montgomery County Council in support of money for parks after County Executive Marc Elrich once again decided to underfund their budget for reasons that seemed quite petty [[link removed]] . Claiming that his staff made a mistake [[link removed]] , he’s since agreed to put $1 million of the $4 million he removed. It’s a start, and you helped make that happen.

Starting when I was 17, I spent a lot of my weekends going to DIY punk shows with my friends at different venues in the Maryland suburbs. First there was the Death Star, a rundown brick house in downtown Silver Spring that succumbed to the mid-2000s development boom [[link removed]] , then reemerged a few blocks away until the neighbors’ noise complaints got it shut down [[link removed]] ; Scumbag Nation, a rambler with a massive basement in the woods way way out New Hampshire Avenue [[link removed]] where it was easier to hide from the cops; and finally the Calvert House Inn, a seafood restaurant in Riverdale Park where all the chairs got pushed aside to make room for a mosh pit.

As a queer kid who didn’t fit in most places, I thrived in these forgotten corners of the suburbs that gave weird kids like me a place to call their own [[link removed]] and a chance to assert themselves in a world that was at best indifferent to their existence.

It’s been a minute since I regularly went to DIY shows, so I was bummed to hear that the Garage [[link removed]] , a DIY music and arts venue outside of Germantown, just lost its live music permit [[link removed]] because it’s in an area zoned for farms and Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services thinks it has “no ties to agriculture.” On Instagram, the folks who run it said the county just doesn’t like the “young, underprivileged, alternative crowd we bring into their rich, white suburbia.”

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Until 2015 the county forbade even talking about LGBTQ+ people in public schools [[link removed]] , and I figured we’d moved past that. But this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments [[link removed]] from deeply religious parents who object to their kids reading books about queer people [[link removed]] . Seeing thousands of people protest the county Board of Education two years ago [[link removed]] claiming that someone like me–someone who grew up going to church and wishing there was some answer for why they felt different from everyone else–was a danger to their children was one of the hardest days of my life.

What ties these two things together is that we live in a diverse, pluralistic society, and the tradeoff for being part of that society is you have to exist alongside the other parts: the punks, the queers, and yes, the devout. I don’t believe that every disparate group can find a compromise with the others–you’re either playing loud music where somebody can hear it, or you’re playing to nobody. I do believe that we can each live with that tension and discomfort, because many of us already are . I’m not very religious anymore but I know God gave us all the capacity to do that.

If you have a few minutes: Do Something isn’t really possible for Supreme Court justices, but you can follow the Garage’s Instagram page [[link removed]] for info on how you can show support as they reach out to Montgomery County councilmembers. If you’re like me, someone who cares a lot about DIY spaces but hasn’t been to this space and is not directly impacted in the same way as those who have , I might send the County Council a brief, polite email using this form [[link removed]] and stressing the importance of DIY spaces. —DR

Your support of GGWash enables us, Dan and Alex, to do our jobs. Our jobs are knowing how development and planning works in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. If it’s appropriate to take action to advance our goals, which we hope you share, we can let you know what will have the most impact, and how to do it well. You can make a financial contribution to GGWash here [[link removed]] .

Greater Greater Washington is a registered 501(c)4 organization; contributions to support our work are not tax-deductible

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