Regional leaders seem to agree that they must cooperate and coordinate in an effort to blunt impacts of Trump administration’s gutting of the federal workforce.
But that may not be so simple in a region where jurisdictions across the D.C. metropolitan area typically have competed, rather than collaborated, to achieve economic development goals.
“We have to figure out how we’re going to play nice in the sandbox,” Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk said at yesterday’s (Wednesday) meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
As chair of the COG board, his message of collaboration was echoed by Richard Madaleno, an alternate board member and Montgomery County’s chief administrative officer.
Madaleno proposed an informal economic development “non-aggression pact” among the 24 localities that comprise the Council of Governments. Jurisdictional infighting will only hurt the region as a whole, he said.
“I don’t think it helps any of us at this particular moment,” Madaleno said.
The meeting occurred the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data that provided additional insight into the local employment situation.
The number of people counted as unemployed and looking for work across Northern Virginia in February totaled 53,394, according to the federal data. That’s up 7.1% from January and a whopping 18.6% from a year ago, according to a FFXnow data analysis.
The rise in joblessness translated to a Northern Virginia unemployment rate of 3% for the month, up from 2.8% a month before and 2.6% in February 2024.
For the D.C. metro area as a whole, the 120,854 people who were counted as unemployed represented increases of 8.4% month-over-month and 14.5% year-over-year.
Federal workforce cuts and questions about the broader economy “are going to be long-term, fundamental and challenging,” said Mark Carrier, board chair of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
Carrier, an executive with BF Saul Co. Hospitality Group, says the current economic turmoil is affecting the hotels his company owns and operates in the D.C. region.
“Hotel revenues in our region are starting to feel the impact,” he said. “We’re highly sensitive to demand change.”
The outlook for the food service side of the hospitality sector is similarly grim, according to Shawn Townsend, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW).
“I haven’t [ever] seen so much doom and gloom” in the local restaurant environment, he said, pointing to data showing nearly half of D.C. diners are eating out less frequently.
A survey conducted by RAMW earlier this year reported that 11% of restaurant owners in D.C.’s full-service, casual-dining sector said they were “very likely” to close in 2025, and another 33% stated that they’re “somewhat likely” to shut their doors.
The survey results were slightly less dramatic for fast-casual and fine-dining restaurants, and none of the Maryland and Virginia establishments indicated that they’re likely to shutter. However, Northern Virginia restaurant owners have reported similar challenges as their D.C. counterparts, including rising costs, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions.
In general, operating margins in the industry “are super-thin,” Townsend noted.
Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, who serves on the COG board, pressed business leaders to pressure Gov. Glenn Youngkin to talk to President Trump and convince him to slow down or reconsider the downsizing efforts — a tactic Fairfax officials have regularly suggested in recent months.
“This is a president who can be swayed by the last person who walks into the Oval Office,” Walkinshaw said.
At the meeting, Lusk endorsed a COG proposal to create an economic development district across the region. Clark Mercer, the organization’s executive director, said staff currently was in the fact-gathering stage before presenting a fleshed-out proposal.
In the meantime, local leaders continue to work at “getting our hands around this,” Carrier said.
“We’re in the triage phase,” he said.
