DC Candidate Transportation Forum and Social
Organized by The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA)

Josephine Butler Parks Center, Washington, DC
Sunday, Mar 1 from 2 pm to 6:30 pm EST

• RSVP at bit.ly/dctransportationforum

Overview
Hear from DC Mayoral candidates and At-Large Council candidates about transportation issues.

Join the Bike, Walk & Bus PAC, DC Transportation Equity Network, DC Families for Safe Streets, Greater Greater Washington, Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association* to hear from qualifying Washington, DC Mayoral and At-Large Council candidates running in this year’s primary election and special election.

The DC Candidate Transportation Forum will take place on March 1st from 2pm-4:00 pm at the Josephine Butler Parks Center (2437 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) followed by a community social at Franklin Hall (1348 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009) from 4-6:30pm.

During the forum, you will get to hear directly from Mayoral and At-Large Council candidates about their vision for the District’s transportation future and actions they would prioritize to improve transportation. Come to learn where candidates stand on:

• Achieving a multimodal transportation system that serves all residents
• Improving bus and train access and reliability
• Making walking safer in every neighborhood for everyone
• Expanding a Low Stress Network for biking

The event will include moderated panels for both the qualifying mayoral candidates and another for the qualifying candidates for at-large seats on the DC Council.

Space is limited at the Josephine Butler Parks Center, but attendees can also register to stream the event virtually.

Attendees can register to attend the community social even if you were unable to attend the candidate forum in-person.

*The 501c3 organizations listed here do not endorse or work on behalf of candidates, or express any view for or against any candidate.

Invited and confirmed candidates will be posted closer to the event.

Highlights

• 4 hours 30 minutes
• under 16 with parent or legal guardian
• In person
• Doors at 1:45 PM
• Location: Josephine Butler Parks Center, 2437 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Agenda

02:00 PM Mayoral Candidate Panel at the Josephine Butler Park Center
03:00 PM At-Large Council Candidate Panel at the Josephine Butler Park Center
04:00 PM - 06:30 PM Community Social at Franklin Hall

Frequently asked questions

#bike #biking #bicycle #bicycling #cyclists #bus #PublicTransit #walk #walking #pedestrians #walkers #commuters #commuting #DC #WashingtonDC #elections #candidates #event #forum #social #WABA #GGW #PAC

"SONG OF SOLSTICE"

A Celtic Christmas Celebration

Featuring: OCEAN Celtic Quartet

December 2025 (6th, 9th, 13th, 14th and 21st) in the Metropolitan DC area. See the link at the bottom for the locations, dates and times.

"Listen up -- They're good!"

--Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol

Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol says that OCEAN are exciting because they "get right inside the spirit of the folk music of the British Isles, unpick it and weave it into a bright new fabric on their own 21st century American loom." Tony Barrand of Nowell Sing We Clear praises their "beautiful original songs and fabulous arrangements of traditional songs." Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior calls their songwriting "stunning" and the Washington Post calls them "Nothing short of spellbinding."

The OCEAN Celtic Quartet will transport you to the Yuletide celebrations of yore in a program featuring time-honored carols, 19th century broadside songs, traditional Celtic tunes, original seasonal compositions, and even an appearance by Father Christmas of the old mummers plays! With their soaring vocals and stately Celtic instrumentals, OCEAN is known for marrying lighthearted exuberance with great spiritual depth in a program that appeals to all faiths and wisdom traditions. Come in good voice, as you'll be invited to sing along!

So come on out and celebrate the magic of Christmas and the Winter Solstice in cozy fellowship. This boisterous concert will include British Mummer's play recitations, traditional English and French carols, fiddle, harp, and hurdy-gurdy tunes, 19^th^ century broadside songs, and original seasonal compositions celebrating both the joy of the season of light and the introspection of the dark half of the year. The OCEAN Celtic Quartet is led by composer and ethnomusicologist JENNIFER CUTTING (accordion and keyboards), a Washington Area Music Association "Musician of the Year" and "Songwriter of the Year." OCEAN features the stunning vocalist LISA MOSCATIELLO (also a WAMA "Musician of the Year"), folklorist/vocalist/percussionist STEPHEN WINICK, plus fiddler, Celtic harpist, and composer JAY ANSILL. Cutting's original anthem, "Song of Solstice," has become a classic on Celtic and Folk radio, and the title cut of OCEAN's newest CD, "The Turning Year," reached #1 Song on the Folk Radio charts for December 2021. Come prepared to sing along with OCEAN on these and other seasonal songs ancient and modern!

OCEAN's Celtic Quartet's Solstice/Christmas Concert Highlights Video

The title cut of OCEAN's new CD The Turning Year was #1 Song on the Folk Radio charts! Read more about the new CD

Official Video for OCEAN Celtic Quartet's hit song "The Turning Year: A New Year's Toast": (Collaboration with Windborne)

BAND MEMBER BIOS:

JENNIFER CUTTING (Artistic Director, Keyboard, Accordion) happily blends careers as a bandleader, composer, instrumentalist, ethnomusicologist, and record producer. In the early 80s, she became the last and youngest protégée of British folk revival leader A.L. Lloyd, who had previously mentored members of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Cutting spent 10 years as leader of The New St. George, one of the most significant British folk-rock groups on this side of the Atlantic. She then created and produced the award-winning CDs OCEAN: Songs for the Night Sea Journey, Song of Solstice, and Waves, collaborating with international superstars such as Maddy Prior and Peter Knight (Steeleye Span), Annie Haslam (Renaissance), Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention) Tony Cuffe (Ossian) and Troy Donockley (Iona [UK]). Cutting is a multiple award winner in all areas of her musical career. She has won over 20 WAMMIE awards, including "Musician of the Year," "Songwriter of the Year," and "Best New Artist," as well as "Album of the Year," "Best Traditional Folk Recording" and "Best Contemporary Folk Recording." She has won two Maryland Governor's Citations for composition, as well as prestigious national-level songwriting awards such as First Prize in songwriting at the Merle Watson Festival, and American Songwriter Magazine's Song of the Year.

LISA MOSCATIELLO (Vocal, Guitar, Penny Whistle) is a smooth, sultry folk contralto from the Washington, DC area. She has won over two dozen Washington Area Music Awards, including two of the coveted Album of the Year awards for Second Avenue and Trouble from the Start. Although her first love is traditional Irish, Scottish, English and Anglo-American traditional folk music, her voracious appetite for beautiful melodies and mysterious, heart-rending lyrics has led her far afield from what is normally considered "folk music," into jazz, electronica, country, Italian pop music and even opera. In addition to singing with the OCEAN Celtic Quartet, she performs as a solo artist. As part of a duo with cellist Fred Lieder, she performed monthly at 49 West for many years, and also recorded for the electronica project Arthur Loves Plastic. She is the former lead singer for Celtic fusion band Whirligig and British folk-rock band The New St. George, and has recorded and toured with fiddler Rosie Shipley.

STEPHEN WINICK (vocals, percussion) specializes in traditional ballads and sea chanteys, and is both a performer and an expert lecturer and teacher, bringing a scholarly depth to OCEAN's concerts and educational programs. Steve has been singing traditional songs in English and French since his childhood. In the early 1990s, he spent several summers under the tutelage of the late Dublin ballad singer Frank Harte, one of the foremost traditional ballad singers in Irish music. Steve is a member of Ship's Company Chanteymen, in which he performs a repertoire of sea chanteys and historical songs. He was engaged as an expert scholar and researcher for the 2008 Washington Christmas Revels, which presented the music of Québec. He ended up also performing one of the lead roles in the show, for which he sang traditional songs in French to an audience of thousands. He reprised his role on the 2010 CD release Le Temps des Fêtes, and in the same year appeared on OCEAN's CD Song of Solstice. He has a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied under song specialists Kenneth S. Goldstein and Roger Abrahams. He has taught courses in folklore and folksong at the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, and George Mason University.

JAY ANSILL (Violin, Celtic Harp, Hurdy Gurdy) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He has toured extensively and performed a wide variety of music with a wide variety of musicians including Anne Hills, Martin Carthy, Johnny Cunningham, Bill Keith, J. "Mo'ong" Santoso Pribadi and Maria Del Mar Bonet. Jay has written music for theater, most notably working with playwright/director Lee Breuer at Mabou Mines on a number of projects and with John Guare on his Lydia Breeze Trilogy. Jay has released several albums including A Lost World, a critically acclaimed collection of settings of poems by Robert Graves, and Fragile Gifts, with singer-songwriter Anne Hills.

2025 Concerts: Dates and Locations

#music #celtic #concert #yule #yuletide #winter #solstice #WashingtonDC #Virginia #Maryland #DC #VA #MD #holiday

John Cochran writes:

Seeing comments from cranks outside DC applauding Trump's takeover without the slightest idea what's actually going on here or any understanding of the District. For one thing, there's a misconception that DC lives and runs off federal money, so it's only right that Congress and Trump dictate how the city is run.

In fact, DC runs on LOCAL money, raised through local property, sales and other taxes paid by us DC residents. We ... not you, my fellow Americans ... pay for DC's streets, streetlights, the police, the fire department, the schools, etc., etc., etc.

These local taxes are set by the city council and mayor we elect.

At the same time, DC residents pay the same federal taxes as every other American.

In fact, DC residents pay more in federal taxes per capita than residents of any other state, and more total federal income tax than 19 other states.

And yet we have no voting representation in Congress, which sets federal taxes and meddles in our local affairs.

This is why our license plates read, "Taxation without Representation."

The current leading statehood proposal for DC, which is making even more sense these days, would shrink the federal district to the area roughly around the Capitol complex, the National Mall and the White House. The rest of DC would become Douglass Commonwealth (after Frederick Douglass).

Trump could then fill the shrunken federal enclave shoulder-to-shoulder with armed soldiers if he likes.

Friends outside DC, if you hear friends, family or whoever cheering on the occupation of DC, I and my neighbors sure would appreciate it if you help us set the record straight ... and help us fight for the right to govern ourselves, like other Americans.

#resist #statehood #WashingtonDC #DC #DisenfrancisedCity #TaxationWithoutRepresentation #OccupiedZone #PoliceState #selfrule #FreeDC