Civil Municipal Magazine - Dec 2023

204 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12 in the capital, and it’s an easy commute. “I think the beauty of New Carrollton is that we are on the Metro,” says Lai. “It’s extremely accessible, so we do have a lot of back-and- forth between D.C. and New Carrollton but also other municipalities in the area as well.” A Baltimore native and a graduate of the University of Maryland who works in education, Lai adds that access to his hometown is just as easy. He also lauds New Carrollton for its commitment to progress and for being a very forward-thinking place. “I would say it’s an evolving community,” he observes. “It’s a very diverse community that is diversifying even more, and you can see that through the census.” As an example of this, Lai notes that nearly half of all New Carrollton residents—some 45 percent—speak another language at home. This diversity, he adds, will be a major asset as the community moves on into the future. “I’m a son of immigrants,” he informs. “My parents, they came here in the late 1980’s. They were and still are small-business owners. We never had that much, but we always had food on the table and a strong support system. I was the first to graduate high school and go to college and get a grad degree. Being in elected office is not something they ever thought about, and in fact, something I didn’t think about either. “There is a lot of potential here,” he adds of his city. “Looking forward, I see New Carrollton as a place of opportunity, as a place that people can come to because they know it’s welcoming. It’s a community that—no matter where you’re from—you’re going to be accepted and find the support and opportunities in order to realize a path for yourself.” When he was a student at the University of Maryland in nearby College Park (located at a distance of just more than four miles away), as Lai admits, he didn’t venture into New Carrollton, as there was no need. Yet today, things have changed, and they’re very different. A new generation of college students is likewise discovering New Carrollton’s advantages as well. “We’re so close to the university, and there’s a campus shuttle that runs to the city,” he says of his alma mater, adding that New Carrollton