A crop of well-connected allies and lobbyists have been named to serve on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s ReOpen D.C. Advisory Group — but D.C. Public School parents and owners of local bars and restaurants say they are underrepresented on the panels that will guide the mayor on how and when to start lifting restrictions in the city.

Bowser unveiled the members of the advisory group on Monday, starting with two prominent chairpersons: former National Security Advisor and UN Ambassador Susan Rice and former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.

She also tasked former mayors Adrian Fenty and Anthony Williams, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, her Senior Advisor Beverly Perry, CFO Jeffrey DeWitt, and physician and former Obama official Nicole Laurie to lead the 11 committees that will draw up plans on how to reopen D.C. as the coronavirus pandemic subsides — and what changes the city could make to address disparities and gaps exposed by the virus.

But it was the members of those committees — which will touch on topics from schools and vulnerable populations to real estate and small businesses — that have drawn scrutiny. As the City Paper reported, there are only two restaurant owners on the 12-person Restaurants and Food committee: Busboys & Poets owner Andy Shallal, and José Andrés. (Kathy Hollinger, director of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, will also be on the committee.)

“Bars are 25% of D.C. nightlife but have 0% representation,” tweeted Columbia Room owner Derek Brown on Tuesday morning. “We’re taking a big hit right now and need to share our unique perspective.”

And education advocates jumped on the fact that the Education and Childcare committee included a number of people from charter schools, but did not include Elizabeth Davis, the head of the Washington Teachers’ Union, which represents 4,000 teachers in D.C. Public Schools. Davis was ultimately extended an invitation on Monday evening, after initial criticism over her being left off.

“I’m excited to be on it,” she said. “I’m extremely disturbed by the fact there is a lack of parents and teachers. We can’t leave those voices out of the mix. This pandemic has revealed a lot to us, and it’s magnified things we knew existed. We need to learn from that.”

Bowser’s picks also included some longtime allies and well-connected Wilson Building lobbyists. LaRuby May, a former Ward 8 Councilmember who regularly sided with Bowser, was selected as a co-chair of the Government Operations, Public Safety, and Criminal Justice committee, while Brian Kenner, a former deputy mayor who now works for Amazon, was picked to co-chair the Public Health Innovation and Workforce committee.

Monty Hoffman, a prominent local developer on projects like The Wharf, is co-chairing the Real Estate and Construction committee, while also leading a new coalition of businesses and developers who have asked city leaders for a year-long property tax break worth more than $300 million.

That committee also includes Rob Hawkins, a former Bowser aide who now works at the Nelson Mullins law firm as a D.C. lobbyist. One of his clients includes Urban Atlantic, the developer of the Walter Reed project, and another is real estate investment firm Lowe. Another member is Chico Horton, who in 2015 chaired FreshPAC, a group that started raising unlimited funds to help candidates and causes close to Bowser.

The Small Business and Retail committee counts among its members David Jannarone, a former government official under Fenty and now well-connected developer, and Ben Soto, a longtime treasurer for Bowser’s runs for office. Soto is also a developer, and serves on the board of Eagle Bank, which has had close ties to the D.C. government.

The Transportation and Infrastructure committee includes Thorn Pozen, a longtime Bowser campaign lawyer and Wilson Building lobbyist with prominent clients ranging from Airbnb to the George Washington University Hospital — and various local developers. Max Brown is also a member; he’s both chairman of Events D.C., the city’s sports and convention authority, and a lobbyist in the Wilson Building who represents clients from shared-moped company Revel to MedStar Health and private jailer CoreCivic.

Former Councilmember David Catania will co-chair the Human Services, Social Services and Health committee; he’s currently a lobbyist with health care clients such as Sibley Hospital and Unity Health Care.

Additionally, some lawmakers have expressed concern that the group doesn’t include many public health experts, even though Bowser has said that any decisions on lifting restrictions in D.C. would be based on health factors — not political ones.

“We should have national experts,” said At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman during a call with city officials on Monday. “The biggest question we face is… are we on firm public health grounds to reopen? I was surprised there was not a prominent health expert, a Sanjay Gupta-type.”

But city officials pointed to advisory group co-chair Nicole Lurie’s expertise, which includes a stint as Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the United States Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. They also said that the D.C. Department of Health would have staff on every committee, and additional guidance would come from Johns Hopkins University.

The advisory group also includes owners of small businesses, government officials, and representatives of labor unions.

The group is hosting a virtual public town hall on Wednesday, April 29, and is expected to produce recommendations for Bowser by May 11. The city’s current stay-at-home order expires on May 15, though Bowser said she would only start lifting restrictions once case counts have declined for 14 straight days and after testing and contact tracing capacities have been beefed up.