Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force
Ellen M. McCarthy Confirmation Resolution of 2004
PR 15-781

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March 12, 2004

The Honorable Linda W. Cropp 
Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W., Suite 504 
Washington. D.C. 20004

Dear Chairman Cropp:

In accordance with section 2 of the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Temporary Act of 2003, effective December 9, 2003 (D.C. Law 15-52), which established the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force, I am pleased to nominate the following persons for appointment:

as members of the Task Force, representing banking or financial service institutions, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as members of the Task Force, representing the for-profit housing production community, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as members of the Task Force, representing the non-profit housing production community, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, with expertise in housing policy from the academic or nonprofit community, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing the philanthropic community, for a term to end l - year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing the employer-assisted housing provider, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as members of the Task Force, representing the multifamily property owner community, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing the residential real estate profession, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing an organization that advocates for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing for lower-income households, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing low-income tenants, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as citizen representative members on the Task Force, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in;

as a member of the Task Force, representing an organization that provides supportive housing services including housing counseling, financial management, in-kind assistance, or legal representation, for a term to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn in; and

as members of the Task Force, representing government agencies, including independent housing agencies, for terms to end 1-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in.

Enclosed you will find biographical information detailing the experience of the above-mentioned nominees, together with proposed resolutions to assist the Council during the confirmation process.

I would appreciate the Council's earliest consideration of these nominations for confirmation. Please do not hesitate to contact me should the Council require additional information.

Sincerely,
Anthony A. Williams 
Mayor

Enclosures 

AAW/edl

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Chairman Linda W. Cropp, at the request of the Mayor

A PROPOSED RESOLUTION IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

To confirm the appointment of Ms. Ellen M. McCarthy to the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force.

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the "Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force Ellen M. McCarthy Confirmation Resolution of 2004".

Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia confirms the appointment of:

Ms. Ellen M. McCarthy
3905 Morrison Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20015-2944
(Ward 3)

as a representative member of the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force, established by section 2 of the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Temporary Act of 2003, effective December 9, 2003 (D.C. Law 15-52), representing the District of Columbia Office of Planning, for a term to end I-year from the date a majority of the first members are sworn-in.

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this resolution, upon its adoption, each to the nominee and to the Office of the Mayor. 

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

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ELLEN M. McCARTHY

Ms. McCarthy currently serves as Deputy Director for Development Review, Neighborhood Planning and Historic Preservation of the District of Columbia Office of Planning. In this position, she directs a staff of over thirty planners and historic preservation specialists in preparing plans and analyzing and presenting cases before the Zoning Commission, Historic Preservation Review Board, Board of Zoning Adjustment, Mayor's Agent for Historic Preservation and National Capital Planning Commission. During her tenure at the Office of Planning, Ms. McCarthy has overseen a doubling of the staff in zoning, preservation and land use regulation, a streamlining of the development review process and a repositioning of the office in more aggressively championing adherence to the Comprehensive Plan and urban design principles. She also directed the integration of the Historic Preservation Office into the Office of Planning, after it was moved from the permitting department. Ms. McCarthy has over thirty years of experience in the planning field.

She was previously Director of Planning and Land Use Services with the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, representing both private developers and community groups in land use and preservation issues. Before that time, she had her own national practice in land use and transportation planning, following several years as the Executive Director of the D.C. Downtown Partnership, a public/private partnership established to foster the revitalization of the traditional Downtown area of Washington. Prior to that, she worked in planning in Miami, Florida, Hartford, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. 

Ms. McCarthy holds a Master's Degree in City Planning from Harvard University. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors from the University of Maryland.

She has been involved in a number of civic and professional organizations. She was formerly chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, an eighty-year-old planning and preservation watchdog organization, and was elected President of the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Planning Association. In addition, she served on the boards of directors of both the D.C. Preservation League and the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, a community development loan fund devoted to affordable housing and related programs. She has also been an active volunteer in neighborhood and school activities.