Phil Mendelson

Philip Heath Mendelson (born November 8, 1952 ) is an American politician from Washington, D.C. He is currently Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, elected by the Council on June 13, 2012, following the resignation of Kwame R. Brown.

Mendelson came to Washington from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in 1970 to attend American University.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1986, Mendelson ran unopposed to represent McLean Gardens in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C.

He won the election.

In 1987, he was elected treasurer of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C.

Mendelson fought against a developer who wanted to build an office building on Wisconsin Avenue near Upton Street NW.

Mendelson was opposed to the developer building an access road over a forested area.

After his community group filed a lawsuit to block the road, a court determined that the developer had the right to build the access road.

Mendelson tried to block the work using his own body, for which he was arrested.

The wooded area was razed, and the access road was built.

Mendelson was critical of a policy of not assessing property taxes on a building until the roof is sealed.

One particular developer saved $500,000 of property taxes from delaying the sealing of the roof until later in the construction timeline.

Mendelson said the District of Columbia was losing significant amounts of tax revenue from what he called a loophole.

In 1988, Mendelson was elected to the D.C. Democratic State Committee, representing Ward 3, in 1988.

He ran unopposed for reelection as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, and he won the election.

He was elected chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C soon thereafter.

In 1990, Mendelson resigned from the D.C. Democratic State Committee to work for the reelection campaign of Jim Nathanson, member of the Council of the District of Columbia representing Ward 3.

Also in 1990, Mendelson voiced his opposition to iron fences on the Duke Ellington Bridge in Rock Creek Park that were intended to prevent people from jumping off the bridge.

He said the fences did not prevent suicide because there were more suicide attempts from the bridge after the fences were erected.

An increase in suicide attempts from the nearby Taft Bridge demonstrated that the fences merely diverted, rather than deterred, suicide attempts in his opinion.

Mendelson argued against putting fences up again after the Duke Ellington Bridge's scheduled reconstruction and instead post phone numbers for suicide prevention hotlines on the bridge.

He was also opposed to building fences on the Taft Bridge.

A group of local mental health physicians was in favor of the fences, saying the fences were worthwhile even if they did not deter every suicide attempt.

Mendelson ran unopposed for reelection as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in 1990; he won the election.

When the owner of a residential building proposed constructing townhouses in front of the apartments, Mendelson opposed the idea, saying, "It makes no sense to put eight townhouses on the lawn of an apartment building."

In 1992, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly's task force on the homeless made a recommendation that shelter beds should be located equally throughout the District.

Other than a few churches, there were no homeless shelters located in Ward 3 at the time.

The ward's council member Jim Nathanson opposed establishing homeless shelters in Ward 3.

Mendelson was also opposed, saying, "There's no right for the homeless to get shelter in any neighborhood they want."

In 1992, Mendelson ran unopposed for reelection as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and won the election.

He was subsequently elected vice-chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C, which represents residents of Cleveland Park, Cathedral Heights, Massachusetts Heights, and Woodley Park.

In 1996, Mendelson ran for an at-large seat on the Council.

Mendelson's campaign focused on holding government employees accountable, hiring qualified individuals for government positions, and cutting wasteful and ineffective programs.

Mendelson criticized incumbent Harold Brazil for conspicuously leaving a Council meeting just before a vote on whether to reduce pension benefits for newly hired police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

Mendelson said Brazil's absence was in line with many other important votes that Brazil for which was absent.

He said all Council members should accept a cut in salary due to recent poor performance of the Council.

Brazil won the Democratic primary election.

Mendelson came in fourth place with seven percent of the vote.

He was elected to serve the remainder of Brown's term in a citywide special election on November 6, 2012, and re-elected to a full term in 2014 and 2018.