Let’s say you don’t like Adrian Fenty. You think he’s arrogant and imperious and secretive and tone deaf to the chorus of community activists — rich or poor. Let’s say you are about to vote for Vince Gray because Fenty has been a jerk.
Wait.
Here’s one good reason to vote for Fenty: Laura Zeilinger.
Why Zeilinger? She has accomplished more in three years as deputy in the Department of Human Services than Vince Gray did as director back in the 1990s. She’s put D.C. at the forefront of housing the homeless, and she’s focused on fixing welfare. She’s in D.C. government for one reason: Adrian Fenty.
Zeilinger, a Cleveland native, first encountered Fenty in 1998 at a fundraiser for John Kerry. Fenty was a council aide; Zeilinger was working on international aide projects, mostly in Russia. He went on to win a city council seat and the mayor’s race; she graduated from American University Law School and tended to her growing family. They stayed in touch.
Fenty asked Zeilinger to help his mayoral transition, hired her to work under the city administrator, then with human services. Fenty’s order: end homelessness.
Talk about a tall one!
“Most people thought homelessness was a fact of life in D.C.,” she says. “Our goal was to end it, one person at a time.”
In May 2007, Fenty gave Zeilinger and her task force a target of closing D.C. Village and finding homes for the 110 families by September. In August she told him it was impossible. They needed more time.
“He said: ‘Tell me what you need to get it done — but get it done,’?” she says.
They moved the last family into permanent housing on Sept. 23. Then Fenty told her to find permanent housing for more homeless folks and families. She worked with Housing Now to help accomplish the goal. Fenty kept count on his BlackBerry of families moved from shelters and streets to housing. The number topped 1,000 in the summer. True, Zeilinger has not ended homelessness, but she’s making progress. Seeing D.C.’s success, the federal government pumped in $17 million.
“My staff knows the mayor cares and is cheering us on,” Zeilinger says. “It creates a sense of urgency and energy.”
Zeilinger, 38, has worked for and with bureaucracies at the federal and local levels, here and abroad.
“I have never seen anything like his leadership at the top,” she says. “It’s inspiring and thrilling to be a part of it.”
Fenty promised to hire good people, like Zeilinger, and he has. Zeilinger’s boss at social services, Clarence Carter, is succeeding in the toughest terrain. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning is a star. Ditto Transportation chief Gabe Klein and DPW boss Bill Howland and DMV chief Lucinda Babers.
Now Fenty and Carter have deployed Zeilinger to try to reduce D.C.’s poverty rolls with education, job training, counseling.
Impossible, you say? With Fenty pushing his troops, like Laura Zeilinger, perhaps not; but first you have to push Fenty’s ticket today. They need four more years, at least.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
