Director

Office of Planning
Washington, DC

Mayor Anthony A. Williams appointed Andrew Altman as the director of the Office of Planning in August 1999. In this position, Mr. Altman assists the Mayor in creating and managing land-use and development policy, implementing the Comprehensive Plan, and coordinating all planning activities for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Altman served as the director of city planning for the Community and Economic Development Agency in Oakland, California, from 1996 to 1999. There he managed all planning, land use approvals, and zoning for one of the most diverse cities in the nation. One of his many responsibilities was to direct an inner-city planning and revitalization program, boosting city services and funding to distressed areas.

From August 1995 to September 1996, Mr. Altman was Oakland's manager of comprehensive planning, where he managed the Comprehensive Plan, neighborhood revitalization planning, city-wide land-use ordinances, historic preservation planning, waterfront planning, and rezoning. The plan Mr. Altman developed for Oakland received the California American Planning Association Award for Best Comprehensive Plan.

From March 1991 to July 1995, Mr. Altman was the special assistant to the administrator of the Community Redevelopment Agency in Los Angeles. He was in charge of planning services, including management of the Downtown Strategic Plan, a public/private partnership that developed an action program for downtown Los Angeles.

As special assistant to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley from October 1989 to March 1991, Mr. Altman was a primary adviser and representative on all issues related to redevelopment.

Mr. Altman has been awarded various fellowships, including the Loeb Fellowship of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was a Lady Davis Post-Graduate Fellow at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, where he consulted on a demonstration neighborhood council program for the city of Jerusalem. In spring 1999, Altman served at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a visiting lecturer on city planning.

Mr. Altman holds a master's degree in city planning from MIT and a Bachelor of Arts in geography from Temple University.