Harold Brazil · 1995 Honoree

We residents see him everywhere and at everything. Striding along the street, shopping at Safeway or Eastern Market, at every neighborhood event, every night on the news, and every morning in the paper. Jack Mahoney, last year’s Dinner underwriter and a long time friend and supporter says, “He’s like the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going, and going, and going.” And so he does.

Harold Brazil has memberships in CHAMPS, the H Street and Anacostia CDC's, and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club and is active in the Stanton and Kingman Park neighborhood associations, the Capitol Hill Taxpayers Alliance, and the Washington Parents Group Fund. He participates in special celebrations for our senior citizens at Easter and Christmas, tries to attend every graduation at the end of the school year, and spends Spring weekends in his “outdoor gym,” hoisting a rake and dragging trash bags in an endless series of neighborhood clean-ups. You see, “there are so many needs to be filled.”

Harold and his staff devote countless hours helping people in the Ward untangle the bureaucratic web; activities so individualized that they rarely receive publicity. When a family is evicted, volunteers are found to rescue possessions heaped on the curb; when there’s no money for the rent or utilities are cut off the means are found, when a child is sick help is arranged, when someone is so lost they don’t know where to turn, they can turn to Harold. Asked about the number people on his staff he says “seven, I think.” It varies, you know, because he’s involved in the ARC Program, re-training unemployed mothers and helping them reenter the workforce, and the women are always rotating in and out of the office.

Between his caring attitude and his solid record of achievements as a legislator, Harold won re-election to his second term as Councilmember for the nearly 75,000 residents of Ward 6 with 91% of the vote. In his first term in office, he authored the Bail Reform Amendment Act, the Life Sentence Without Parole Act, the Anti-Carjacking Act and the Misdemeanor Streamlining Act, all of which are now law. He has fought to put the District’s financial house in order, streamline government, and stimulate the economy. As a chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, he significantly improved our pension fund's investment performance. He is also the leading advocate for parking reform.

Harold lives on the Hill with his wife Crystal, who is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Motion Picture and TV Development, and 3-year-old son Harold III.