City Council District 14
Biography: Councilmember Angela Hunt
Elected at the age of 33, Angela Hunt is the youngest woman ever to serve on the Dallas City Council. She is known an independent leader who is focused on improving the lives of everyday citizens and ensuring fiscal responsibility. Citing her “high energy, deep focus, rock-hard integrity, generally intelligent take on issues and open heart,” the Dallas Observer selected Angela as the city’s best councilmember for four years running. Angela has also been recognized as the “Best Council Person” by the Dallas Voice in 2008 and 2009 and as the Dallas Morning News’ City Hall Blog’s “Most Effective Councilmember” in 2008.
Angela represents 100,000 residents in Downtown Dallas, Uptown, historic East Dallas, Turtle Creek, Oak Lawn, and Love Field. Angela’s district is at the center of Dallas’ remarkable development and growth, encompassing over $15 billion in appraised property value.
Since being elected in 2005, Angela has accomplished a great deal. In 2006, she organized the city’s first citywide graffiti cleanup, where nearly 700 volunteers cleaned up over 50,000 square feet of graffiti across the city. She also led the effort to create the city’s first comprehensive anti-graffiti program, which includes a full-time team of city staff that cleans up graffiti across Dallas. These efforts were recognized by Keep America Beautiful, winning first place in the national “Graffiti Hurts” competition in 2006.
Ms. Hunt was also instrumental in the creation of Dallas’ Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay, a new zoning tool that addresses teardowns and McMansions. The Overlay ordinance gives residents in established areas greater input into the size of new homes constructed in their neighborhoods.
Angela also represents Dallas’ Arts District, which is undergoing a remarkable transformation. As more than $500 million is invested to build a new opera house, two theaters, a high school for the performing arts, office towers, and residential developments, Angela saw a critical need for an organization that would unite the district. As a result, Angela created the Arts District Strategic Planning Council, bringing together key arts leaders and stakeholders. With her leadership, the group developed a new master plan for the Arts District and created a permanent oversight organization.
To fully capitalize on the public and private investment in Downtown Dallas, Angela believes it is critical to create a streetcar system that will connect major points of interest, such as the Arts District, Farmers Market, Victory, the West End, and the Convention Center. She is working with other councilmembers, Downtown stakeholders, and Dallas Area Rapid Transit to develop a free, rail-based streetcar system for Downtown.
As Downtown Dallas continues to grow and attract residents, Angela has been a vocal proponent of creating affordable housing to ensure the area is accessible to all Dallas residents. Angela championed the first housing development in Downtown to include single-room occupancy units for the homeless – a key component in Dallas’ 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Angela has been a leader in addressing urban homeless issues, serving as a governmental resource and panelist at national summits on homelessness in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
In 2007, Ms. Hunt led the effort to prevent a toll road from being constructed in the Downtown Trinity River park. After collecting more than 90,000 petition signatures within sixty days, Angela and her supporters successfully forced an election to give Dallas voters a voice in the future of the Trinity River Project. After being outspent by more than three to one, and against the efforts of every elected local, state, and federal official in the area except one other, the referendum received 47% of the vote. Despite losing the election, Angela is proud that this unprecedented grassroots effort brought the issue to the forefront, educated voters, and forced the City of Dallas to make public commitments to improve the project.
In 2008, Angela was among 53 emerging American leaders awarded the prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship. In the fall of 2008, Angela spent three weeks in Europe meeting with a range of policymakers and business leaders. These exchanges provided an invaluable local perspective on transatlantic and domestic issues.
Prior to being elected, Angela was a commercial litigator at the law firm of McKool Smith. She served on several city boards and commissions, served as executive vice president of the Dallas Homeowners League, founded the M Streets Conservation District, and served on the executive board of Preservation Dallas. Angela is a 1994 graduate of Rice University, a 1994 Watson Fellow, a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, and a 2008 Marshall Memorial Fellow. She and her husband live Dallas’ M Streets neighborhood.
HONORS & AWARDSMarshall Memorial Fellow (2008)
“Best City Council Member” Editors’ and Readers’ Choice (Dallas Observer, 2009)
“Best Dallas City Council Person” Readers Voice Awards (Dallas Voice, 2009)
“Best City Council Member” Editors’ and Readers’ Choice (Dallas Observer, 2008)
“Best Dallas City Council Person” Readers Voice Awards (Dallas Voice, 2008)
“Best City Council Member” Editors’ and Readers’ Choice (Dallas Observer, 2007)
“Best City Council Member” Readers’ Choice (Dallas Observer, 2006)
Thomas J. Watson Fellow (1994)
EDUCATION
University of Texas School of Law, J.D. 1998
Rice University, B.A. 1994
