Obama White House to Establish Office of Urban Policy

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Plans are underway to establish a White House Office of Urban Policy in order to better coordinate federal efforts to help America's cities, according to Obama transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett.

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"So having somebody in the White House, because there are so many different agencies that really can impact urban America and to have one person whose job it is to really pull all of that together, is really a critical position. And there are plenty of terrific candidates for that spot."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail...lish_offic.html

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Urban leaders see an ally in Obama

by Katie Wang and Jeffery C. Mays/The Star-Ledger

Monday November 10, 2008, 5:25 AM

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"This is an administration that will take metropolitan regions seriously," said Margery Turner, director of the Urban Institute's Center of Metropolitan Housing and Communities in Washington. "They realize this is where most of us live and where the economic engines that drive the country are located."

The list of problems facing cities is long and daunting.

Affordable housing remains scarce, neighborhood blocks are being swallowed up by foreclosures, and cities face huge deficits as the unemployment rate ticks higher, hurting tax revenue. And while the murder rate has declined nationally, crime remains a nagging constant in most cities.

Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said cities are starved for support after years of neglect under the Bush administration. Cities, he said, suffered as President Bush cut money from the Community Development Block Grant program, which is considered the lifeblood for rebuilding cities. Money for fighting crime also took a hit under Bush with substantial reductions for the Community Oriented Policing Services program, which funnels money to municipalities to hire police officers.

"It seemed as though he had a total disconnect with the needs to grow the metropolitan economies of American cities, which help create jobs," Palmer said.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker called Obama's election a new day for American cities, but he also said "we can't be in the situation where we think our problems will be solved overnight just because he is in office."

Even so, Booker beamed, "Our cities will have a friend in the White House."