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Obama to establish White House Office of Urban Policy


Definitely one-upping Ohio Governor Ted Strickland re: talk of doing and not forgetting about the cities!

From the Washington Post:

…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.

“He’s going to have a White House chief of urban policy,” Jarrett told the Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists.

…

Despite the many national problems confronting the new administration, she continued, Obama remains committed to earlier pledges to establish such an office. “Because he began as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he understands at the local level is really where you can impact change and that local government can play a vital role as we try to jump start our economy,” she said. “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….

Very interesting.  Could there be someone from a city like Cleveland which is perenially at the top of lists connected to urban ills? And has urban study centers at its main universities?

Hattip Maria Niles.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:41 pm November 11th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Cleveland+, Government, Ohio, Politics, PostWH2008 

Comments

3 Responses to “Obama to establish White House Office of Urban Policy”

  1. 1 Oengus on November 11th, 2008 11:28 pm

    I could write a book on that topic.

    A person in the region that is federal and has access to capital, that person would have to get the region motivated.

    Good data is imperative, you have to demonstrate measurable improvement.

    Regionalism based on consolidation of municipalities into larger regional areas all as parts of larger regional government. That is about resource sharing and federal funds to insure better overall results.

    That could lead into regional planning offices, that would work with regional municipal governments.

    The fed is throwing money around and the environment is not changing, people need to see the change.

    Regionalism is a better model and could be instigated with federal funds. Basically perusing government locally that operates on the same platform.

    The person does not need to be from an established local institution, in fact they should not be, having the backing of the federal government will basically bring all institutional entities involved in planning into alignment by controlling federal purse strings.

    The requirements would be a command of broad economic knowledge and the local environment. Cleveland is falling short of its potential.

  2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on November 12th, 2008 9:18 am

    I agree w/pretty much everything you’ve written but these graphs in particular:

    “Regionalism is a better model and could be instigated with federal funds. Basically perusing government locally that operates on the same platform.

    “The person does not need to be from an established local institution, in fact they should not be, having the backing of the federal government will basically bring all institutional entities involved in planning into alignment by controlling federal purse strings.

    “The requirements would be a command of broad economic knowledge and the local environment. Cleveland is falling short of its potential.”

    That’s the sense that we’ve been getting around here but without enough oomph to really make it happen on a grand scale. Certainly worth getting federal support, even if only token.

  3. 3 links for 2008-11-12 | Brewed Fresh Daily on November 12th, 2008 9:30 am

    [...] Obama to establish White House Office of Urban Policy : Writes Like She Talks [...]

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