Yesterday, the White House Office of Urban Affairs and the Domestic Policy Council held a series of roundtable discussions about the future of America’s urban and metropolitan areas. At the end, President Obama discussed some of the challenges facing urban communities today, and some of the administration's proposed responses.
Below the fold, excerpts from Obama's speech. Highlighted portions indicate proposals the administration is putting forward. More detail is necessary, but there is a key change to urban policy -- seeing metropolitan areas as integrated systems, ones that require integrated policy approaches.
Among the president's remarks:
And we're also going to take a hard look at how Washington helps or hinders our cities and metro areas -- from infrastructure to transportation; from housing to energy; from sustainable development to education. And we're going to make sure federal policies aren't hostile to good ideas or best practices on the local levels. We're going to put an end to throwing money at what doesn't work -- and we're going to start investing in what does work and make sure that we're encouraging that.
Now, we began to do just that with my budget proposal, which included two investments in innovative and proven strategies. I just want to mention these briefly. The first, Promise Neighborhoods, is modeled on Geoffrey Canada's successful Harlem Children's Zone. It's an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck effort that's turning around the lives of New York City's children, block by block. And what we want to do is to make grants available for communities in other cities to jumpstart their own neighborhood-level interventions that change the odds for our kids.
The second proposal we call Choice Neighborhoods -- focuses on new ideas for housing in our cities by recognizing that different communities need different solutions. So instead of isolated and monolithic public housing projects that too often trap residents in a cycle of poverty and isolate them further, we want to invest in proven strategies that actually transform communities and enhance opportunity for residents and businesses alike.
But we also need to fundamentally change the way we look at metropolitan development. For too long, federal policy has actually encouraged sprawl and congestion and pollution, rather than quality public transportation and smart, sustainable development. And we've been keeping communities isolated when we should have been bringing them together.
And that's why we've created a new interagency partnership on sustainable communities, led by Shaun Donovan, as well as Ray LaHood and Lisa Jackson. And by working together, their agencies can make sure that when it comes to development -- housing, transportation, energy efficiency -- these things aren't mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand. And that means making sure that affordable housing exists in close proximity to jobs and transportation. That means encouraging shorter travel times and lower travel costs. It means safer, greener, more livable communities.
The devil is in the details, of course, but the idea of looking at housing, transportation, and energy policy as an integrated whole -- and having the relevant agencies work together -- is a major change. Time will tell if it works -- and if Adolfo Carrion's office is a major catalyst in making such interagency cooperation effective. But for now, it is at least a stated goal of the administration.