Incredibly Refreshing

Posted by Carol Coletta on February 17, 2009

The Obama administration has been "incredibly refreshing" on urban issues, said Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which has met a half-dozen times with Obama's top advisers since December. "It's pretty clear that there's going to be a whole new day," said Diaz.

That's the report from The Washington Post.

The article, however, also quotes Bob Yaro at the Regional Plan Association who complains that the stimulus plan contains no "cutting-edge, breakthrough stuff -- it was hard to find.  People on the one hand want transformation and change, but everyone wants the immediate stimulus, and what we're finding is it's really hard to make fundamental change without taking the time to do it."

There are also complaints that with tens of billons routed through state governments, funding will likely miss its goal of reviving urban economies.

"The states tend to distribute money evenly across the state, not in the cities, where the economic engine is, and where you'll get the most bang for your buck," said Rob Puentes, a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. "If we are trying to stimulate the nation's economy, we should put the money where the economy exists."