Creative Class

Not to be outdone by Wall Street, auto execs, homeowners, or governors, U.S. mayors are making their grab at federal CYA funds today. Hard to see a silver lining here, but check this snippet in the article by T.W. Farnam:

A delegation of mayors, including Michael Bloomberg of New York and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, plans to ask the federal government to distribute funds directly to cities instead of going through state governments. The group is set to present a list of more than 4,600 infrastructure projects that they say are “ready to go.”

Tom Cochran, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is organizing Monday’s event, said the next administration has signaled that it will coordinate financing for projects for an entire metropolitan area instead of dealing with cities and suburbs separately.

Not sure what the mayors will walk away with and how much it will cost those of us who pay taxes and invest, but glad to see that ‘Metro’ Policy may be replacing ‘Urban’ Policy.

“[Y]es, we need to fight poverty. Yes, we need to fight crime. Yes, we need to strengthen our cities. But we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution… Because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America.”

Said to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June, but I had not seen it before (more here via Planetizen). A quick look at the polls show a double digit Obama lead and significant margins in the electoral college, so this is encouraging news for all those concerned for cities and urbanism in America.