“[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.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Also if you compare the candidates proposed programs try to find “urban” in McCain’s materials. Whereas Obama is actually proposing a cabinet level position to handle Urban Affairs.
Add to that Joe Biden’s statement while aboard an Amtrak train “If elected we’ll be the most rail friendly administration in history”.
And I think it is clear which side has more thoughts on urbanism.
October 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I think that about seals the deal for me. I also saw another piece recently quoting Obama as having said that “the suburbs bore me”, and he went on to speak positively about cities. Let’s raise our glasses to Obama.
Segway: I have little use for Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, like the majority of our current congressmen, but the GOP’s effort to blame the housing crisis and their and/or the Democrats’ desire to expand home ownership to low income minorities is BELIED by the foreclosure data. Most foreclosures are occurring in the suburbs, not in the cities; and many of the foreclosed houses are McMansions or middle-of-the-road homes purchased by upper middle class people trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses. These are not the people who benefited from the Democratic-led effort to expand home ownership to the less well to do.
This whole “housing crisis” should be viewed through a different prism. We’re seeing the re-shuffling of the deck in the advent of a new era, that’s why it’s taking longer to shake-out, and more unpredictably, than we might have expected. Housing prices in most cities, especially the creative class cities, are doing quite well, as Richard has pointed out a number of times.