The Urban Man

Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker writes about Obama and the promise for America's cities.

American cities have in the past offered, and do now offer, abundant opportunity for our nation. However, the narrative in past decades for too many cities - be it perception, reality, or a combination of both -- has been marred by the flight of industry and the disappearance of jobs; the rise of lawlessness and plague of gangs; the decay of once proud institutions and schools that fail to educate at the levels that we expect; and too many people living at the margins of America's promise of abundant opportunity [...]

About 18 months ago, I was proud to be one of New Jersey's first elected officials to endorse Senator Obama. When I first met with Senator Obama, it was clear to me that he had a deep and unique understanding of the central importance that our cities play in America's revival - that was one of the several reasons for my early endorsement and continuing support. He is committed to strengthening the federal commitment to our cities through several key initiatives, including:

• Creating a White House Office of Urban Policy to develop a strategy for metropolitan America and to ensure that all federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs.

• Stimulating economic prosperity in urban areas by supporting job creation, enhancing workforce training, and increasing access to capital for underserved businesses.

• Increasing the supply of affordable housing, and ensuring that middle-class Americans get the financial assistance they need to purchase or keep their own home.

• Strengthening our transportation systems, including our roads and bridges - which also will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs per year and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity.

• Reinforcing and refocusing on education programs that support teachers in urban schools, expand early childhood education and reduce the high school dropout rate. He also speaks to urban innovation and reform.

• Creating a new green economy, which will not only lower carbon output, increase energy efficiency, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil but also create new businesses and tens of thousands of new jobs.

• Support local law enforcement through fully-funded programs that place more police officers on the street and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities.

Since leaving Hawaii after high school, Barack Obama has lived in Los Angeles (at Occidental College), New York (Columbia), Boston (Harvard), Chicago and Washington D.C. I don't think we've had a President in a long, long time who has spent so much of his life in the largest American cities, particularly as someone who has experienced them at the ground level instead of as a titan of industry or commerce. I do believe this will have an impact on urban policy, particularly in transit and infrastructure. You don't have to walk too far in a city, even one that's gentrifying, to find a pothole or an abandoned building or a crumbling set of pipes and bridges. It also happens to be easier to enact an energy efficiency policy in the cities. New York City, with its density, expansive subway network and intermingling of commercial and residential spaces, is arguably one of the greenest cities in the world.

This doesn't mean that Obama will be carting everyone up and moving them into skyscrapers. It means that a strong metropolitan policy has an impact on the whole nation, including the outlying areas. This was one of the most appealing qualities of Obama to me, and I hope it will be a hallmark of his Administration.