The Root's Dayo Olopade has a not-to-be-missed update on the White House's Office of Urban Affairs, which is off to a rocky start. Bureaucratically, the Obama administration has given the office -- led by inexperienced Bronx politician Adolfo Carrion -- a mandate that touches upon the work and budgets of a dozen separate federal agencies. But hinting at the office's lack of influence, its employees report not to Obama's policy team but to Valerie Jarrett, whose focus is on inter-governmental affairs and public outreach.
Needless to say, urbanists are disappointed, not least because economic-stimulus funding has largely bypassed city governments. (An exception is in education, where the federal government is providing direct assistance to school districts.) Indeed, the practice of funneling money for cities through state capitals has, historically, stymied progressive urban policy. In New York last year, for example, it was Albany lawmakers that put the kibosh on Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing plan, which was popular in New York City. Today, New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority continues to face a $621 million deficit, yet the state legislature continues to do a lot of nothing about it. That's why mayors and urban transit czars are asking President Obama and Congress to directly fund their priorities. So far, though, this hasn't been a focus -- $40 billion in direct aid to cities was stripped during congressional negotiations over the recovery package.
--Dana Goldstein
