Campaign Flashback: Obama an Admirer of Jane Jacobs

This vid has been making the rounds via Streetsblog Network member Beyond DC. In it we see candidate Obama tell a crowd in Toledo that the Death and Life of Great American Cities is "a great book" and delve into some talking points about the importance of cities to regional economies. Read into it what you will. To me it says advocates for cities and urbanism should hold our next President to a very high standard, because he knows his stuff.

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Obama, Ethanol, and the “New Metropolitan Reality”

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In a weekend speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Senator Barack Obama continued to distinguish himself on urban policy, talking up cities as vital economic centers worthy of investment. Harry Moroz of DMI Blog has the story. Obama opened with a reference to his time as a community developer in Chicago and he joked […]

Bloomberg to Obama: Stimulus Aid Should Go Directly to Cities

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A face-to-face back in April. Photo: Scoop08. Yesterday the President-elect unveiled the broad strokes of his economic recovery plan at a DC press event, and Mayor Bloomberg was there to give his response. Bloomberg’s message is critical for the prospects of green transportation in the upcoming stimulus package. Here’s the abbreviated version via Liz Benjamin […]

Obama Talks Urban Policy as LaHood Seeks More Urban Transpo Money

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Obama during the "sprawl is over" speech last February The White House Office of Urban Affairs, which has drawn criticism for its inactivity at a rocky economic time for the nation’s cities, capped a day-long summit today with a speech by President Obama. Referencing his formative years as a Chicago community organizer, Obama urged the […]

Obama’s Energy Platform Has a (Small) Livable Cities Plank

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When Barack Obama gave his big energy speech on Monday, his campaign released an eight-page fact sheet [PDF] to go with it. All the way at the end, at the very bottom of the last page — after the parts about plug-in electric vehicles, oil shale, and clean coal technology — there’s this paragraph: Build […]

Obama Calls for Investment in Regional Intercity Rail

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We noted yesterday that Barack Obama has promised to direct more federal funds to bike-ped infrastructure if elected. Now comes word that the Illinois Senator is going public with his support for a regional rail network linking midwestern cities, an idea he had floated quietly during the Democratic primary campaign. In a major address on […]

Why Stimulus Money Should Go to Cities, Not States

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I spoke earlier today to David Burwell, a co-founder of the Surface Transportation Policy Project who is currently a strategic consultant with the Transportation for America campaign, about how the stimulus package is shaping up for transportation projects, why it might go wrong, and what can be done to set it on the right track. […]