Who's better for cities: Obama or McCain?

[PonderInc]

An interesting article from Neal Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group columnist, about the differences between McCain and Obama's approach to cities.

http://citiwire.net/post/211/
Here's an interesting excerpt:

Chicago's Metropolitan Planning Council, in an effort to smoke out the candidates' positions on metro-area issues, held a public forum Sept. 8 with surrogates for the presidential contenders. State Rep. James Durkin, Illinois co-chair for John McCain, faced off against former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, representing Obama.

Durkin underscored McCain's anti-tax, anti-regulatory positions. But when the moderator asked — "How would a McCain administration prioritize and fund transit, road and freight investments to not only help communities, but help commerce and keep our economic strong locally and internationally?" — Durkin was at a loss for answer.

Cisneros, by contrast, could cite and praise Obama's pledge to create the first-ever White House Office on Urban Policy. With a director reporting to the president, its role would be to get the federal government's historically "siloed" cabinet departments and agencies to work collaboratively with cities and metro regions.

For over 50 years, at least since President Harry Truman, said Cisneros, "We haven't had a president who would be as grounded, as versed in urban and metropolitan matters" as Obama.

It's true, Obama doesn't campaign much on his city-metro agenda. But he committed himself clearly in June before the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Noting "crumbling roads and bridges, aging water and sewer pipes, faltering electrical grids," Obama endorsed a new national infrastructure bank, seeded with $60 billion in federal funds over 10 years, to move road, bridge, airport, rail and other metro area projects forward.