Obama plans to be engaged in urban affairs/"White House Office on Urban Policy" (Chicago: live, military)

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by Swandaddy

Very interesting read:

Urban Policy | Change.gov (http://www.change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy/ - broken link)

Obama administration planning on being engaged in urban issues, possibly via a creation of a "White House Office on Urban Policy." What role does Chicago play in this? Potential benefits for Chicago? Contributions to other cities via Chicago through this type of domestic agenda? What sort of opportunities can this bring?

The OP is talking about Chicago here, and most of your posts have gotten off-topic. Relate it back to Chicago or this will be closed and you can take it to P&OC.

[oakparkdude]

I posted this in another thread that got sidetracked into racist rants.

Here's what I'm hoping for, specifically related to Chicago, in the upcoming Obama administration.

1. Regarding transportation, the Obama administration can change the guidelines that bias Federal funding towards roads and highways so there is more equitable funding for mass transit programs.

2. Regarding the so-called war on drugs, as a fan of HBO's "The Wire", Obama knows that the current policies not only don't work, but are counterproductive. I know most law enforcement is carried out on the local and state level, but he can use the power of persuasion as well as some big Federal "levers" to nudge policy in the right direction.

3. Regarding education, again this is primarily an issue of local control. Perhaps the strongest effect that Obama can have is to demonstrate to inner city youth that it is possible to make it in America by working and studying hard and avoiding crime.

These are big tasks, so I'd be happy to make progress in 2 out of 3.

Getting the Olympics in 2016 in Chicago would be gravy.

[ndfmnlf]

The heavy security that will now surround Obama's house (which is being cordoned off by a 6 block perimeter) in the South Side will have the added benefit of deterring crime in that area.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by Lubin

Avengerfire, you seem to have the typical scared "I'm not a racist" reflex. You must be White.

Stop acting like that. Stop prefacing honest straightforward comments with it. There is nothing "racist" about Whites sticking up for their interests just like the Blacks, Latinos and Jews do. There is nothing wrong with discussing about what's bad for Whites and what's good for Whites.

Rev. Wright was up at Northwestern giving a talk about "what's good for Blacks' and not one single "anti-racist" protester was there. They save all their hate for Whites and Whites only.

I say bring back "MIDNIGHT BASKETBALL", that really worked for the Democrats last time around.

More of our tax money flushed down the toilet.

The term diversity is code for "less whites", next time you see it, do the substitution and you'll see the truth come out. If it was an equal opportunity term, then people would say the Bulls need more diversity on the floor, but they don't. It's only the NHL that needs diversity, because diversity is a code word for less Whites.

Diversity does not mean just race.Im sorry you want the world to be your way only.IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN!! So why don't you concentrate on FAIRNESS for ALL people and maybe we can be the SHINING example the world now sees we can be.

[ajolotl]

does he have to do anything to accomplish 3?

Originally Posted by sukwoo

I posted this in another thread that got sidetracked into racist rants.

Here's what I'm hoping for, specifically related to Chicago, in the upcoming Obama administration.

1. Regarding transportation, the Obama administration can change the guidelines that bias Federal funding towards roads and highways so there is more equitable funding for mass transit programs.

2. Regarding the so-called war on drugs, as a fan of HBO's "The Wire", Obama knows that the current policies not only don't work, but are counterproductive. I know most law enforcement is carried out on the local and state level, but he can use the power of persuasion as well as some big Federal "levers" to nudge policy in the right direction.

3. Regarding education, again this is primarily an issue of local control. Perhaps the strongest effect that Obama can have is to demonstrate to inner city youth that it is possible to make it in America by working and studying hard and avoiding crime.

These are big tasks, so I'd be happy to make progress in 2 out of 3.

Getting the Olympics in 2016 in Chicago would be gravy.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

does he have to do anything to accomplish 3?

He doesn't have to, but he can and should use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to hammer home the point.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

1. Regarding transportation, the Obama administration can change the guidelines that bias Federal funding towards roads and highways so there is more equitable funding for mass transit programs.

ding ding ding. people in those circles are really excited about the potential in that. coupled with the fact that California passed the high speed rail initiative, we could actually see a shift in thinking from 16-lane highways to something better. i'm especially hopeful considering i hope to get into grad school for transportation planning.

it's nice to see a president who has done a lot of work in a major city for once. also, it would be nice if everyone could realize that "urban" does not always equal "poor black folk."

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

He doesn't have to, but he can and should use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to hammer home the point.

Along theses lines is this column in today's Tribune.

New blueprint for black males -- chicagotribune.com

New blueprint for black males

Daniel C. of Duvall, Wash., sent me this e-mail:

I am a middle-age white male who voted for Obama. . . . My question: How will young blacks or any people of color see this as a real advantage to them or a genuine opportunity for them to model themselves in the Obama image?

I thought about this question a lot, having received several similar e-mails, and decided to get Tim King to help me answer it. King is the founder of Illinois' first charter school for boys, Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

ding ding ding. people in those circles are really excited about the potential in that. coupled with the fact that California passed the high speed rail initiative, we could actually see a shift in thinking from 16-lane highways to something better. i'm especially hopeful considering i hope to get into grad school for transportation planning.

it's nice to see a president who has done a lot of work in a major city for once. also, it would be nice if everyone could realize that "urban" does not always equal "poor black folk."

Again in today's Tribune, an article about transit funding and local government dysfunction. It may be more than even President Obama can overcome.

While others act on transit, city and state officials talk and the CTA waits -- chicagotribune.com (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/autocorner/chi-getting-around-10-nov10,0,3273667.column - broken link)

By Jon Hilkevitch - Tribune transportation reporter

November 10, 2008

Chicago officials talk—and so far it's mostly a lot of talk—about the need to shape up the CTA in time for the city to possibly host the 2016 Olympics.

On the state level, elected officials who repeatedly shirked their responsibility to replace crumbling transportation infrastructure in Illinois are now talking, too—perhaps over-optimistically—that the Barack Obama presidency will do much of the heavy lifting.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by Lubin

How can he do that better than Bush? Obama was not raised in the inner city, and Obama was raised by Whites, inculcated with that value set, not that of inner city blacks. He attended fancy prep schools and private colleges. He's not the best role model for inner city Blacks and Latinos. He has very little in common with them and their lives.

Obama worked hard, but he gained great advantage over others through affirmative action, however I thought we were past all that racist stuff now. So I surely hope Obama stops that and makes the country fair for all people, including asian and white kids who aren't born into any kind of fancy liberal elite private-school society.

What Obama needs to do for Chicago, is shed his connections with "Chicago politics" and hopefully help bury this machine-type mindset. It still amazes me that the US would elect someone hatched and raised by chicago politics and that corrupt culture. I hope Blago doesn't get involved in the Federal government on any level. I certainly don't trust Rahm Emanuel, he's like a Democrat version of Tom DeLay: mean-spirited, angry, and partisan/corrupt.

You are really ignorant.Every black in this country is NOT raised in the inner city.So your issue about him raised and influenced around whites to the point where he had no black influences is you making assumptions.That can't be totally true because why would he be working in the inner city,going to a black church,and marrying a black wife.Why?I 'll tell you why.Because of the color of his skin matters , him being half white matters little because he has been discriminated against.However like most blacks we work harder so that we do not fall in those traps like too many blacks get caught up in racism.Obama mother also was on food stamps and lived in a working class area that was mostly black because she could not live with her black baby in white neghborhoods.He has everything i common with other minorities.