Regional Governance on the horizon?

Stumbled across this article today from the Wall Street Journal. It seems as though President-elect Obama has a different way of viewing things than his predecessors.

Tom Cochran, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said the next administration has signaled that it will coordinate financing for projects for an entire metropolitan area instead of dealing with cities and suburbs separately.

"I am of the opinion, based on our conversations with President-elect Obama, that he gets it," said Mr. Cochran. "You can't just have a transportation system that stops at the city line."

What a concept! City mayors from across the US are heading to Washington to lobby for funds to come directly to them, rather than state government. I need to do some more research, but I wonder what the spending restrictions will be - if there are any at all.

Anyway... here was the next cool part of the article:

"Mr. Obama's transition office is drawing up plans to create a White House office on urban policy, which would report directly to the president, to coordinate funding for cities from different federal agencies. Mr. Obama has pledged to provide new funding for job training, education and grants for local governments and organizations."

So cool, huh? In the arts sector we've been pushing for a White House office on the arts for years. Finally urban policy is getting its due. I don't think it's too late, but they certainly have their work cut out for them.