FEDERAL INITIATIVES AND BUZZWORDS

The end result of public policies and community life is not unhappy as a friendly bout of soccer in the ‘Hood.

One of the first things that Obama did upon taking office at the start of 2009 was to establish the first-ever White House Office of Urban Affairs, headed by Adolfo Carrion. This may not seem extraordinary in the annals of our vast, often unwieldy Federal government anchored in Washington, DC.  Federal life is full of much stalk and spin. Current urban mobility buzzwords are sustainability, livability and EJ – for environmental justice.

How could the Federal Government have no coherent urban policy when cities are the very heart of civic life and of civilization? The roots are deep. Thomas Jefferson and many of America’s founders looked more to farmers and landowners than to city people as the bedrock of democracy. Cities-dwellers are schemers and sinners. To Americans, the word “city” evokes more negative images than positive. The American Planning Association dropped the word from their name, and usually talks about “communities”.

American cities lack powers to shape healthy community life, and this is especially true for transportation. In the US, cities are creatures of the states. They lack strong cultural and fiscal independence compared to European and other cities.

Regional government is not particularly strong in the US either. MPOs are relatively unknown. The whole idea of a Metropolitan Planning Office is remote from most citizens. State government is more visible, and then there’s the Federal Giant in Washington.

Historically and culturally, the US leans consistently towards individual freedoms, at the cost of good regional governance. Such is the American Way.

So what is the Obama Administration’s plan for Urban America?

Last summer Obama and Carrion brought together the heads of three Departments – Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Transportation (DOT) and ordered them to create a bold new urban vision and strategies to better coordinate their policies and programs. The Federal culture of the last half of the 20th century left each administering billion-dollar programs independently. Jargon within the Beltway speaks of silo mentalitymore than of inter-departmentalism. Whether Obama is able to break down the barriers that divide Federal bureaucracies remains to be seen.

Recent TIGER (transportation stimulus) grants today are funding dozens of BRT and streetcar projects, disappointing many APM advocates. Coordinating modes of transit with urban health and development programs is new. For example, part of Kansas City’s BRT network will be coordinated with upgrading a low-income neighborhood into a more sustainable Green Impact Zone.

SUSTAINABILITY  is only a recent addition to Washington policy talk. Europeans have debated energetically about the imperative to reduce greenhouse emissions for years while only now is it garnering attention in the US. Al Gore is an aberration.

For the last decade or so, American planners have been pushing to the concept of Smart Growth – successfully getting it into Washington’s vocabulary. Not too great an accomplishment, as there was no lobby pushing for dumb growth. This term really means that there is need for cities, towns and regions to embrace and empower principles of spatial planning.

LIVABILITY is another buzzword that features heavy in Washington urban talk.  How radical is that? Is it novel to think that cities ought to be livable? Most of them seem to have people that do live in them. What genius is behind this? Yet, it is a hot buzzword in the auto-overwhelmed urban districts of the US.

EJ  is another is– short for Environmental Justice.  Federal programs, especially urban infrastructure projects, should fairly impact low-income residents. This has gained traction in recent years, forcing highway investments to consider socio-economic impacts. It just stopped the stupidly expensive APM Connector planned between Oakland Airport and a BART station.

In March of 2010, the new White House Office of Urban Affairs unveiled its new website: www.whitehouse.gov/urbanaffairs. There is nothing on APMs, but it recognizes a new metropolitan reality: strong cities are building blocks of strong regions.

The main modal innovation coming out of Obama is high-speed rail (HSR). This will help reinforce urban cores. It will reduce our dependence on gas-guzzling highway traffic and aviation. It should also create a dynamic market for APMs to feed into and serve the commerce and other activities that are attracted to busy rail stations.

Federal Washington is not abuzz with APM. PRT and podcars don’t have much traction either. Or maybe in the back offices of the FAA?