Pasadas las elecciones, a Barack Obama le queda por delante un enorme trabajo, de características casi titánicas. Y el principal reto, convertir en la realidad una ola de ilusión desbordante, alcanza también a los asuntos urbanos. Ya hemos comentado en alguna ocasión que Obama, entre otras muchas cosas, se ha distinguido frente al otro candidato, por proponer soluciones también a los principales problemas urbanos en Estados Unidos. En Gestión Urbana escribían recientemente un post que resumía bien estas cuestiones y las alternativas de su programa.
Una de las propuestas que más eco ha tenido en los medios es la idea de Obama de crear una Oficina de Asuntos Urbanos en la Casa Blanca (White House Office of Urban Policy), de la que se hacía eco esta semana el Washington Post, recogiendo las declaraciones de una de sus ayudantes de campaña, Valerie Jarrett:
"Because he began as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he understands at the local level is really where you can impact change and that local government can play a vital role as we try to jump start our economy," she said. "So having somebody in the White House, because there are so many different agencies that really can impact urban America and to have one person whose job it is to really pull all of that together, is really a critical position. And there are plenty of terrific candidates for that spot."
El programa de Obama para asuntos urbanos va, en cualquier caso, mucho más allá de una rpopuesta de reforma institucional y de creación de esta oficina, ya que recoge otra serie de ideas concretas. Por un lado, destaca, posiblemente por razones coyunturales de la actual crisis, la preeminencia de los objetivos económicos, al situar el principal problema urbano en la necesidad de fortalecer el papel de las ciudades como centros de creación económica.
The Problem
Failing Commitment to America's Economic Centers: Today, government programs aimed at strengthening metropolitan areas are spread across the federal government with insufficient coordination or strategy. Worse, many federal programs inadvertently undermine cities and regions by encouraging inefficient and costly patterns of development and local competition.
Failing Commitment to America's Economic Centers: Today, government programs aimed at strengthening metropolitan areas are spread across the federal government with insufficient coordination or strategy. Worse, many federal programs inadvertently undermine cities and regions by encouraging inefficient and costly patterns of development and local competition.
A partir de ahí, las líneas básicas de actuación incluyen:
- Fortalecer el apoyo federal hacia las ciudades (donde se incluye la creación de la Oficina)
- Estimular la prosperidad económica en las regiones metropolitanas
- Vivienda
- Pobreza
- Fortalecer la habitabilidad de las ciudades
- Educación
- Criminalidad y cumplimiento de la ley
- Fortalecer la seguridad territorial
- Apoyo a las familias
A nivel más concreto, algunas de las ideas recogidas en el programa son:
- Fully Fund the Community Development Block Grant: In the long run, regions are only as strong as their people and neighborhoods. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is an important program that provides housing and creating jobs primarily for low- and moderate-income people and places. Barack Obama has fought against Bush Administration cuts to the CDBG program and, as president, he will restore funding for the CDBG program.
- Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators, which facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies. They will invest 250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in urban communities throughout the country.
- Invest in a Skilled Clean Technologies Workforce: Obama and Biden will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable jobs. Obama and Biden will also create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth.
- Establish 'Promise Neighborhoods' for Areas of Concentrated Poverty: Successful strategies to address concentrated, intergenerational poverty are comprehensive in nature and address the full range of obstacles that stand in the way of poor children. One highly-acclaimed model is the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City, which provides a full network of services to an entire neighborhood from birth to college. Obama and Biden will create 20 Promise Neighborhoods in cities that have high levels of poverty and crime and low levels of student academic achievement.
- Use Innovative Measures to Dramatically Improve Efficiency of Buildings: Buildings account for nearly 40 percent of carbon emissions in the United States today and carbon emissions from buildings are expected to grow faster than emissions from other major parts of our economy. It is expected that 15 million new buildings will be constructed between today and 2015. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work with cities so that we make our new and existing buildings more efficient consumers of electricity.
- Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.
- Safeguard Mass Public Transportation: Every weekday, Americans take 34 million trips on public transportation systems to get to work, school and beyond. Obama and Biden will fight for greater information-sharing between national intelligence agents and local officials and provide local law enforcement agencies with the everyday tools they need to protect their transportation systems.
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