Office of Urban Policy, Please, Do DOT Over | Feb 12th at 4:20pm
Bruce Katz vice president at the Brookings Institution, and current advisor for the nascent Office of Urban Policy, has broken rank with his male speaker predecessors by taking stage with no tie. There’s little other than rolling up one’s sleeves that says you are serious about housing like delivering an address tie-less and top button dis-attached. Not being sarcastic. Was really hoping that there would be an announcement tonight for the appointee for Office of Urban Policy, and I was thinking Katz would be that surprise, but I’m holding my breath. Katz immediately went into the roles that the Urban Policy office would fulfill, the third of which he said wasn’t to tell HUD or Department of Transportation how to do their jobs. Well, maybe not HUD, especially with Donovan at the helm. I kinda trust his judgment on how HUD should work. As for Department of Transportation ... not so much. I’m actually hoping that the Office of Urban Policy will tell DOT how to do its job, and start by showing them why mass transit is a moral and economic imperative.
Correction: I originally listed Solis as possible HUD head, when I had labor on the mind. I’ve made the change, but for the record, I’m equally trustful with Donovan at HUD’s helm. But still am less so with DOT, especially with LaHood at the helm.
Brentin Mock is a Metcalf Institute Fellow for Environmental Reporting at The American Prospect. He also writes for Essence, GOOD and Next American City magazines.
Leigh in Boston, MA on Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 5:29pm
Actually, Solis is going to Labor. Shaun Donovan, who’s speaking at the conference, is the Sec of HUD.