President Obama plans to create an Office of Urban Policy

This is unquestionably a good thing (via ThinkProgress):

Valerie Jarrett, transition co-chair for President-elect Barack Obama, announced that the Obama administration would create a White House chief of urban policy. Since there are “so many different agencies that really can impact urban America,” Jarrett said, “to have one person whose job it is to really pull all of that together, is really a critical position.”

I’m surprised that it’s taken this long to create a White House chief of urban policy; after all, the large majority of Americans live and work in urban areas.  Moreover, an Obama Administration will probably look to pass a stimulus package involving infrastructure maintenance and improvement, which will necessarily require working with city governments, understanding their advantages and grasping their limitations.  The same goes too for any climate change legislation, since it will probably include money to improve mass transit, and spending it wisely requires a deep knowledge of urban policy.