DC Goes NU

17 September 2009 - 5:00am

New Urban News looks at the growing influence of New Urbanists and their ideas in Washington, from the appointment of former CNU director Shelley Poticha to a HUD position to the new Livable Communities Act proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd.

"The appointment of Shelley Poticha, former executive director of the Congress for New Urbanism, to a key job at the US Department of Housing & Urban Development is the latest sign that the federal government is shifting significantly toward a new urbanist point of view.

Poticha, president since 2004 of the advocacy group Reconnecting America, will start Sept. 8 as HUD’s senior adviser for sustainable housing and communities. She will be joining a department that’s been reenergized by President Obama’s naming of two well-regarded urban leaders — Shaun Donovan of New York City and Ron Sims of King County, Washington — the No. 1 and 2 positions at HUD.

Poticha’s title of senior adviser may soon be upgraded. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) has introduced legislation to establish a new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities within HUD. Poticha would be its director, charged with achieving closer coordination among three important federal entities: HUD, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s a big step,” Robert Puentes, a metropolitan and urban affairs analyst at Brookings Institution, said of the Obama administration’s attempt to shatter the insularity of federal agencies that deal with housing, urban development, and transportation. "

Source: New Urban News, September 8, 2009
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The areas where we have severe blight and indications of more blight to come are basically the same as they ever were. How in the world are we ever going to move our community development selves into an alternative future that thinks differently about the challenges we face in our cities and low-income suburban and rural communities?