Presidential Candidate Calls on Mayors to Embrace Urban Growth

"Senator Barack Obama told the nation's mayors on Saturday that current urban policy was obsolete and needed to be replaced by a model that focused on rational metropolitan growth rather than chiefly on inner-city crime and poverty."

"Mr. Obama also said the federal government's ability to help cities would be limited in part by a long-term budget deficit left by the Bush administration, which he called 'the most fiscally irresponsible administration in modern times.'"

"'Yes we need to fight poverty; yes, we need to fight crime,' Mr. Obama, of Illinois, said in a midday address to the United States Conference of Mayors. 'Yes, we need to strengthen our cities. But we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution. Because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America.'"