The Experience Heading Into The Urban Policy Office

"That is, in large part, the record Mr. Carrión, 47, will carry with him to Washington, where he starts Monday as director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, a new office created to focus federal investment in urban areas. Job creation, housing and ensuring that federal money for urban America is effectively spent will be among his primary concerns."

It is a major leap for Mr. Carrión, who will go from the largely ceremonial position of borough president to coordinating national urban policy and who, 12 years ago, was district manager of a local community board.

Assessing Mr. Carrión's readiness to make that jump depends on whether his tenure as borough president is seen as a hard-fought success in an office with limited power or a failed opportunity to turn around a borough that, while no longer a symbol of urban blight, continues to struggle with crime, poverty, homelessness and deaths from AIDS.