Proposals for Obama's Second Term

At The Atlantic Cities, Emily Badger and Sommer Mathis have put together a list of eight urban policy ideas (some old and some new) for the President to pursue in order to jump start America's economy and strengthen its cities. Ideas include: reforming the home mortgage interest deduction and spending the savings on low-income housing; raising the gas tax; deploying social impact bonds; and funding measures to protect our largest coastal cities from rising sea levels. 

At the NRDC's Switchboard blog, Kaid Benfield proffers "a modest set of community principles" for Obama's second term. Rather than swing for the fences, Benfield discusses some principles the President could realistically follow, given the adversarial political climate. These include: continuing the cooperation among federal agencies that assist communities; helping cities, towns, and regions bring planning and coding up to date; evaluating federal infrastructure spending according to the triple bottom line; and taking a fresh look at MPOs.