Barack Obama
A New Year, a new cool site, and ― the big change that has everyone talking ― a new president.
It’s no secret that many of our fellow Charlestonians — from Mayor Joe Riley to the small business owners on King Street — have pegged a lot of hopes on Barack Obama’s rallying cry for change. The president could have a lot to do with the many assets that make Charleston so great.
It all starts with his promise of a new Office of Urban Policy. One of the first campaign pledges to emerge, its sole focus on America’s cities and metropolitan regions has already served as an “in” for our mayor.
This month, in fact, Riley presented one of the country’s biggest “wish lists,” asking the president’s transition team for more than $1 billion. The purpose? Nine projects that could create close to 19,000 jobs for the county’s 343,000 residents. (Riley’s request was part of a much bigger report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors).
The wish list, of course, is all about revitalization — those jobs would help renovate historical buildings, upgrade roads and even improve playgrounds. It’s the kind of renewal that draws tens of thousands of visitors each year. The kind that will attract more of the artists and epicureans who are coloring our small but great city with urban flavor.
The kind, many are hoping, that Barack will help bring about by guiding the administration to work more closely with America’s small cities. Which is, after all, a priority he championed in many a campaign speech, like one to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June:
“Strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America…And you shouldn’t be succeeding despite Washington – you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington.”
Well here’s to 2009. Because Charleston is all kinds of strong.
