Candidates let city issues fall between the cracks, experts charge

For all the attention candidates are paying to political voting blocks like Nascar dads and soccer moms this election, the majority of Americans who live in urban areas are being neglected as cities wrestle continuing poverty and crime, a panel of experts said.
A panel of experts discussed the presidential candidates’ actions ‘-‘- or lack thereof ‘-‘- solving the problems facing urban areas at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Wednesday night, and their criticisms often returned to the same problems ‘-‘- crime and substandard education ‘-‘- that have plagued cities for decades.
‘Urban policy has been beneath the radar in this campaign,’ KSG urban policy and planning professor Alan Altshuler said. ‘Given that 81 percent of us are in urban environments, these are urban issues.’
Altshuler criticized both Obama and McCain on their lack of policies addressing urban issues – both have devoted more attention to national economic issues, but neglected crime and education. Obama, he said, has proposed several initiatives but not explained how he will fund them.
Paul Peterson, the Kennedy School’s director on education, policy and governance, addressed urban education in the United States.
‘American schools are pretty bad, and they haven’t improved in 40 years as far as we can tell,’ he said. ‘High school graduation rates are actually going down, and have been since the 1990s.’
Peterson said poor schools could be improved if the federal Department of Education devoted more funding to local public schools. On average, 93 percent of school funding now comes from local and state taxes, which often directly correlate with a community’s affluence.
‘The federal government has never really been involved and the candidates have only paid episodic attention to the subject,’ he said.
Harvard public policy professor Kim Williams said she was upset with the way both presidential campaigns have been skirting issues of urban concern.
‘I feel that we really aren’t being leveled with,’ she said.
At the heart of the all the issues brought to light is the failure of candidates to express how the $700 billion bailout will affect their ability to implement the policies they are pushing, Williams said.
‘McCain’s hasn’t really said much, you have to read the tea leaves,’ she said. ‘Obama’s plan sounds great, but I’m really worried where the money is going to come from.’