Barack Obama: 'Urban president,' office

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama is "the urban president,'' a first in modern times, schooled in New York City, trained in community organization in Chicago, resident of the South Side. And now he has a director of urban affairs.

The White House today named Adolfo Carrion, who has served as borough president of the Bronx, in New York City, as White House director of urban affairs. The president also named Derek Douglas, who has served as Washington counsel to the governor of New York, as assistant director.

"I look forward to working with these talented leaders to bring long overdue attention to the urban areas where 80 percent of the American people live and work,'' the president said in a statement released by the White House.

"Vibrant cities spawn innovation, economic growth, and cultural enrichment,'' he said. "Te Urban Affairs office will focus on wise investments and development in our urban areas that will create employment and housing opportunities and make our country more competitive, prosperous and strong."

Obama created the office, with the director reporting directly to him, to develop urban strategies and ensure that federal money targeted for urban areas is spent on "the highest-impact programs.''

The Republican National Committee was quick to point out that, in an administration that has attempted to keep lobbyists at arm's length, Douglas has served as a lobbyist. As Politico.com noted, Douglas, according to federal records, was a registered federal lobbyist from 2005-07.

He represented the Washington-based Center for American Progress on "lending practices" -- "that is to say, a policy lobbyist, not a private sector one, though that's not a distinction the White House formally makes within its ban on lobbyists working on policy on which they've lobbied,'' Ben Smith reports. (The Center also is run by John Podesta, the former Bill Clinton chief of staff who oversaw Obama's transition planning.)

In 2005, Douglas did more traditional lobbying at a Washington law firm for a company courting the Department of Transportation over safety devices for public buses.

The White House says:

Carrion, the new White House director of urban affairs, has served two terms as Bronx borough president and one term as the President of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Carrion oversaw the creation of 40,000 new units of housing in seven years, 50 new schools, $7 billion in capital and infrastructure expenditures, and over $400 million in new parks and parkland renovation.

Before that, Carrion represented the 14th City Council District on the New York City Council and also served as an urban planner at the New York Department of City Planning and a teacher in the New York City Public Schools.

Carrion received a bachelor's degree in World Religions and Philosophy from King's College in 1985 and his Master's in Urban Planning from Hunter College in 1990.

Derek Douglas, special assistant to the president for Urban Affairs Douglas has served as Washington counsel to New York Gov. David A. Paterson and director of Gov. Paterson's Washington, D.C., Office.

Douglas served as the governor's chief architect for federal policy and oversaw federal policy development and advocacy on domestic, economic, and urban policy issues for the State of New York.

Prior to appointment in 2007, Douglas served as associate director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, where he founded and served as director of the Economic Mobility Program. He had been an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers and an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educa¬tional Fund.

Douglas graduated from the University of Michigan in economics and from Yale Law School.