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Presidential candidates may talk about housing, gun control and welfare policy, but rarely do they offer specific proposals for the nation's cities. Now, as the 2000 presidential race gains momentum, a faculty working group at Columbia University has formed to scrutinize what the candidates are really saying about cities when they issue broad national policy statements.
The 25-member Urban Impact Consortium has organized in the recognition that although the presidential candidates talk little about the challenges specific to urban America, their broader policy pronouncements will impact the 80 percent of Americans who live in or near cities in major ways.
"When candidates announce their broad policy initiatives, rarely is reference made to the way these broader policies coalesce to shape a hidden urban agenda," said Professor Mark Gordon of the School of International and Public Affairs, who is coordinating the effort. "But each time presidential candidates discuss poverty, crime, health care, the environment or other important issues, what they are doing is proposing urban policy as well."
The consortium is organized through the Center for Urban Research and Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs and co-sponsored by the Institute for Social and Economic Theory and Research.
In five statements, the first in a series to be issued throughout the campaign, members of the Urban Impact Consortium found the following in the areas of housing, gun control, health care policy, education, and welfare:
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Housing -- Few candidates have spoken specifically to housing policy, says sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh. Still, it is possible to extrapolate the candidates' positions on housing from their statements on the environment, social welfare and taxation. For instance, Al Gore has addressed housing in the context of environmental policy in discussing "suburbanization" and "sprawl." He proposes environmental initiatives like building a strong commuting infrastructure and offering incentives like higher mortgages to people who live near mass transit, which would have a direct impact on housing in urban centers. For full text click here
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Gun Control -- According to Jeffrey Fagan of the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health and an expert on violence, recent school shootings have formed public perception of gun control as a rural and suburban issue. Nevertheless, gun violence remains mostly an urban problem, says Fagan, and "policies on gun control will have far greater impacts on urban areas than elsewhere." Federal gun policy has tremendous impact on the flow of guns from weak-law to strong-law states, where guns often end up in major cities. Also, since law enforcement in many cities specifically targets gun issues -- like street crime units -- there are often secondary problems in those cities, like police-community relations. For full text click here
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Welfare -- Political scientist Robert Lieberman, says that while nearly all the candidates talk about welfare policy, their proposals do not cover the unique features of urban poverty, including job scarcity, high crime and large numbers of single-parent families. For full text click here
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Education -- Professor Gary Natriello of Columbia's Teachers College, found, as expected that Democrats tend to embrace solutions that involve strengthening the existing system of public schools, adopting the education establishment's views, while Republicans are more likely to consider private market-based solutions, such as vouchers. The impact of these two quite different courses of action on urban schools and poor and minority children are anything but clear, according to Natriello. For full text click here
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Health Care -- Professor Mary E. Northridge of Columbia's Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health finds the candidates have largely ignored four areas of health policy that are critical for urban areas: that working adults increasingly do not have their health insurance covered by their employers; that as public hospitals close down and private ones merge, access to care is compromised; that medical mistakes can be minimized and that community health must include safe, affordable housing, nutritious food, adequate parks and access to public transportation. For full text click here
Throughout the months of the campaign, consortium members will continue to review the candidates' stated positions on a wide range of national issues, including crime, school vouchers, health care, and proposals to restructure Medicare and Medicaid, assessing how each contender's positions will impact urban areas.
The nonpartisan group will analyze the candidates' proposals and not their records on matters of interest to urban voters.
"We will present information and analysis, not endorse candidates or positions," the group said in a statement. "We believe that the public debate would be enriched by candid discussion of the ways in which broader national policies can be expected to impact urban areas."
Consortium members include public policy experts from a wide range of academic fields, including public health, law, education, social work and urban planning. Several are among the most well-regarded members of Columbia's faculty.
Lisa Anderson, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, said: "By analyzing these issues from an urban standpoint, this working group on urban affairs at Columbia is performing an important public service in the 2000 presidential campaign."
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