Image by Flickr user willia4 Image by 20081217-skyline.jpg Charleston: It's not your stereotypical city.

Charleston's Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. will be part of delegation of mayors, that will meet to discuss the "urban policy" of the new Obama administration.

What's it mean? Obama is focusing on making cities more livable and will promote their growth, and since Joe will be there, Charleston has a chance to play up its needs.

Here's all the gory details from the press release:
Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. announced today that he will travel to Chicago for a Thursday meeting with Valerie B. Jarrett, co-chair of the Presidential Transition Team and Senior Advisor to the President-elect.  Riley is attending the meeting with a delegation of mayors from the US Conference of Mayors Working Group on Urban Policy.  Jarrett, in addition to her position has co-chair of the transition, will be the Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison in the White House.  Jarrett will supervise the development of a new White House office focusing on the 21st Century challenges of cities and metropolitan areas, the Office of Urban Policy. 

During the presidential campaign, Senator Obama declared, “we need to stop seeing cities as the problem and start seeing them as part of the solution, because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America.”  He committed to working with mayors from around the country to establish an Office of Urban Policy in the White House.  The US Conference of Mayors Working Group on Urban Policy will offer input to the transition team and the White House to develop the new office to create a strategy for cities and metropolitan regions for the next decade.

Mayor Riley said “This is an incredible opportunity for cities to be a part of the national agenda. What Mayors know is that cities provide the structure and the services which touch the lives of citizens each day in the community where they live. We look forward to working as an equal partner with our colleagues at the federal and state level as we work toward a federal policy which places the needs of cities as a priority of our national agenda. ”