NEAL PEIRCE COLUMN
For Release Sunday, January 13, 2008
© 2008 Washington Post Writers Group
An open letter to the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates:
When will you finally start talking about the issues that matter specifically to cities and metro areas that are home territory to 80 percent of America’s people?
Sure, from Point Barrow, Alaska to Key West, Fla., most Americans care about the national issues — Iraq, taxes and health care, who’ll have the steeliest eye confronting foreign adversaries, or handling the newest hot-button topic, immigration.
But even the issues that look national can prove to be very urban and local.
The nation’s economy functions mostly thanks to 361 metropolitan regions, responsible for over 85 percent of U.S. jobs, income and output. Read the rest of this entry »