The Root Magazine is reporting that the White House has made good on its promise to establish an Office of Urban Affairs.
The office is designed to facilitate and coordinate programs that improve the lives of city dwellers. Adolfo Carrion, former Bronx borough president, will lead the office.
On the campaign trail President Obama promised to “stop seeing cities as the problem and start seeing them as a solution.”

The president has a lot on his plate right now, but this seems like a step in the right direction. We need a new vision …

A John Carroll University senior in Cleveland is using the city’s surplus of inexpensive housing and a $40,000 grant to house the homeless.
Brian Mauk began the Metanoia Project (from a Greek term for a drastic change in one’s life) last year to rehab foreclosed and abandoned homes for the area’s homeless.
Homeless people are recruited from the streets of Cleveland to take part in the project. Those who are matched with a home are expected to help out by working on other rehab projects.
Check out this video from WKYC:

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All you members of GLUE – Great Lakes Urban Exchange- may remember hearing (and seeing!) Will Allen and learning about his amazing urban farm, Growing Power, in Milwaukee.
In fact, we at Rust Wire featured some photos from Growing Power back in March.
Now, The New York Times has noticed Allen and the work he is doing.
For those of you not familiar with the project, Growing Power is  “14 greenhouses crammed onto two acres in a working-class neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side, less than half a mile from the city’s largest public-housing …

Our friends at Great Lakes Urban Exchange (aka GLUE) are featured this story in Artvoice, Buffalo’s alternative weekly paper.
GLUE-sters will be in Buffalo this week for their summit, “Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity: Remaking Policy and Practice in a Time of Transformation,” on Thursday, June 18 and Friday, June 19 at Buffalo State College.
“The goal of the conference is threefold: to identify ways to filter federal stimulus money into Great Lakes cities; to develop policy that nurtures the region and helps urban areas grow into sustainable units; and …

I spent last Saturday and Sunday in a happy fog of house parties, porch sitting, chatting with old and new friends, garage sales, home tours, an art fair, a parade, and yummy food vendors – otherwise known as the annual Old West End festival.
For all you non-Toledoans, this neighborhood is a spectular display of architecture – left over from when it was home to numerous Captains of Industry in Toledo’s more prosperous years. Neighborhood boosters will tell you it is the largest neighborhood of restored late Victorian, Edwardian, and Arts …

Model D Media has a great video featuring attendees of Great Lakes Urban Exchange’s “I Will Stay If …” campaign kick-off party May 14. GLUE will be traveling to different cities around the Rust Belt encouraging young people to share their hopes for their city.
Check out these photos.

See more pictures at GLUE’s Web site.
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  This is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever read. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that 1,000 students from Chicago Public Schools skipped the first day of class, rode a bus to a wealthy district and tried to register as students in order to highlight the gross inequalities that exist in the Illinois’ public schools.
  The story follows Brandon, a student from Chicago’s mostly-black South Side, whose school spends about $11,000 per student per year, and Amanda, who attends one of the nation’s wealthiest schools a short distance away. …

Our friends at Great Lakes Urban Exchange (aka GLUE) always have interesting and innovative ideas bouncing around their web site. (It must be all those cool young people they have involved in their organization…)
Last week, they explored one of my favorite topics, deconstruction – that’s when instead of just tearing down an old building, the building is taken apart and much of the material is salvaged.
Thanks, Sarah, for this interview with Buffalo ReUse!
-KG
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Regular Rust Wire readers know that we enjoy highlighting our favorite blogs.
This is a real gem and one I check regularly: EnjoyingToledo.com.

I love the font, photos, brief yet informative posts, and just the idea of it – as the blog’s author writes,
“The more I learn about the history of this city, the more I think Toledo is really a very special place. It’s sad to see that some people don’t see it this way… so this is my blog about all of the great things in Toledo (and surrounding areas)—people, …

The city of Cleveland is considering installing a commuter bike station in downtown,Green City Blue Lake is reporting.

The plan will include covered, secure bicycle parking, a maintenance shop and shower facilities. The city is working withClevelandBikes and a nonprofit national organization called Bike Station.
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