This past Friday officials from President Obama's administration continued their Urban Tour with a visit to Seattle's South Lake Union area as part of an ongoing "National Conversation on the Future of Cities and Metropolitan Areas."

The purpose of this tour is to investigate key American cities and metro areas that have demonstrated innovative solutions to sustained economic and environmental growth, while fostering education, infrastructure and research. President Obama has stated he would like to identify these metropolitan areas and use them as a blueprint or building block for future policies and funding nationwide.

This Urban Tour is part of President Obama's "Choice Neighborhoods" proposal outlined during an Urban and Metropolitan Policy Roundtable in July. The proposal "focuses on new ideas for housing in our cities by recognizing that different communities need different solutions," stated President Obama. "We want to invest in proven strategies that actually transform communities and enhance opportunity for residents and businesses alike."

The tour included Adolfo Carrion, Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, and Deputy Assistant to the President; Derek Douglas, Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs; Robert Croyle, NIH Director for the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences; John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development; former King County Executive Rom Sims who's now Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

"What's been done here in Seattle is a great model," said Director Carrion. "We wanted to come and look at how it was pasted together over the last decade and a half and what lessons we may be able to learn and bring back to the planning and policy discussion going forward."

Dep. Secretary Sims cited Seattle's housing, population, innovation technology in science and health and green living as factors that contributed to its inclusion on the tour.

"Seattle very much reflect the status and ideals of the administration," said Sims.

The South Lake Union tour started with a visit to the Bart Harvey Residential Development for low-income seniors. The development includes design features which are used for the first time on an affordable housing project in this region- notably a green, vegetated rooftop which uses sustainable technology to cover surfaces with lightweight soil, allowing residents to plant vegetable and flower gardens.

Officials then visited the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI) where they listened to a presentation from representatives from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Washington Global Health Alliance and University of Washington Medicine.

To read the entire article, please visit The Seattle Medium's website.