In Point Breeze, Martin O'Malley makes his case to city dwellers.Phila

On Thursday night, John Longacre, owner of the American Sardine Bar in Point Breeze, took to the lectern and gave the clearest reason why the evening's guest of honor was in Philadelphia.

"As an urban dweller, he's our candidate," Longacre said before a crowd of about 100 people huddling from the rain underneath two outdoor tents. . .

"I am the only candidate in this race that can actually speak to the tremendous opportunity in our nation that exists in American cities," he said. "Imagine the good we could do for our nation if we actually had an agenda for American cities."

While O'Malley touted a yet to be announced campaign plan for Philadelphia and other U.S. cities, he offered some specifics of a federal agenda for America's urban locales: greater investment in mass transit; green jobs; and affordable workforce housing, or living accommodations that place workers in proximity to their jobs. (In an ironic twist, a cover of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was playing in the background.) Research from the Brookings Institution indicates a 10-percent drop in the number of jobs within typical commuting distance of Philly residents, while a report from the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania argues that many affordable houses are available for the city's lower-income workforce, but require significant repair work. . .

A President O'Malley, he told Philadelphia City Paper, would seek to compile "national measures on police discourtesy, police brutality, [and] police use of lethal force." (O'Malley has a penchant for positioning himself as a data wonk, and therefore a person who can govern dispassionately and objectively.)

http://citypaper.net/blogs/martin-omalley-philadelphia-2016-presidential-race/