The first season of 'The Wire' (2002) concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell. In Seasons Two and Three, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving pressures on the working class and the city's political leadership were introduced. Season Four focused on the stories of several young boys in the public school system, struggling with problems at home and the lure of the corner - set against the rise of a new drug empire in West Baltimore and a new Mayor in City Hall.

The fifth and final season of 'The Wire' centers on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

Explains series creator David Simon, "It made sense to finish 'The Wire' with this reflection on the state of the media, as all the other attendant problems of the American city depicted in the previous four seasons will not be solved until the depth and range of those problems is first acknowledged. And that won't happen without an intelligent, aggressive and well-funded press."

This season of 'The Wire' is based in large part on Simon's experiences in 13 years at The Baltimore Sun. Simon decries recent trends in the newspaper industry that have conspired to make high-end journalism vulnerable: out-of-town chain ownership, an economic climate in which the share price of media companies matters more to industry leaders than the product itself, and a newsroom culture in which prizes, personal ambition and the cult of the "impact" story has replaced consistent and detailed coverage of complex issues as the primary goal.

Until last night, I had never seen an episode. The Wire is an award-winning HBO show and it's probably the best show on television that no one has ever heard of though in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun last year, President Obama called it his favorite show. The show is at its core a frank depiction of the crisis all too prevalent in American cities. The brutal news is too many of our cities are failed cities surrounded by unsustainable suburbs. If we are to change America, we must reinvent our cities.

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I feel like this issue is often ignored and not something that Dems bring up to the national audience because being "pro-city" is seen as being "anti-rural".  But I think most Democrats should be proud of Obama's record and plans to promote sensible development and investment in urban regions.

Any voter who lives in a metropolitan area should want better roads, trains, ports, and other metro initiatives to be funded.

I would highly recommend reading ALL of Neal Peirce's latest column Who's better for cities?

Some excerpts:

On McCain:

But do we have even a hint of a federal partnership with urban/metro America under a McCain administration? So far no. The silence could be intentional. The Sarah Palin vice presidential selection, the Republican National Convention's celebration of small towns and invective against "cosmopolitanism" and community organizing, smacks of a calculated anti-urban message.

A big McCain question is whether, if elected, he'd govern with serious domestic purpose... Or would McCain be more like George W. Bush, filling his administration (especially urban policy posts) with ideologues and mediocrities?

If you need an example - Mary Peters, the current Transportation Secretary, is just such an ideologue, who has done nothing to promote sensible highway, subway, and other transit investment.  The federal government currently impedes the development of better transportation for our metropolitan areas.

On Obama:

It's true, Obama doesn't campaign much on his city-metro agenda. But he committed himself clearly in June before the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Noting "crumbling roads and bridges, aging water and sewer pipes, faltering electrical grids," Obama endorsed a new national infrastructure bank, seeded with $60 billion in federal funds over 10 years, to move road, bridge, airport, rail and other metro area projects forward.

There's a touch of historic Democratic generosity toward cities in Obama's promises. His list is long -- for example restoring federal funds for community-oriented policing programs, full funding of Sec. 8 housing vouchers, full funding of community development block grants, increasing the minimum wage, broadband in all schools and more.

A win for Obama is an investment in bread and butter issues like better transportation, electrical grids, and sewers.  A McCain victory likely means more of our money in Iraq, more massive power outages, more traffic delays (and / or more toll roads owned by the Chinese), and more bridges falling into rivers!  Surely this is an area in which even independents or right-leaning voters in cities would favor Obama!

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Though on MyDD it seems to have been lost in the debate over whether he uses the "D" word enough in his emails, yesterday Senator Obama gave a speech in Washington, D.C., in which he outlined a $6 billion agenda to fight the problem of urban poverty in America. The plan is quite bold and comprehensive, and as is often the case with detailed policy proposals, has been difficult for reporters to digest and analyze beyond dollar figures and catch phrases. However, it offers a new perspective on tackling urban poverty in America, and is very much consistent with the Family-based Progressivism attributed to Obama and Policy Director Karen Kornbluh. Since nobody's actually taken it on in a diary or post, I thought I'd take a stab at breaking down the specific proposals offered within the speech, and the rhetoric used to introduce and support those proposals.

If you don't have time to read the extended entry, here are the highlights from the plan:

1. A massive initiative in the 20 largest cities in America to implement programs aimed at children. Such a program would be modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone:

If you're a child who's born in the Harlem Children's Zone, you start life differently than other inner-city children. Your parents probably went to what they call " Baby College", a place where they received counseling on how to care for newborns and what to expect in those first months. You start school right away, because there's early childhood education. When your parents are at work, you have a safe place to play and learn, because there's child care, and after school programs, even in the summer. There are innovative charter schools to attend. There's free medical services that offer care when you're sick and preventive services to stay healthy. There's affordable, good food available so you're not malnourished. There are job counselors and financial counselors. There's technology training and crime prevention.

2. Expand assistance programs to low-income parents

I'll pass the plan I outlined last year that will provide more financial support to fathers who make the responsible choice to help raise their children and crack down on the fathers who don't. And we'll help new mothers with their new responsibilities by expanding a pioneering program known as the Nurse-Family Partnership that offers home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income mothers and mothers-to-be.

This program has been proven to reduce childhood injuries, unintended pregnancies, and the use of welfare and food stamps. It's increased father involvement, women's employment, and children's school readiness. It's produced more than $28,000 in net savings for every high-risk family enrolled in the program. It works, and I'll expand the program to 570,000 first-time mothers each year.

3. Help people find work, and make work pay

I will invest $1 billion over five years in innovative transitional jobs programs that have been highly successful at placing the unemployed into temporary jobs and then training them for permanent ones.

To make work pay, I will also triple the Earned Income Tax Credit for full-time workers making the minimum wage. This is one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in history and lifts nearly 5 million Americans out of poverty every year. I was able to expand this program when I was a state Senator in Illinois, and as President I'll do it again.

4. Bring businesses back to the inner cities

A long time ago, this country created a World Bank that has helped spur economic development in some of the world's poorest regions. I think it's about time we had something like that right here in America. Less than one percent of the $250 billion in venture capital that's invested each year goes to minority businesses that are trying to breathe life into our cities. This has to change.
When I'm President, I'll make sure that every community has the access to the capital and resources it needs to create a stronger business climate by providing more loans to small businesses and setting up the financial institutions that can help get them started. I'll also create a national network of business incubators, which are local services that help first-time business owners design their business plans, find the best location, and receive expert advice on how to run their businesses whenever they need it. And I will take steps to help close the digital divide and increase internet access for cities so that urban America is just as connected as the rest of America.

5. Give more Americans access to safe, affordable housing

As President, I'll create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would add as many as 112,000 new affordable units in mixed income neighborhoods. We'll also do more to protect homeowners from mortgage fraud and subprime lending by passing my plan to provide counseling to tenants, homeowners, and other consumers so they get the advice and guidance they need before buying a house and support if they get in to trouble down the road. And we will crack down on mortgage professionals found guilty of fraud by increasing enforcement and creating new criminal penalties.

6. Appoint a new Director of Urban Policy to oversee and report directly on the progress of such efforts

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