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2016 presidential candidates on urban policy

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Date: November 8, 2016
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

The 2016 presidential candidates discussed infrastructure, crime, law enforcement, public education, public transportation, and housing on the campaign trail. Read what the candidates and their respective party platforms said about urban policy below.

Interested in reading more? Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about crime and justice, infrastructure, public education, federal assistance, and stop and frisk.

OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS
  • Hillary Clinton called for national infrastructure improvements and said she believes that cities must act to ensure that residents have safe and clean drinking water. Clinton expressed support for expanding pre-K, increasing the availability of affordable housing, and community policing.
  • Donald Trump expressed support for federal funding for police body cameras and investment in mass transit. He said that “war zones in countries that we’re fighting” are safer than some U.S. cities.
  • Jill Stein expressed support for transitioning to a green economy to alleviate poverty in urban areas. Stein also said she supports urban agriculture and protecting coastal cities by transitioning to green energy to fight climate change.
  • Gary Johnson expressed support for federal government protection of Americans from pollution in order to avoid drinking water crises. He also advocated for eliminating the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

    • Democratic candidate

    Democratic Party Hillary Clinton

    caption


    Infrastructure
    • On February 2, 2016, Hillary Clinton praised officials in Jackson, Mississippi, for their effort to fix the excessive lead levels in some of the city’s homes. She also called for national infrastructure improvements. In a statement, she said, "I’m heartened that Jackson city officials are taking the right steps to fix the problem, including repeated testing and openness with the results, so families can stay informed. As the emergency in Flint, Michigan, has made clear, cities and states must treat these situations with the utmost seriousness, and do everything in their power to ensure that families–especially children–have access to safe, clean drinking water. We as a nation must make urgent investments to modernize our utilities and infrastructure, to keep families and communities safe and healthy."[1]
    • On January 19, 2016, Karen Weaver, the mayor of Flint, Michigan, praised Clinton for sending her top campaign aides to the city and for bringing attention to the water crisis in Flint. Weaver said, "We want a friend like Hillary in the White House. That's exactly what we need to have happen." When a reporter asked Weaver if she was endorsing Clinton, Weaver replied, "Yeah, it does sound like it, doesn't it? I want Hillary. ... As far as what Hillary Clinton has done, she has actually been the only – the only – candidate, whether we're talking Democratic or Republican, to reach out and talk with us about, 'What can I do? What kind of help do you need?'"[2]
    • During the January 17, 2016, Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina, Clinton commented on the water crisis in Flint, saying, "I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had requests for help that he basically stonewalled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could do to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a TV show and I said, 'it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had.' I want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday."[3]
    • During an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on January 14, 2016, Clinton criticized Mich. Gov. Rick Snyder for his handling of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. She said, "Right now, as best I can understand, the governor, the Republican governor, Gov. Snyder, is refusing to ask for the triggering of the federal help that he needs in order to take care of the people who are his constituents. And I am just outraged by this."[4]
    • In her infrastructure plan released on November 29, 2015, Clinton pledged to improve public transit systems and other public works throughout the U.S. by investing $275 billion over five years. Clinton advocated for increasing public transportation options and the development of a "faster, safer, and higher-capacity passenger rail system."[5]
    • In March 2015, Clinton discussed urban policy during a forum hosted by the Center for American Progress. On the topic of infrastructure, Clinton said, "How do we repair and update our infrastructure? In a lot of the older cities we have terrible problems with water and sewer systems—to say nothing of not keeping up with the electric grid or broadband access, the infrastructure of the future. I hope to see a mapping of our cities and an understanding that, when it comes to the physical infrastructure, we have to take care of what we already have, upgrade it, and modernize it. We have to really invest. And then we have to throw it into the future."[6]
    Black Lives Matter movement
    • On October 30, 2015, Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted Clinton's speech in Atlanta at a historically black college. After they were removed from the room, Clinton said, “I appreciate their passion, but I'm sorry they didn't listen because some of what they're demanding, I am offering."[7]
    • Clinton met with Black Lives Matter activists on October 9, 2015, to discuss criminal justice reform and alternatives to law enforcement-centered policing of communities. An aide to Clinton said she “reaffirmed her policy on private prisons and immigrant detention centers – she wants to end those.”[8]
    • On August 11, 2015, Clinton met with representatives from the Black Lives Matter movement after she hosted and spoke at a forum on substance abuse in New Hampshire.[9] The activists, including Daunasia Yancey, the founder of Black Lives Matter's Boston chapter, were denied access to the event because the room was at capacity.[10][11] Clinton spoke with the activists for 15 minutes. Yancey said of the discussion, "I asked specifically about her and her family's involvement in the War on Drugs at home and abroad, and the implications that has had on communities of color and especially black people in terms of white supremacist violence. And I wanted to know how she felt about her involvement in those processes.”[10]
      • Although the Black Lives Matter members requested that the media not record the conversation, they filmed their own video of the exchange and released it on August 17, 2015.[12] Clinton expressed her disagreement with the movement's approach. "Look, I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not going to change every heart. You're not. But at the end of the day, we could do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential," Clinton said.[11]
    Jobs and education
    • Clinton discussed urban policy during a forum hosted by the Center for American Progress in March 2015. Addressing the issue of childhood education, Clinton said, "I’m very much a supporter of what Mayor de Blasio did: trying to create pre-K access for every young child in New York, regardless of who that child is and who its parents are. But we also have to do more on affordable housing so that middle-class, working families can actually stay in cities."[6]
    • In March 2015, during a Center for American Progress forum, Clinton discussed social mobility in urban areas. She said, "It’s not only about average income, as important as that is. You can look at cities that, on average, have similar affluence. People are trapped and not able to move up in one, but are moving up in another. For example, Seattle and Atlanta have similar affluence but markedly different rates of economic mobility. It’s not about race: white and black citizens of Atlanta both have low upward mobility. Places where the fabric of community is strong, with a vibrant middle-class; places that are more integrated across class; places with good schools, unions, religious organizations, and civic organizations help people feel rooted and part of a community, which plays into upward mobility."[6]
    Community policing and national security
    • In a 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate, Clinton said she supported bringing the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program to cities like Philadelphia and keeping some gun regulations localized.
      • She said, "I will bring back the COPS program...where we had 100,000 police on the streets, which really helped drive down the crime rate and also helped create better community relations. I will also work to reinstate the assault weapons ban. We had it during the 1990s. It really was an aid to our police officers, who are now, once again, because it has lapsed and the Republicans will not reinstate it, are being outgunned on our streets by these military-style weapons."[13]
      • When asked if she favored the licensing and registration of handguns, she said, "What I favor is what works in New York. You know, we have a set of rules in New York City, and we have a totally different set of rules in the rest of the state. What might work in New York City is certainly not going to work in Montana. So for the federal government to be having any kind of, you know, blanket rules that they're going to try to impose I think doesn't make sense."[13]
    Housing
    • Clinton criticized her U.S. Senate opponent Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) in 2000 for weakening safety standards in public housing.[18]
    • Clinton condemned the criminalization of homelessness in 1999. She said, "Locking people up for a day will not take a single homeless person off the street. It will not make a mentally ill person who should be in an institution any better. It will not find a job for a responsible person who is willing to work." The deputy mayor of New York City, Joseph Llota, responded, "Unfortunately, Hillary just doesn't get it. New York City spends more money on the homeless than any other community in America. Our strategy is to get as many people as possible off the streets to get the services that we pay for."[19]
    • Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

    Republican candidate

    Republican Party Donald Trump

    caption
    Law enforcement and crime
    • Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 26, 2016, Trump offered proposals for what he called "urban renewal."[22] Trump said his plan would boost police presence in U.S. cities so “every poor African-American child” can walk around safely. “Safety is a civil right. The problem is not the presence of police but the absence of police,” he said.[23]
    • Trump aimed to reach out to minority voters during a campaign rally in Akron, Ohio, on August 22, 2016. "The Democrats have failed completely in the inner cities,” Trump said. “For those hurting the most, who have been failed and failed by their politicians, year after year, failure after failure, worse numbers after worse numbers, poverty, rejection, horrible education, no houses, no homes, no ownership, crime at levels that nobody has seen. You could go to war zones in countries that we’re fighting and it’s safer than living in some of our inner cities that are run by the Democrats." Trump continued, “It is a disaster the way African-Americans are living in many cases and in many cases the way Hispanics are living. And I say it with such a deep felt feeling, what do you have to lose? I’ll straighten it out. I’ll bring jobs back, We’ll bring spirit back. I’ll get rid of the crime, so you’ll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street, you get shot.”[24]
    • In an interview with The Guardian in October 2015, Trump discussed police reform and public transportation. Trump said that federal funding could be used to enable police departments to purchase body cameras for their officers. "Some of these departments have plenty of money, and some of them don’t. And if they like the idea of the cameras, they need federal funding. It can solve a lot of problems for police. It can also solve a lot of problems – period,” Trump said. He also recommended increasing investment in infrastructure, saying, "We have to spend money on mass transit. We have to fix our airports, fix our roads also in addition to mass transit, but we have to spend a lot of money.” Trump continued, "China and these other countries, they have super-speed trains. We have nothing. This country has nothing. We are like the third world, but we will get it going and we will do it properly and, as I say, make America great again."[25]
    Jobs
    • On October 26, 2016, Trump delivered a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina. He said his "urban renewal" plan includes making it easier for young blacks to get the bank credit they need to start businesses and to create jobs in their communities. Trump also called for tax incentives to spark investment in cities.[23][22]
    • As part of the immigration plan he posted to his 2016 presidential website, Donald Trump said he would terminate the J-1 visa jobs program for foreign youth and replace it "with a resume bank for inner city youth provided to all corporate subscribers to the J-1 visa program."[26]
    Black Lives Matter movement
    • At a rally for Trump in Birmingham, Alabama, on November 21, 2015, several attendees reportedly assaulted a Black Lives Matter demonstrator after Trump asked for him to be removed. Video from the event and witness accounts suggested the man was kicked, punched, and choked. On November 22, 2015, Trump said, “Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”[27]
    Housing
    • In his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, Trump recommended means testing be used to reform rent control in New York City. He wrote, "Rent control is a disaster for all but the privileged minority who are protected by it. As much as any other single factor, rent control is responsible for the desperate housing crisis that has plagued NYC for the past 20 years. Like a lot of failed government programs, rent control grew out of a decent idea that ended up achieving exactly the opposite of its intended effect. Unlike most developers, I don’t advocate eliminating rent control. I just think there ought to be a means test for anyone living in a rent-controlled apartment. People with incomes above a certain sum would be given a choice between paying a proportionally higher rent for their apartment or moving somewhere else."[28]
    • Read more of Donald Trump's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

    Green candidate

    Green Party Jill Stein

    Jill-Stein-circle.png
    Alleviating poverty
    • On October 12, 2016, Stein took to Twitter to address poverty in urban areas. She wrote, "My plan to alleviate poverty in urban areas: Enact the #GreenNewDeal to create 20 million living-wage jobs and full employment."[30]
    • On July 21, 2016, during the 2016 Republican National Convention, Stein criticized Donald Trump's urban real estate developments. She tweeted, "Trump's concern for inner cities has been how to clear them for his luxury condos. The American Dream isn't gentrification, Don."[31]
    Urban agriculture
    • Stein tweeted about fresh food sources for urban residents on August 18, 2016. She wrote, "We need to protect our local food supply. Most fruits, vegetables & dairy are grown on urban-edge farms that are threatened by sprawl." The 2016 Green Party Platform supports urban agriculture.[32][33]
    Climate change
    • Stein had often addressed the threat cities face from coastal flooding due to climate change. On July 28, 2016, she tweeted, "Pearl Harbor was an emergency. 🌊The climate crisis is that emergency on steroids—it will be a disaster for all coastal cities." On October 21, 2016, she wrote, "Sea levels are expected to rise + flood major coastal cities around the world. We need to transition to 100% clean energy by 2030."[34][35]
    • Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

    Libertarian candidate

    Libertarian Party Gary Johnson

    Gary-Johnson-(New Mexico)-circle.png
    Federal government
    • In an interview with Scott Holleran on August 11, 2011, Johnson said he advocated abolishing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Johnson said again on June 6, 2016, that HUD would be among the federal agencies he would eliminate if he was presented with legislation to do it. "You can’t eliminate [just] any federal agency [through executive order], but as president of the United States, I’ll sign legislation to eliminate any federal agency that they present me with,” Johnson told The Hill. "Any one," he continued. "Any of them."[37][38]
    Infrastructure

    Withdrawn candidates

    Democrats

    Republicans

    Recent news

    The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 presidential candidates on urban policy. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    2016 presidential candidates on urban policy - Google News

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The Clarion-Ledger, "Hillary Clinton pushes for Jackson water issues action," February 2, 2016
    2. ↑ Huffington Post, "Flint Mayor Endorses Hillary Clinton," accessed January 19, 2016
    3. ↑ Washington Post, "The 4th Democratic debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," accessed January 19, 2016
    4. ↑ The Detroit News, "Hillary Clinton aides met with Flint mayor over crisis," accessed January 19, 2016
    5. ↑ Hillary Clinton for President, "Infrastructure," November 29, 2015
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Planning Report, "An Agenda for Nation’s Urban Metropolises: Hillary Clinton, et. al.," March 31, 2015
    7. ↑ Politico, "Black Lives Matter protesters disrupt Clinton speech," October 30, 2015
    8. ↑ Politico, "Hillary Clinton has 'tough,' 'candid' meeting with Black Lives Matter activists," October 10, 2015
    9. ↑ New Hampshire Public Radio, "Clinton Holds Forum On Drug Abuse in Keene," August 11, 2015
    10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 New Republic, "Black Lives Matter Arrives on Hillary Clinton’s Doorstep," August 11, 2015
    11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 CNN, "Black Lives Matter videos, Clinton campaign reveal details of meeting," August 18, 2015
    12. ↑ Good, "Hillary Clinton to #BlackLivesMatter in Video, 'I Don’t Believe You Change Hearts...'," August 17, 2015
    13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 ABC News, "Transcript: Obama and Clinton Debate," accessed January 27, 2016
    14. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.1737 - Homeland Security Block Grant Act," accessed January 27, 2016
    15. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.2038 - Homeland Security Block Grant Act of 2002," accessed January 27, 2016
    16. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.87 - Homeland Security Block Grant Act of 2003," accessed January 27, 2016
    17. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.1411 - National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2003," accessed January 27, 2016
    18. ↑ The New York Times, "The Senate Campaign: Excerpts From the 3rd and Last Debate Between Clinton and Lazio," October 28, 2000
    19. ↑ The Chicago Tribune, "First Lady Rips Arrests Of Homeless," December 1, 1999
    20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    21. ↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
    22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 CNN, "Trump lays out 'urban renewal' proposals alongside bleak portrayal of black America," October 26, 2016
    23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Fortune, "Donald Trump Touts His Urban Policy After Detour to Open a New Hotel," October 27, 2016
    24. ↑ The Hill, "Trump casts inner cities as ‘war zones’ in pitch to minority voters," August 22, 2016
    25. ↑ The Guardian, "Donald Trump tells the Guardian police body cameras 'need federal funding,'" October 13, 2015
    26. ↑ Donald J. Trump for President, "Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again," accessed February 2, 2016
    27. ↑ The Washington Post, "Trump on rally protester: ‘Maybe he should have been roughed up’," November 22, 2015
    28. ↑ Trump, Donald. (1987). The Art of the Deal. New York: Random House. (page 169).
    29. ↑ GOP.com, "Republican Platform 2016," July 18, 2016
    30. ↑ Twitter, "Dr. Jill Stein," October 12, 2016
    31. ↑ Twitter, "Dr. Jill Stein," July 21, 2016
    32. ↑ Twitter, "Dr. Jill Stein," August 18, 2016
    33. ↑ The Green Party of the United States, "Platform," August 6, 2016
    34. ↑ Twitter, "Dr. Jill Stein," July 28, 2016
    35. ↑ Twitter, "Dr. Jill Stein," October 21, 2016
    36. ↑ The Green Party of the United States, "Platform," August 6, 2016
    37. ↑ Scott Holleran.com, "Interview with Gary Johnson," August 11, 2011
    38. ↑ The Hill, "Libertarian Gary Johnson: I'd eliminate NSA, IRS if elected," June 6, 2016
    39. ↑ The Detroit News, "Gary Johnson: Lower taxes, no auto bailouts," September 14, 2016
    40. ↑ Libertarian Party, "Libertarian Party Platform," May 27, 2016
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