Ralph Becker's turn to talk ended up being the opening act for President-elect Barack Obama.

Becker was speaking to fellow mayors and members of Obama's transition team Thursday in Chicago when the president-elect arrived at the meeting and seized the spotlight.

"I was wonderfully upstaged," the Salt Lake City mayor said.

Becker was one of 16 mayors who met with Obama and his team to discuss the planned White House Office of Urban Policy.

The soon-to-be established office will focus on ways the federal government can help America's cities. The goal is to ensure that all federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs, according to the office of the president-elect.

"It was a chance for me and the other mayors to get a first-hand feel for how this administration is going to approach its relationships with local governments and state governments, and how this administration looks at cities, metropolitan areas and regions," said Becker, who was invited to the meeting at the president-elect's transition office as a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Working Group on Urban Policy.

Currently, federal programs aimed at strengthening metropolitan areas are spread among several areas, including the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Labor and Commerce.

A consequence of that is programs inadvertently undermine cities and regions by encouraging inefficient and costly patterns of development and local competition, according to Obama's urban policy plan at www.barackobama .com.

The meeting was led by Valerie Jarrett, Obama's senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs, who has a background in city government. Obama was in attendance for about 20 minutes of the 2 1/2-hour meeting, Becker said.

"It was so encouraging for me and everyone in that room," Becker said. "We all felt energized that we have a president-elect who understands cities. ... They were very anxious to receive input from mayors on how (the Office of Urban Policy) can best function."

During his campaign, Obama spoke about the need to "stop seeing cities as the problem and start seeing them as part of the solution."

"Strong cities," he said, "are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America."

The yet-to-be-appointed director of urban policy will report directly to the president and coordinate all federal urban programs. The Washington Post has reported that Adolfo Carrion Jr. is expected to be named to the post. Carrion, 47, currently serves as president of the Bronx Borough, one of New York City's five boroughs.

Other cities represented by mayors at the meeting included Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Albuquerque.

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