Mayor Bob Coble

The mayor stepped out of Wednesday’s meeting at noon to participate in a conference call with the transition team, along with about 75 other mayors from around the country. The call focused on Obama’s plans to create something akin to an office of urban affairs that would, as the name suggests, deal with urban issues.

But the mayor is more interested in a proposed infrastructure stimulus package, where he hopes the federal government will give Columbia $76 million to, among other things, finish up streetscaping projects on Harden and North Main streets.

“Everybody listened,” Coble said. “You couldn’t really say anything.”

Coble has been doing a lot of talking lately in support of the proposed infrastructure stimulus. That goes against Gov. Mark Sanford’s wishes, which are laid out in a nice A1 story today from The State’s John O’Connor.