Major vendors have come into the area and have been able to establish businesses without including local businesses, contractorS or services.  With the signing of the bill, the dynamic has changed.  The implications for Brooklyn’s minority business enterprises is tremendous.

State Senator Kevin Parker, of Brooklyn’s 21st Senatorial District, which encompasses Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Midwood and other areas,  took time to spell out the details and the impact these four new bills will have on Black-and minority-owned businesses in Brooklyn and throughout the state. 

What follows is a brief interview with the senator, immediately after Governor David Paterson’s historic signing of the bill into law:

GDW: What’s the significance of this bill?  And what does this mean for us in Brooklyn?

KP:  Well, it’s actually a package of four bills, three of which deal with something called 15A, which deals with procurement for the state of New York.  And the fourth bill actually deals with the Emerging Managers bill which now, for the first time, allows Blacks, Latino, women and Asians who are engaged in financial services, to now have a program that requires the state to give them their due.

To further put that in perspective, Senator Parker compared New York’s budget with the rest of the world: “Right now, the state of New York is the third- largest budget in the entire country.  First is the Federal Government’s budget, [second] the state of California, then the state of New York.  Out of that $136 billion that we’re going to spend this year in the state of New York, between $25 and $30 billion is procured out for everything from paper clips to large construction projects.  And so, historically, African-Americans, Latinos, women and Asians have had very, very, very small percentages — actually less than two percent totally  — of that money.  This is now going to expand the process — the process has existed for a while — but this will expand the process by which MWBE’s get access to those state contracts.”

GDW:  Brooklyn is the entrepreneurial capital of New York.  More people actually have their own small businesses. Specifically, what kinds of things are you going to do in Brooklyn to ensure those people are involved?

KP:  Well this is the first time that we’re connecting Wall Street to Main Street. Literally, Wall Street to the Main Streets of my community.  The Church Avenues, the Flatbush Avenues, the Nostrand Avenues.  And so, one,  there are going to be a lot of programs vis à vis every agency.  So from the Department of Transportation to the Empire State Development Corporation will be having programs.  A lot of elected officials, including myself, are doing press conferences, press releases and notices, and mailers to our community to let them know what’s going on.

GDW:  Is there anything that the other side of the community needs to do.  In other words, those people who are just getting into the fray and have never been certified as an MWBE can do?

KP:  Well, I think that what the people should be doing is reaching out to the agency, particularly to the Empire State Development Corporation.

Senator Parker is known for encouraging local small business growth with the creation of Building Blocks Local Development Corporation.  He has also hosted three business development forums throughout the district, so his sense of commitment to business development is already established.

That said, he offered several recommendations to MWBE’s  who stand to benefit from this new legislation:

KP:  There are really a number of things that people need to do.  I have five quick tips:

One, people need to get their paperwork straight.  Your personal financials; if you have a business already, get your business finances together and make sure you have a good business plan.

Two, research the opportunities that are available with the state.  Whether you’re selling furniture, there’s the Department of Education, you may want to look at the Health Department; if you do construction, you may want to talk with the Thruway Authority and the Dept. of Transportation; you can research and see who is your best opportunity to do business with.

The Third thing you want to make sure that you do is to get certified.  There’s a certification process with the state.

GDW:  Having worked as a minority business liaison in the past, I have to ask you has that process been streamlined?  It used to take forever.

KP: It has been.  It’s now a two-day process — it used to be a very long process, we’ve streamlined it.  I think it’s a one-page form now.  But it’s much easier.  And then last, make sure you reach out to your elected officials.  So, whether it’s myself or your assembly or city council person, they will have information on how minority—and women—owned businesses are working; and how you get your best access back to those opportunities.

KP: The important point is that we provide transparency to the process, accountability to the process; and more importantly, enforcement to make sure that people who were not in compliance with it are taken to task. The signing of this bill by the governor today is an acknowledgment that labor market discrimination exists in the state of New  York.  And that we, in fact, need to address it.  The way to address it is to make sure that Black and Latino, Asian and Women—Owned Businesses have more capacity to do hiring by giving them more business opportunities.  More business opportunities equates to more employment opportunities in all of our communities.

If you are interested in additional information on the Minority and Women Business Enterprises, contact the Empire State Development Corporation at www.empire.state.ny.us, or Senator Kevin Parker’s office at (718) 629-6401.

For a more in depth report on the MWBE and its impact, log on to my Blog:  http://www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot.com

Boykin: “Judge John L. Phillips had 13 properties listed with the Brooklyn Supreme Court Guardianship program.  Of those 13 properties listed, there was only rent recorded being collected for two months for two properties at 563 & 565 Nostrand Avenue, no other property has paid rent in 13 years. 
OTP:  The people in the Slave Theater now, what is their status? 
Boykin:  No one has paid rent in the entire time they’ve been there and all are there in a state of trespassing.  
OTP:  But they have access.
Boykin:  That’s because they won’t leave voluntarily.  I have an eviction notice that has been going on for 5 months, and I’m waiting on the court’s decision to evict.  We’re having a hard time selling the buildings because people want a building empty.  Not with tenants who have not paid rent in ten years. 
OTP:  But what about the electric?
BOYKIN: Dr. Paul Lewis of the Messengers for Christ World Healing center on the second floor is paying the utilities.  It’s an international church.  His church has been there for eight years and he is not paying any rent.  Mr. Hardy (downstairs) uses the church’s utilities and is paying zero bills.   People assume he is the spokesman for the family because he happens to be there. 
OTP:  And the status of the Slave Theater?
Boykin:  I’ve terminated my agreement with Massey and Knakel.  I put a “For Sale” sign on both theaters, “For Sale by Owner”.  I’ve received over a hundred calls.  We’re accepting bids and those that are authentic and qualified I will turn over to the attorneys.
What’s next for the Slave and the Black Lady Theater is that they must  be sold because we owe over $2 million dollars in back taxes and liens.  No property taxes on any of the properties have been paid in ten years. 
OTP: Whose responsibility is it to have paid those taxes?
Boykin:  These past guardians sold all the property and paid no taxes and filed no taxes. 
OTP: Where did that money go?
Boykin: A lot of that money we can’t find.  It’s been a continual embezzlement against the estate of Judge John L. Phillips non-stop by court-appointed guardians, by people who were close to Judge Phillips and say they loved him, but remain in the buildings without paying rent or taxes and others. 
OTP:  When you say that past guardians have been guilty of breaking the law, specifically, which laws are you talking about? 
Boykin:  Failure to file taxes.  Estate taxes, state and city taxes.  Selling property way undervalue.  Waiving of the guardianship law.  Failure to advertise property they were selling.  Paying off illegal mortgages.  Mortgage fraud was committed against 68 Cumberland Street for  $391,500.  Instead of the court reporting these people to the District Attorney’s Office and sending them to prison, they allowed Imani Taylor to pay off the loan from Judge Phillips’ account.  I couldn’t get anyone to respond until recently.  I sent information to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Supreme Court Appellate Division,  State Attorney General, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct.  Judge Phillips’ case is not isolated.   Anyone in the guardianship program is at the mercy of court-appointed attorneys and others who collaborate in mismanaging the estates.
OTP:  And the longer it takes, the more money everybody makes.
Boykin:  That’s correct.

Black Shows And Performers Grab Tony Nominations
The Tony Award nominations are out and African-American productions and performers are faring very well. FELA, the musical produced by Jay-Z, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and Alicia Keys is up for Best Musical; Best Book of a Musical-Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones; Best Direction of a Musical-Bill T. Jones; Best Choreography of a Musical-Bill T. Jones; Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical-Sahr Ngaujah; Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical-Lillias White; Best Scenic Design of a Musical-Marina Draghici; Best Costume Design of a Musical-Marina Dragnici; Best Lighting Design of a Musical-Robert Wierzel; Best Sound Design of a Musical-Robert Kaplowitz; and Best Orchestration of a Musical-Aaron Johnson.
Fences got 10 nominations which included: Best Revival of a Play; Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play-Denzel Washington; Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play-Viola Davis; Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play-Stephen McKinley Henderson; Best Direction of a Play-Kenny Leon; Best Costume Design of a Play-Constanza Romero; Best Scenic Design of a Play-Santo Loquasto; Best Lighting Design of a Play-Brian MacDevitt; Best Sound Design of a Play-Acme Sound Partners; and Best Original Score Written for the Theatre-Branford Marsalis.
Memphis-received eight Tony nominations: Best Musical; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score Written for the Theatre; Best Direction of a Musical; Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical-Chad Kimball; Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical-Montego Glover; and Best Orchestra.
In the plays Race and Superior Donuts African-American actors David Alan Grier and Jon Michael Hill respectively both received Tony nominations in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.
The Tony Awards will air live on CBS, Sunday, June 13 from 8pm-11pm. Watch and root for your favorites.

 
HaitiSOFTHOUSE is a flexible and sustainable approach to shelter that provides immediate transitional housing, community development and reconstruction solutions.
The shelter is designed to resist tropical storms and hurricane conditions, resist earthquakes and provide a healthy, well- ventilated environment. The flexibility of the structure allows for multiple-unit combinations, addressing domestic space needs, institutional needs and community needs.
The design features a lightweight and easy-to-assemble structural steel frame that receives high-performance fabric with excellent weather capabilities. The structure can be anchored directly into the ground using high-strength earth anchors in a variety of soil conditions. Additionally, the structure can be mounted on a prefab concrete foundation tile system that is manufactured locally from recycled concrete rubble. The structure is designed to be assembled with a few people in one day or less.
The SOFTHOUSEgroup was conceived and initiated by a group of designers with unique complimentary expertise and a commitment to bringing high quality, sustainable design solutions to the current demands of the recovery and reconstruction efforts of Haiti. The SOFTHOUSEgroup is currently working in conjunction with The Rural Haiti Project to combine creative and professional expertise with local and cultural knowledge in addressing the intermediate needs of Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.
The SOFTHOUSEgroup has established a association with Fabric Images, a Chicago-based manufacturer of lightweight deployable environmental structures. Fabric Images has international manufacturing locations with expertise in mass production under highly demanding delivery schedules.
The SOFTHOUSEgroup, LLC, in conjunction with The Rural Haiti Project, have secured the use of a site in Jacmel, Haiti for the initial construction of prototypes for field testing in June of 2010. The initial deployment of HaitiSOFTHOUSE units is intended to expand and evolve into the Jacmel SOFTVILLAGE in 2010.

Cornerstone choir. Superstar Mills, who once lived on Greene, bet. Throop and Marcus Garvey Blvd. (then Sumner Avenue), in her gfirlhood years attended Cornerstone, where her parents were deacons for 25 years. (Photo by Olivia Cousins)

Even the beloved ancestor Chief Charles Joshua, who led the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council and spearheaded a movement years ago that directly links to the  Central Brooklyn Community Services Corp., sponsoring agency of the Friday, May 21 fundraiser and benefit, had a place of honor at the table.  The assemblywoman remembered him in her remarks of appreciation.   (Proceeds from the concert benefit the work of CBCSC’s construction of a conference center/catering hall in the neighborhood.)

The evening also celebrated Bedford Stuyvesant as a great “home”  through the wonderful music of Stephanie Mills, 53, whose voice is stronger and more vibrant than ever.
And “stars” were born:  They included violinist Joya Bravo; the Voices of Cornerstone led by Natasha Quiller and the revelation of The Rev. Robert M. Waterman’s gifts as a master emcee.
There were other reminders of Bed-Stuy’s status as a bona fide village, too.  When event organizer Wayne Devonish sent a call out two weeks ago for support of his huge endeavor, soldiers lined up around him.  They included: Lorrie Ayers, Phyllis Hurd, Our Time Press intern Jessica Harris, and event coordinator/stage manager Sandra Coello.  Also, the Herbert Von King Park Friends; the Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant’s Board of Directors, of which Devonish is a member; Bridge Street Development Corporation staff; and dozens of  community and faith leaders, including the the security ministry of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church (Vinessa Toyer, Elizabeth Hill, Faye Baker, Patrice Webb, Brian Springer, Tommy White, Charles Crooms and Darryl McNeil) joined by the great ushers of historic Bridge Street AWME Church, all resplendent in white.
The community’s VIPS came out in full force, including the omnipresent and ever-supportive Dr. Marcia Maxwell, The Rev. Dr. Cheryl Anthony, Barbara Sidbury and her scores of classy sweetheart friends who not only supported the event with their dollars but also with their extreme patience and class.   Dinner was served late as guests along with caterers Lemuel and Charlotte Mial,  awaited the arrival of a local company charged with delivering tablecloths, napkins, dinnerware and silverware, but delayed by extreme circumstances.

Class Act: Stephanie Mills (foreground) took time for a photo op for the Bed-Stuy Archives with Bed-Stuy leaders, from left, community activist Sharonnie Perry, Community Board #3 President Henry Butler, CBCSS PresidentBill Wrenn of Central Brooklyn Community Services and Councilman Al Vann. (Photo by Olivia Cousins)

Responding to Mr. Devonish’s requests, post-concert, Ms. Mills greeted community leaders and the Voices of Cornerstone Baptist Church where she first started performing and both parents were deacons for 25 years.  Images of Miss Mills with community leaders can be seen on these pages of Our Time Press and, thanks to Lem Peterkin and other local photojournalists, in other  community papers, including The Amsterdam News, The Beacon and The Daily Challenge.
Wayne Devonish, Bill Wren, president of CBCSC and their staff, including the efficient Susan Bishop, Devonish’s assistant, have extended a special thanks to the entire Central Brooklyn family.  Said Mr. Wren, “It takes a village to get things done, and it always will.”

Richard Brodsky, NY Assembly

 As the only female candidate in the race, Nassau DA Rice tried to distinguish herself as the only candidate who is not an Albany or Wall Street insider. Coffey responded by saying, “The notion that anyone would group me with Wall Street insiders is nutty. I fought those guys for 11 years. Bloomberg Markets magazine designated me as the new Wall Street nemesis.”
Brodsky also took issue with Rice’s characterization of him being an insider. “It is a stereotype, and I don’t like it. I want to be judged for what I have done. If Miss Rice thinks that I have been ineffective, I welcome the opportunity to hear that. She and I have differences. She opposed the Rockefeller Drug Law reforms, I supported them for years.” Brodsky warned what would happen if the Democratic primary turns into a “throw the bums out”. “We do not need a Tea Party here,” he said. Rice responded by addressing what she characterized as a “complete falsehood” regarding her record on reform of Rockefeller Drug Laws. “Not only did I support them, but I was doing diversionary programs two years before the laws were reformed. We didn’t even saddle people with an arrest; it was a ‘second chance’ program. We all know how hard it is to go out and get a job once you have a conviction,” said Rice.

Kathleen Rice

Brodsky responded by saying he has a letter with Miss Rice’s name on it in which she opposes the Rockefeller Drug Law reforms. He did acknowledge her good work with diversionary programs.  “The part she opposed was the part giving judges rather than DA’s the ability to determine sentencing,” said Brodsky.
 OTP asked Rice about the Aloysius Staton case where a young man was beat up in an Oceanside, Long Island McDonald’s by three white men, “and instead of prosecuting the white men, you prosecuted Mr. Staton. He ended up spending a month in jail because he could not afford bail, then the case was dropped. In the case of Antoine Butts,  when you were in the Brooklyn DA’s Office, you were a defendant in a civil case where you were accused of ‘suborning perjury.’ Some of the witnesses in the case said you and a couple of ADA’s had instructed them as to who to point out as the person who did the crime. As a result, Antoine Butts ended up spending 2 years in jail on a murder charge he did not commit. How can the community trust you to be the top law enforcement officer in this state when this is your record on civil rights?”
 Rice responded with this: “I appreciate you asking that question. Over my almost 20-year career, I have handled thousands and thousands of cases. Two cases are being brought in, that you are mentioning, and you are using those two cases to say that this shows that I don’t appreciate civil rights. I don’t know what you are saying. I take personal offense to this.  And I take exception and it’s like a knife in my heart to use two cases out of a 20-year career  to say that I engaged in some kind of race-based prosecution. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Council member  Charles Barron asked about the return of Alton Maddox’s license. Coffey said, “I know about the case, and want to know more about the case. I don’t think, with rare exception, someone should be defined by their worst moment. So I would like to hear more about why you think this is a travesty. I have represented a disbarred attorney in my career and I know how painful that can be. There have been plenty of lawyers who have been restored. This may be such a case.”
Moderator Faye Moore asked a variety of prepared questions appropriate for candidates vying for the state’s top law enforcement office.
On stop-and-frisk, Brodsky said, “In its purest form, stop-and-frisk is what Arizona intends to do.” 

NY State Senator Eric Schneiderman

 Schneiderman said as attorney general he would take up the issue of mass incarceration. “The problem with our criminal justice system is the incentives for the police is to stop more people. The incentive is to arrest more people. Incentives for prosecutors is to put away more people,” Schneiderman said.  “This is the fault of our predecessors and colleagues who spent 30 years being afraid of being accused of being soft on crime. That is what they chose to vote for – Rockefeller Drug Laws, three strikes you’re out laws, mandatory minimums. With everyone paying a prison tax so that we can keep almost 2« million people in prison and have 700,000 people a year dumped out into poor communities – mostly African-American and Latino – with no reentry and no programs and wonder why those communities have trouble.”
Coffey said there are some serious questions about the constitutionality and scope of stop-and-frisk policy. “The problem is when it is abused and used as a pretext for harassment. That is wrong. My office, when I am attorney general, will vigorously investigate,” Coffey said. He  explained how his background is relevant: “You should know, I spent 11 years in a law firm that handles employment discrimination cases on behalf of aggrieved employees. I went to the firm for its role in the Texaco race discrimination case and won the largest settlement for African-American employees at the time. And I was proud to work on cases involving African-American bankers who were being discriminated against at the Bank of America. I come from that area, and will be very aggressive with the civil rights bureau pursuing, from a government perspective, that which my firm pursued in a private arena.”
Rice said she appointed the first bias crime prosecutor in the history of the DA’s Office in Nassau. “There is too much bias crime, too much racism in Nassau,” Rice said.
When asked about eminent domain, there was strong disapproval from the audience. Rice said there has to be a balance between development versus the interests of the community. “The attorney general comes out on the side of supporting the community advocating for themselves,” she said.
Schneiderman said he disagreed with the New London decision. He said, “I am the sponsor of legislation in the Senate that would change the eminent domain laws to stop this business of private interests being able to use public powers to enhance their own well-being. I don’t have objections to the concept of eminent domain, but that’s supposed to be for the public good. I would move program bills and I would enforce them rigorously. Also, the AG can conduct investigations into the way these projects are carried out. Even if they are technically complying with dome of the laws, I  assure you there are other issues that can be raised by an AG. I will look aggressively at the way these folks are proceeding.  The example here in Brooklyn is held up by advocates all around the state of what we do not want. If my bill isn’t passed this year, when I am AG that will be a program bill from my office.”
Brodsky said, “Five years ago, I passed the first bill to reform the eminent domain system before the Brooklyn issue came up because it had occurred in my county. I would urge this community and any advocate to avoid redefinition of those laws that allow blight to be a characteristic of what allows eminent domain laws to be exercised. Blight is Yiddish for ‘poor people’. If you focus any reform effort on poor communities, you are just going to get more of the same. Brodsky said the problem was state laws; the instrumentality is the state public authorities law “that essentially allowed a legislative body to transfer private property from one private person to another private person in the name of the public good. We passed the Authority Reform bill which would no longer make the Hudson Yards and Atlantic Yards transactions possible.”
Dinallo said he would use the appeals and opinion section of the AG’s office to issue a revisitation of [eminent domain], then use that opinion to signal a potential   lawsuit around getting  the laws changed, turning it back to a public enterprise, and not a private taking.
Coffey said we need someone who can affect change in Albany. “I did that when I took on Wall Street, the most powerful interest in this country. In the WorldCom case, 17 investment banks – including Goldman Sachs – tried to crush my little team with the best law firms in the country,” Coffey said. “We took them to trial and got $6 billion dollars. We need an agent of change, someone who is willing to leave the comfort of the private sector to come into Albany and affect change.”
On the subject of Wall Street, Brodsky said he introduced a bill five years ago would take the law Eliot Spitzer used so successfully and expand the ability of plaintiffs to be protected. “Right now, if you are a private citizen and Bernie Madoff  rips you off, you recover,” said Brodsky, “But a pension fund cannot be treated the same way.”
Dinallo said when he was in the AG’s office, he was the person who brought  the cases against Wall Street, and helped transform that office into the Sheriff of Wall Street and a protector of investors returning billions of dollars.  “I am the only person here who can talk about standing up to Wall Street and insurance companies as a public official,” said Dinallo.
Rice said “When you are talking about reforming Wall Street, and Albany, you can’t be a Wall Street insider, or an Albany insider. You need an outsider, someone who has been an advocate their entire career, like I have.”
Coffey told the audience, “To be effective reforming Wall Street, you have to understand Wall Street. You have to know where the bodies are buried; you have to know their tricks. I know those tricks.  Wall Street is important; it pays the bills. The best way to keep Wall Street growing is to keep it honest. I have recovered over $10 billion for defrauded investors, large and small. I have made people pay personally for the first time in history. The CEO of WorldCom, I took everything he had except the furniture and the silverware. I got it for the investors, including his $5 million joint tax refund. As AG, I am going to make the bad people pay – those CEO’s, those directors. I am going after these third parties, the credit rating agencies, the audit firms, the lawyers, the bankers. This is not a job for a rookie.”
Schneiderman explained the history of financial regulations, then said “On the state level we have some of the oldest financial regulations in the country. Some are too old. We can do a much better job with legislation. I understand the markets, I was a securities lawyer.”
Among the notables in attendance were Mayor of Hempstead Wayne Hall, Assembly members Annette Robinson, Inez Barron  and Jim Brennan, Council members Letitia James  Al Vann, and Charles Barron, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, District Leaders Olanike Alabi and Jesse Hamilton and Chris Owens.
The forum was sponsored by Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), Council members Al Vann and Letitia James, District leaders Olanike Alabi, Jesse Hamilton and Shirley Patterson, Rosa Parks Independent Democratic Club, The 57th Assembly District Democratic Organization, and New Kings Democrats (NKD).