Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

New York has had eight years of what mayoral candidate Bill Thompson calls a “barbell economy” that “created low-paying jobs with no benefits on one end, high-paying jobs predominately in finance and business services on the other, and very few jobs in between.” According to Thompson, the “middle class, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and working families have been shut out.” Thompson has introduced a comprehensive plan “that focuses on  real solutions to create a diverse post-boom era economy that produces long-term, living-wage jobs.”
Thompson’s A New Direction for a New Economy has a three-pronged approach: make New York City a true center of entrepreneurial, small business growth; restructure our workforce development system to give New Yorkers the skills required to hold jobs that pay good wages; and include the entire city and all economic groups in the creation of long-term, living-wage jobs and career ladders to the middle class as a top priority.
In a recent presentation to the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, Bill Thompson spoke of the plight of New York’s historic Garment District as an example of how private sector jobs and businesses have been negatively impacted by current policies.
New York’s world-class Garment District has traditionally thrived because of the close proximity of talent across the field – clothing designers, pattern makers, fabric manufacturers, producers of button, zipper and trim makers, garment manufacturers, show rooms and merchandisers, and fashion show operations. These entities require space to sustain and grow the industry. Thompson points to Bloomberg’s development and rezoning policies as a threat to the industry – an assertion supported by the Garment Industry Development Corporation.
According to Thompson, since 2002, nearly 2,000 acres of manufacturing zones have been rezoned for other uses. “To make matters worse,” said Thompson, “the city now wants to rezone another 1,800 acres – a combined 20 percent of our manufacturing acreage and 40 percent of already-built industrial space – despite the fact that many of our 7,000 manufacturers are looking to expand.” Thompson said he will “enforce existing zoning regulations that were established to protect manufacturers from real estate speculators who offer only short-term leases – a practice that has discouraged many manufacturers from locating in New York City.” Thompson would place a “moratorium” on the proposed rezoning of an additional 1,800 acres in manufacturing zones. He said he will also “work with manufacturers, the fashion industry and labor unions to arrange for up to one million square feet of dedicated garment manufacturing space in nonprofit buildings, the amount of space the industry says it requires to thrive and to expand.”
With help from low-cost financing and grants, Thompson said he will also “replicate programs like the highly successful Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center which helps nonprofits acquire, rehabilitate and renovate run-down industrial properties. These new centers will be designed for occupancy at affordable rents by small manufacturers and creative firms in fields such as architecture, design and high tech.” In addition, as mayor, Thompson said he would develop a centralized, online, searchable  database of all available commercial space under 5,000  square feet for small business tenants looking for open, small commercial space. He would also establish “Retail Retention Zones” which would offer incentives to property owners so that “independent retailers can compete for retail space with deep-pocketed retail chains and banks.”
To better support NYC’s small business and long-term economic health, “We must also help New Yorkers acquire the skills they need to compete for jobs created by these newly empowered businesses,” said Thompson. “Under Mayor Bloomberg, the current $925 million dollar city-administered [workforce development] system is uncoordinated and often at odds with itself.” Thompson’s office found “the system lacks a unifying mission, and that its 33 different programs report to three different deputy mayors with no reference to a citywide economic development strategy.” Specifically, Thompson said, “It’s incredible that the Department of Education’s Career and Technical programs – which trains thousands of high school students in everything from aircraft mechanics to computer technology – are entirely separate from the rest of the workforce development system, and that no one is in charge of coordinating the whole effort.”
Thompson said as mayor, he would establish a Mayor’s Office of Skills Development to ensure that “our city’s workforce development efforts are comprehensive, coordinated and focused on sectors where our city seeks a competitive advantage.”
Thompson’s support for small businesses as NY’s economic engine is concrete. According to Thompson, “Roughly 98 percent of New York City firms have fewer than 100 employees. These businesses account for almost half the city’s private-sector payroll.”
The Office of the Comptroller under Bill Thompson has paid particular attention to Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises. A recent audit found the Department of Small Business Services (DSBS) did not completely comply with Local Law 129, which was enacted in response to a disparity study commissioned by the NYC Council in 2005. The study found that there was a significant disparity in contracting opportunities afforded to certain M/WBE groups in the procurement of construction, professional services, standard services and goods. Local Law 129 was intended to address the disparities revealed by the study. As stated in the law, DSBS “shall administer, coordinate and enforce a citywide program established by local law for the identification, recruitment, certification and participation in city procurement of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises.”
Thompson said, “The fundamental goal of the program is to increase M/WBE participation in the city’s procurement process, not merely to give these companies an opportunity to compete.” The Comptroller’s Review of FY 2008 agency purchases from M/WBEs found that of the 23 agencies that were required to submit an agency utilization plan, 12 agencies met a total of 21 prime contract utilization goals out of 241 applicable categories. The total value of the prime contracts entered into by these agencies was $369,417,386, with a targeted goal to spend $107,816,905 in contracts with M/WBEs. “However,” said Thompson, “the actual value of contracts with M/WBEs was a paltry 14 percent of that goal, or $14,882,561.”
Comptroller Thompson found several noncompliance issues of contractors that were discovered by DSBS, including: a prime contractor adjusted the subcontracting requirements of a contract without notifying the agency; no proof of payment to a subcontractor was provided by the prime contractor for two contracts; and a prime contractor did not meet its subcontracting goals.  The Comptroller’s Office surprisingly found that although noncompliance was discovered, DSBS never notified the audited agencies and contractors of the findings.  “If an agency is not made aware of the audit’s outcome, especially when there are findings of noncompliance, there is no way to ensure they know what is taking place and certainly have no means to ensure the problem gets rectified,” Thompson said. “Common sense was missing here.”
Thompson has made several recommendations, including that DSBS should: immediately meet with all agencies not meeting their goals to discuss ways that they could improve, and document the results of those meetings; at least annually review and document its review of the utilization of M/WBEs by the agencies subject to the local law requirements to determine if they are meeting the goals stated in their M/WBE utilization plans; meet and document its meetings with the agencies that are not achieving their M/WBE utilization goals to determine the reason(s) the goals are not being met and whether the agencies are making all reasonable efforts to do so. In addition, based on the results of these meetings, DSBS should determine whether any common factors exist among the agencies that may need to be addressed, and establish a system whereby audit findings are followed up with contractors (both prime and subs as appropriate) and contracting agencies in a timely manner.
Bill Thompson has established on the Comptroller’s website a list of procurement resources for Minority and Women-owned businesses.

First, in the interest of full disclosure, Publisher David Greaves is President of the Board of
Directors of Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc.  As an Assemblyman, Al Vann
has supported the center founded by Mrs. Hattie Carthan for two decades before Greaves joined
the Board and he has continued to do so as a Councilman, despite Greaves’ presence.  Also,
Greaves made phone calls on the Councilman’s behalf from the second floor of the Harriet Ross
Tubman Avenue AKA Fulton Street, office in the early 80’s.

Why Al Vann?  Because we are at war.  The unemployment rate for Black men is said to be 50%,
matching the school dropout rate.  64% of the national prison population comes from the African
-American community.  Health statistics show obesity, prostate cancer, hypertension, AIDS and
other ailments are at peak levels in Bedford-Stuyvesant.  Foreclosure and sheer economic
distress are the daily fare for too many here.
These are national problems stemming from sources that transcend time, and their solution does
not lie in any one political office, and yet I hear some variation of “That happened on Vann’s
watch, because he was never around,” to which I say “No, it happened on your watch, because had
you been at the front lines, you would have seen him there.”   If these disgruntled had attended
Community Board meetings, or any community-building activity, they would have found him easily.
And if he wasn’t there, they could have invited and questioned him.  It’s a good bet they never
called the Council District office and asked to join the Education Task Force, Senior Task
Force, Community Safety Task Force, Youth Task Force, or even the Coalition for the Improvement
of Bedford Stuyvesant (CIBS). They probably didn’t rally around renaming Gates Avenue for Sonny
Carson, or come out to honor Harriet Tubman.  The only way politicians can catch up with these
folks is to intercept them between the subway and their home.
But even when the day-to-day battles on both sides of the commute prevent presence at the
“Front” in the ongoing struggle of Africans-in-America, votes matter in this war.  Over the next
few years, there will be hundreds of millions of dollars coming down the pipeline as the
stimulus packages roll out.  While all politicians in areas with statistics like those above
will be able to talk about the funds coming in, it is a political pipeline that will be
delivering that money and political relationships built up over the years, where a case can be
made in private, is something that only an incumbent can bring to the office.  And while we are
for term limits and the excitement and new ideas they bring to the local races, after twenty-
seven years in the State Assembly and eight in the City Council, Al Vann has the unusually deep
and personal relationships with politicians across the state and in Washington that can only be
beneficial for the district.
Incumbents traditionally have an easy time of it at reelection but this will be no cakewalk for
Councilman Vann.  He polled only 29% of the total vote, facing an electorate that wants change,
and a smart and able opponent in Mark Winston Griffith who wears the change label very well, but
when you look, you see that Al Vann does also.
Vann was a founder of the African -American Teachers Association and helped create Boys & Girls
Memorial High School and Medgar Evers College.   His official site reminds us that, “As Chairman
of the New York State Black & Puerto Rican Caucus in 1981, Vann led the U.S. Supreme Court fight
that prevented the racial gerrymandering of the New York City Council. The court case led to
increased representation of communities of color in the Council. In addition, Vann also filed a
1982 lawsuit that forced the New York State Legislature to significantly increase representation
of communities of color on the state and federal levels. His landmark victory led to the
creation of two additional Congressional Districts, three additional State Senatorial Districts,
and six additional Assembly Districts for communities of color in New York State.”
Additionally the councilman reported that Bedford Stuyvesant has just received a special federal
grant from the EPA based on a CIBS application that he had spearheaded. “The grant, one of only
two in the country, puts us in a position to receive federal money that will lead the way to
creating a green community with green jobs and green infrastructure,” said Vann.   This is not
promised change, this is delivered and we need more like it.  Plus, the Councilman was a
sergeant in the U.S. Marines and if you have to be in a war, that’s a good side to be on.
Doors open 6:00am November 3rd.  Every vote counts.

Lefferts Place is only three blocks long, running parallel to Fulton Street and Atlantic Ave. and bounded by on the east and St. James Place on the west.  My block is the middle block – a tree-lined street with brownstones and compatible apartment buildings. I’ve lived here since 1972. Three of my children were born here and this is the only home any of them know.   Every so often something happens on my block that brings neighboring residents out of their homes to block association meetings or that garner attention from the media. Developers and land use issues really gets the attention of home owners and folk quickly takes sides – for and against.
Most recently it was when CNR Health Care Network’s  ten year old proposal to build  assisted living housing resurfaced as a six story 71 unit building for seniors.  During the 10 years of being in court with the lot’s owner, the area was rezoned, thus the need for community support to obtain a variance.  In July CNR presented the project to 30 residents at a meeting convened by Mr. Roach, president of Lefferts Place Civic Association (LPCA).  Residents voiced concerns about the density of the building that would be nestled between 70 Lefferts Pl, a yellow Civil War era Italianate villa-style mansion,  the survivor of the last threat by a developer that the community succeeded in having landmarked in 2006 and a two-story frame house. The promotional drawing portrayed by CNR as 86 Lefferts Pl was a six story building nestled between another six story building and a four story building.  There was also concerns about parking which didn’t get definitive answers.  In this session I learned that there had been no needs assessment by Community Board Two, that CNR was unwilling to modify their plans to adhere to the rezoning and that we were being asked to support a project which was out of context with the existing housing and we had no way of knowing the ultimate effect of their being granted a variance. Touring their buildings in the Bronx, I got the message loud and clear.  All the buildings were the same – a cluster of six story brick building – absolutely no incongruence here.  I was now absolutely clear that I was on the side of protecting the trees, the sunlight and the air on Lefferts Place.  I was not against housing for seniors and would have appreciated CNR caring about senior housing to the extent that they would have modified  their plans to conform with zoning.
On August 5 at a LPCA meeting, attended by 40 residents from the three blocks, the vote was unanimously against supporting the project.   LPCA is holding its first election in four years, two years overdue. The organization is in dire need of restructuring.  The challenge now is to convince all residents – homeowners and tenants alike – that they make a difference, to keep them involved at whatever level that works for them.  There’s many needed projects, among them investigating ways of utilizing and maintaining the mansion and engaging in creative dialogue about possible uses of the lot at 86 Lefferts Place.  Hopefully, residents will not get caught up in differences but will vote for competent and committed  leadership, capable of building team and creating ways for each and every resident to contribute to their community and most of all training future leaders.  After all developers have their vision – money.  It’s up to us to create a vision of  having our neighborhoods work for everyone with no one left out.