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Six Firms Designated as Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises to Build 460 Units of Affordable Housing

Editor, Our Time Press
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Six Firms Designated as Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises to Build 460 Units of Affordable Housing

On Friday, January 13th Richard Buery, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, conducted a roundtable with the six newly announced Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) firms selected to build affordable housing on six sites owned by the city. Forty-one firms applied.

Mayor DeBlasio with Ben Upshaw, Project Manager and Principal of C-B
Emmanuel Realty. Photo: Morgot Mckenzie

Prior to the roundtable, Mayor Bill de Blasio chatted individually with the MWBE winners who stood proudly beside renderings of the façades for their proposed buildings.

According to city records, certification as an MWBE was an essential requirement for this construction award. Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) issued a Request for Qualifications from firms which was due March 25, 2015. Among many items, applicants detailed their backgrounds, residential development and property management experience, and company assets. HPD assessed responses and prequalifications to compete once the official request for proposals (RFP) was released. Records show that with the exception of two developers, prequalifiers participated in the HPD workshop series on Building Capacity which provided networking opportunities with top-notch real estate professionals and insight into how to run a successful real estate development enterprise.

Andrea Kretchmer and Annie Tirschwell of Type A Projects.

The six winning developers have “established a relationship with the communities where they will build . . . and they reflect its diversity,” said Commissioner Vicki Been of HPD. She added that this project will provide 440 of the 62,000 units Mayor de Blasio hopes to construct.

Richard Flateau, Chair of Community Board 3 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, “lauds the de Blasio Administration for achieving the dual goal of building 100 percent affordable housing and using M/WBE firms as the lead developers”. In the rotunda and during the roundtable discussions, developers shared their varied backgrounds and expertise.

Brooklyn

MacQuesten Construction Management, Rella Fogliano, President. On-the-job training in her father’s firm in the 1980s provided Fogliano with the experience and knowledge of development and financing. In 1992, she successfully developed sixty-three units of affordable housing in the Bronx. She will bring her expertise to 1510 Broadway in Bedford-Stuyvesant where she will develop Broadway Commons Triangle, fifty-nine units which will include an elevated play area for children and adults.

C-B Emmanuel Realty, Ben Upshaw, Project Manager and Richard Bramwell, Jr. Upshaw brings fifteen years of real estate development to housing and with Bramwell will lead the development at 461 Alabama Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, which will provide fifty-five units for the homeless and an office for a not-for-profit.

Lee Braithwaite (l), Chairman and CEO and Robert Horsford, President and
COO of Apex Building Company, display Balton Commons, 263-267 West
126th St. Harlem

Dabar Development Partners, LLC, Dawanna Williams and Thorobird Real Estate, Thomas Campbell. With a A.B. in Economics/Government from Smith College, an M.P.A. from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, Ms. Williams also brings twenty years of experience in commercial real estate. Her partner, Thomas Campbell, holds a B.A. in economics from Colgate University and an MBA in real estate, finance and entrepreneurship from Columbia Business School.   In addition to his formal education, Campbell brings seven years of affordable housing development to the table. Dabar and Thorobird will develop 1921 Atlantic Avenue into 183 units of housing for seniors and low- and moderate-income households. In addition, provisions will be made for Oko Farms, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) and a fresh, good grocery store.

Manhattan

Apex Building Company, Robert Horsford and Lemor Realty, Harrison Rayford. Robert Horsford (General Contractor), a third-generation real estate developer with twenty years of experience in development, partners with Harrison Rayford who holds a B.A. from Morehouse and an M.S. in real estate development from NYU. Rayford shot to full-time development associate upon graduation. He joined Lemor Realty in 2012 where he co-founded Lemor Development Corporation and led the development of fifty apartments. Implementing a passive house design, the two firms will bring twenty-nine homes to Balton Commons, 263-267 126th Street in Harlem. The site will include a coffee shop and a tech incubator company, Silicon Harlem, geared toward STEM enrichment and education for high school students.

Rella Fogliano, President,
MacQuesten Construction
Management

Bronx

Type A Projects, Andrea Kretchmer and Annie Tirschwell. Kretchmer will combine her ten years of affordable housing building development experience with Tirschwell’s twenty years of experience developing community facilities and alternative school communities to develop ninety-six units of senior housing and an LGBT community center at El Sur, 1490 Southern Boulevard @ Crotona Park East, Bronx.

Infinite Horizons, Randall E. Powell and Roland E. Powell. With B.A. and M.S. degrees from Hunter College in political science and housing and community development, respectively, Randall has served in various capacities. He brings over twenty years in general contracting experience. With his brother Roland, they will develop Infinite Horizons–comprised of twenty units featuring a green roof and solar panels at the 359 East 157st Street site in the Melrose section of the Bronx.

When discussing the intent of his team, Harlem developer Robert Horsford stated their goal was to “create a great facility for the community to live in, and one the community could be proud of”. This statement could well reflect the sentiments of the mayor’s office and each of the winning developers.

Margo McKenzie is a contributing writer for Community Affairs. Watch for the February 1st relaunching of her blog: giftofletters.com.

Local Leaders Call on Obama to Continue Service

Akosua Albritton
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Local Leaders Call on Obama to Continue Service

By Akosua K. Albritton

At his last press conference, yesterday, President Barack Obama was reminded that he had said he would come back and fight for the Dreamers. His answer went viral to s follow-up question posed by a reporter, “And what did you mean when you said you would come back?”

President Obama speaks to the media after the automatic budget cuts associated with the sequester took effect in March 2013

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I did not mean that I was going to be running for anything anytime soon. So, what I meant is that it’s important for me to take some time to process this amazing experience that we’ve gone through; to make sure that my wife, with whom I will be celebrating a 25th anniversary this year, is willing to re-up and put up with me for a little bit longer. I want to do some writing. I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much. I want to spend precious time with my girls.

So those are my priorities this year. But as I said before, I’m still a citizen.

Last week, Our Time Press asked local community leaders for their thoughts on what President Obama should do after he is rested and taken some time for himself and for his family. Here are some of the responses:

Once Barack Obama is fully rested, what do you suggest his next project or mission be?

Ethel Tyus, Board Member, General Counsel and Treasurer for Crown Heights North Association suggests: As a constitutional law professor, President Obama can help guide state and local legislators in using voting and census data to reconfigure the gerrymandered districts that gave Republicans control of both Houses of Congress. This should be done in preparation for the 2020 elections.

Richard Flateau, Brooklyn Community Board No. 3 President proposes:

His next order of work is involvement with the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. He can serve as an inspirational force and a role model. Barack Obama could do symbolic and substantive things to uplift Black boys and young men. He can continue his efforts in gun control in the United States or actualize his interest in developing future leaders—girls and boys—as exemplified by PECASE awardees and other endeavors [who are new professionals in their respective fields].

From NYS Senator Jesse Hamilton (SD 20):

Former presidents have done great things both at home and abroad in terms of directing attention to important causes and continuing to help the American people grapple with tough problems. Leaving the Office of President of the United States does not have to be the end of service to the American people. After his presidency, and after a well-deserved vacation, I hope President Obama will continue to lead on mentorship and the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. In Brownsville, I have seen firsthand the difference mentorship can make in the lives of our community’s young people. President Obama has a standing invitation to come and visit “The Campus”, our first-in-the-nation technology and wellness hub at a public housing site that has helped so many young people through mentorship and after-school education. I am positive that President Obama will continue to be an inspirational figure and that he will help lead on youth engagement, education and ensuring the next generation of America’s young people have every opportunity to succeed. I look forward to whatever initiative he puts his mind to in his post-presidency, and I am sure he will bring the same sense of purposeful commitment to whatever challenge he chooses to take on. The same applies to our outstanding First Lady Michelle Obama. She has a record of leadership and inspiring people around the world.

NYS Assembly Member Latrice Walker (AD 55) offers:

I think President Barack Obama’s next mission, after he leaves the White House, should be to champion these three causes: the first being the protection of the right to vote. The second cause would be to assist in developing a fair and equitable system for reapportionment and redistricting that also respects minority-majority districts. Lastly, to mentor and train a new generation of leaders in the Democratic Party.

Statement from Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. (CD 36):

President Obama’s service has been invaluable. I hope he will have a larger role within our Democratic Party to ensure the policies we have worked so hard for; i.e., correcting racial injustices, health care for all, STEM education, etc. will remain intact under a Republican Administration. His next move should also mirror that of his predecessors, such as opening his Presidential Library, authoring more books and speaking engagements, particularly within our urban communities which will benefit so many of our young people. Whatever pathway he chooses, I am sure our nation will continue to benefit from his service for many more years to come.

View From Here

David Mark Greaves
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View From Here

 

By David Mark Greaves

Missing Obama, Wondering What’s Next

CHICAGO, Jan. 10, 2017 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama waves to the audience after giving his farewell speech at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America on Jan, 10, 2017. (Credit Image: © Ting Shen/Xinhua/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)

Barack Obama and his family leaving the White House, to be replaced with Donald, Melania, Ivanka and Jared, is like watching a sunny day turn into a dark and stormy night.   Because whatever you think of his policies, the adjectives keep coming about the President’s decency, humility, humanity and brilliance, his scandal-free administration, parenting skills, his example as a loving husband and more.  And yet as he says, we have to move on looking into the future.  The heartbreak is when we do, we want to recoil in horror because each day brings new questions and cabinet appointment confirmations that sound like nails going into a coffin.

 

Or Maybe Not

On the other hand, as President Obama says publicly, maybe with Trump’s very different style, there will be a very different mix of plusses and minuses.

At his press conference he certainly has set high standards for himself, declaring, “I will be the greatest jobs producer that God ever created,” and the words he used repeatedly to describe his team and efforts, were “great”, “beautiful”, “tremendous”, “incredible”, “elegant”, “special” and “fantastic”.   Trump said the much-talked-about wall will be built at the Mexican border and they will pay for it by way of a reimbursement deal to be worked out.

He acknowledged that the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee and said the US is hacked by everybody, including China and he has the top people in the world working on cybersecurity and within 90 days a major report on hacking defense will be issued.

So if we don’t include issues like voting rights, women’s rights, religious freedom and mass incarceration, and other challenges as in the Middle East, North Korea and the warming planet, maybe everything will turn out okay.

 

The War on Public Schools

Editor, Our Time Press
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The War on Public Schools

Charters, vouchers, and disposable teachers are Trump’s targets.

Rachel M. Cohen

On November 8, 2016, the man who vowed to be “the nation’s biggest cheerleader for school choice” won the presidential contest. About two weeks later he announced that Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor who has aggressively lobbied for private-school vouchers, online education, and for-profit charter schools, would serve as his education secretary. In early December, Jeb Bush told an audience of more than 1,000 education reformers in Washington, D.C., that he hoped “there’s an earthquake” in the next few years with respect to education funding and policy. “Be big, be bold, or go home,” he urged the crowd.

To say education conservatives are ecstatic about their new political opportunities would be an understatement. With Republicans controlling the House and Senate, a politically savvy conservative ideologue leading the federal education department, a vice president who earned notoriety in his home state for expanding vouchers, charters, and battling teacher unions, not to mention a president-elect who initially asked creationist Jerry Falwell Jr. to head up his Department of Education, the stars have aligned for market-driven education advocates.

Donald Trump neither prioritized education on the campaign trail, nor unveiled detailed policy proposals, but the ideas he did put forth, in addition to his selection of Betsy DeVos, make clear where public education may be headed on his watch. And with a GOP Congress freed from a Democratic presidential veto, conservative lawmakers have already begun eyeing new legislation that just a few months ago seemed like political pipedreams.

The next few years may well bring about radical [read: reactionary] change to education.

 

To Read More

 

Tears During Obama’s Farewell Address

Editor, Our Time Press
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Tears During Obama’s Farewell Address

The country’s first black president had one last act: reminding Americans to still believe in change and remain hopeful.

By: Derrick Clifton, www.theroot.com

At the close of a historic two-term presidency, as the nation’s first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama had one last benevolent act: to remind the country not to give up on hope or the belief that it could create change.

Despite the enthusiastic cheering from the audience at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center Tuesday evening, many attendees couldn’t hold back their tears as President Obama reminded them of what’s happened during his tenure, and just how far we’ve all come—together.

“If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history … if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot and take out the mastermind of 9/11 … if I had told you that we would win marriage equality and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens—you might have said our sights were set a little too high,” Obama said.

 

“But that’s what we did. That’s what you did. You were the change,” he continued. “You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.”

His farewell speech went far beyond a full accounting of what he’s accomplished in office. Being true to his roots as both a lawyer and law professor, and as a community organizer, President Obama reminded Americans of the power and potential of a democracy where people choose to participate, as well as a commentary on how history has led to the current state of our politics.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2017/01/the-president-had-us-all-in-tears-during-his-obamafarewell-address/

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