The "Re=Planting" of North Minneapolis - No Affirmative Action

“The City of Minneapolis has push through a Resolution that "removes" the Affirmative Action clause in city demolition contracts.”

While Black “self-appointed” leaders who have been fighting between one and another over dollars the City of Minneapolis received from the State to address the foreclosure crisis and jocking for position as the “group” or “program” that can take north Minneapolis to the next level, the City of Minneapolis has quietly “removed” the Affirmative-Action requirements from the current round of dollars (demolition contracts) to ensure that while these Negros are fighting between themselves they also will not directly receive any of the dollars tagged for 55411 and 55405 (areas hit the hardest by the housing crisis).

Furthermore, the money has already been tagged and the useless uproar by the city’s premiere poverty pimps falls on deaf ears. With the City of Minneapolis setting the goals for Affirmative Action to ZERO (See letter from the City Attorney’s office below), what’s the next move to “re-plant” north Minneapolis with new people that don’t look like us? Secondly, how will “self-appointed” Black leaders “stop, look and listen” – but furthermore, “understand process?” (Chasing “green jobs” will not create wealth for the community.”)

And again we ask, “Where is Congressman Keith Ellison?” If there’s an Israeli flag to burn on the Minnesota State Capitol steps, he’s there! Rep. Ellison, who quietly signed off on $70 Million in earmarks in 2008 with other elected representatives overlooked the fact that no dollars went directly to Black organizations. What about taking care of business in your own back yard? (More to come soon with shocking photos!)

The following email was sent to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak from Springboard Development Foundation’s founder in regards to the City of Minneapolis’ receipt of the $1.7 million dollars and the City’s lack of inclusion as it pertains to the Affirmative Action goals being removed:

Mayor Rybak,

Per information provided by city officials and the Star Tribune, the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) has been sanctioned as the distributor of millions of dollars provided by the city, state, and federal government to address housing and/or the foreclosure crisis in the city of Minneapolis.

“Is this a Halliburton type relationship?” For example GMHC is the only one deemed qualified so they are awarded contracts without bid.

Does GMHC as a contractor of the city have to follow the same laws as any contractor who does work for the city of Minneapolis?

This relationship appears to be in violation of the R.I.C.O. laws. Government entities are also subject to R.I.C.O.

For example, the demolition contract of $1.7 million was awarded with the stipulations that all city requirements for Affirmative Actions and Sub Contractors were muted. Government entities are also subject to R.I.C.O.

Springboard Economic Development Corporation is asking for inclusion and all funds awarded to GMHC and the demolition contractors for the foreclosure crisis not be taken from the $5.6 million awarded to the city of Minneapolis from the state and or the federal government.” (Email sent by Lennie Chism, Executive Director/Founder of Springboard Development Foundation to Mayor R.T. Rybak, City of Minneapolis)

To further explain the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO), is described as, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.

It is alleged that the City of Minneapolis has violated the RICO Act by the handling process of dollars tagged for the foreclosure demolition projects by removing the Affirmative Action requirements that simply refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. This affects not only African American business in Minneapolis, but the City’s action also excludes businesses and organizations run by Woman, Hispanics-Latinos, Asians, Hmong’s, Somali and other minority-ethnic groups.

The email to Mayor Rybak’s office sent a clear signal that was answered by the following response from the City Attorney’s office dated January 23, 2009:

Dear Mr. Chism:

I have been asked to respond to your recent inquiries regarding the awarding of bundled demolition contracts by the City of Minneapolis as part of the ongoing initiative to address the foreclosure crisis. To this end, I have consulted with representatives from the Civil Rights and Finance Departments, as well as the Small and Underutilized Business Program. I can relay to you the following information regarding the altogether appropriate awarding of the referenced demolition contracts:

* Late last year the City of Minneapolis received substantial grant funding through The Neighborhood Stabilization Program administered by the United States

* Department of Housing and Urban Development. This funding is contingent upon a number of factors and requires recipients to act rapidly in its utilization.

* Because of the extraordinary number of rush demolitions required to take place according to expedited schedules and mandatory deadlines tied to the provisionof the grant funding, staff made the business decision to bundle numerous demolitions together for bid in order to take advantage of significant economies of scale.

* The nature of the demolition work associated with this funding is such that very few subcontracting opportunities exist in that residential demolition contractors generally perform the entire scope of the required work.

* In accord with the requirements of the Small and Underutilized Business Enterprise Program (see Minneapolis Code of Ordinances Ch. 423), specific program participation goals for the utilization of small, minority and women-owned businesses are set on a contract-by-contract basis. Such goals are based upon the qualifications and availability of certified businesses as we!! As the potential for participatory opportunities, such as identified subcontracting opportunities associated with a given project.

* Based on the above-referenced factors, and because the city may not require contractors to subcontract work that they normally complete themselves, the program goals for the bundled demolition contracts were set at zero.

* The Greater Minneapolis Housing Corporation (GMHC) was not and is not a party to the bundled demolition contracts.

You may contact the city’s Small and Underutilized Business Program at (612) 673-2272 with any further questions. (This letter was the legal response from the City of Minneapolis sent by Assistant City Attorney Joel M. Fussy to Mr. Chism).

The City of Minneapolis has looked into why this has happened and Minneapolis City Council members have been questioned about why this heinous act of exclusion has taken place – one of the best answers from a City Council member that we feel sums up the whole situation was, “I didn’t know.”

This is not an isolated incident. There are other violations of “equal opportunity” as it pertains to the distribution of wealth, education and housing occurring on a daily basis in the City of Minneapolis.

In 2009, several Minneapolis City Council members come up for re-election. The current Mayor of Minneapolis is up for re-election also. The groups of minority-ethnic people of Minneapolis that have been excluded from these opportunities of economic stimuli just happen to be the “Majority.” This is your opportunity to change the faces of Minneapolis government, to elect individuals that actually represent your concerns, actions and the future of your businesses along with the education of your children.

What will you decide? Will tomorrow include you?

Author - Donald Allen

Tags - Racism, Color, Race, Poor, Poverty, Business, Minneapolis

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