Three recent stories on City's set aside program: Today in the Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0404300214apr30,1,7496113.story?coll=chi-news-hed Some context from the story: "A 1990 ordinance backed by Daley set a goal of granting 25 percent of the value of all city contracts to companies owned by minorities and 5 percent to women-owned firms. Those goals are based on contract awards, not payouts. The city typically spends more than $1 billion annually on contracts with thousands of vendors." The story cites a 1997 report that "minorities received only half the share of promised contracts". Also interesting: "[d]espite their dismay, aldermen said they did not believe Daley was aware of the problem" - just as in the hired truck scandal. >From an April 23 Sun-Times [this link will expire at the end of today (Friday)]: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-contract23.html "Asian-American contractors will no longer be automatically included in Chicago's construction set-aside program under a watered-down re-write unveiled Thursday to satisfy a federal judge." Other details of the rewrite include set-aside for women dropped from 5% to 4%, drop for minorities from 25% to 24%, and a five year sunset clause. Lastly, a Sun-Times Commentary from April 26: http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits26.html It begins: "There can be no doubt that set-aside programs, such as the one Chicago has in place for construction contractors, have fallen out of favor in some quarters. Yet no one has come up with a better way of improving the odds that people who have been barred from getting city business because of their ethnicity or gender will have a real chance in an industry dominated by old names and older bank accounts." Lastly, sometime in the past several months, I watched a cable access show of an event with a Southside Alderperson discussing set-asides. During audience questioning the Alderperson was asked by an African American construction business owner why he had been unable to acquire a contract in his many attempts. The Alderperson asked him if he contributed money for his campaign, the contractor answered 'no', and the Alderman said "there is your answer, folks who give money have their applications stacked in one pile, those who don't in another, I only see the applications from one pile." jon. kelland List Manager _______________________________________________ Chicago Issues Forum - Citywide Civic Discussion To post to list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To (un)subscribe: http://www.e-democracy.org/chicago/ To contact list manager: [EMAIL PROTECTED] E-Democracy will not share, trade, or sell your information. Please do not harvest participant e-mail information for other lists or solicitations without specific consent from addressee.
