Rosa Parks Initiative and City/County issues must be considered
By Eric E. Vickers For the St. Louis American
If – as a recent St. Louis American article suggests – the $400 million NorthPark development project provides an “anatomy” to dissect and analyze minority inclusion on construction projects, then it must be placed in context. In fact, the NorthPark project is a subtext of a larger systematic push for minority inclusion in the St. Louis construction industry that began three years ago under the shade of the American’s unremitting stance on inclusion.
In November 2005 – shortly after the death of Rosa Parks – an alliance of five minority contractor and worker organizations initiated a campaign for minority economic inclusion that targeted 11 major construction projects in the St. Louis area, including NorthPark, totaling over $3.6 billion. Under the banner of the Rosa Parks Initiative, the alliance presented to the owners of each of those projects three basic demands: 25 percent minority contractor participation, 35 percent minority workforce participation and professional minority inclusion programs.
One of those projects targeted was Saint Louis University, which was embarking on building a $100 million sports arena, with Clayco as its general contractor. While the owners of some of the other targeted projects – most notably, the city’s $400 million Pinnacle casino project – at first resisted meeting with the alliance (until protest actions were taken), Clayco’s president, Bob Clark, after personally visiting jobsites and witnessing the disparity, immediately embraced the initiative. He has become a leading advocate, and Clayco – a model for inclusion – has demonstrated it through the NorthPark, SLU arena and another targeted project, the $150 million Casino Queen.
The inclusion success thus far at NorthPark should therefore be diagnosed in the context of the overall macro-economic pressure that has been brought to bear on the St. Louis construction industry. It is pressure which begins with the minority community demanding economic inclusion, then extends and resonates through the unique drum of the Black Press, to ultimately become laws and policies overseen and enforced by government and elected officials. When all these elements are working in tandem, real minority inclusion becomes an inevitability and economic progress a grass-roots reality. And when all this is aided by fair and progressive-minded supporters like Bob Clark, the true wonder of diversity unfolds.
But because NorthPark’s success in harmoniously achieving inclusion stands in stark contrast to the battle for inclusion that was waged less than five miles east up Interstate-70 at the Pinnacle project, there must be a case study of the difference. One key elemental difference was that the minority inclusion provision of the redevelopment agreement the City negotiated with Pinnacle was unnecessarily weak; and a second key difference was that the enforcement and pressure on Pinnacle for inclusion by the City – i.e., by Mayor Slay – was unenthusiastic at best.
In contrast, as the American article points out, the NorthPark project developers, Clayco and McEagle, willingly committed from the outset to the 25 percent minority and 5 percent women-owned business goals. Moreover, the NorthPark project is under the auspices of St. Louis County official, Mike Jones, the executive assistant to St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, who has made it unmistakably clear that the County will leverage its clout to ensure inclusion.
Other contrasts between the projects – such as the difference in support services – also need to be examined. Conversely, an obstacle to inclusion similar in both projects needs to be thoroughly examined – the unions’ role.
If we are to create and showcase more success stories like that emerging from NorthPark, it will take the constellation of activism, media muckraking, stand-up political leadership and enlightened mindsets to continue this systemic change. Even more, it will take the spirit of Rosa Parks: “I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired … the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Eric E. Vickers is spokesperson for the Minority Inclusion Alliance (MEBCO, MOKAN, CCC, STLMCA, Rev.S. Smith Ministries).