Once again, Kansas City's Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) program has taken a huge hit and Kansas City Star Columnist Dave Helling writes about it a month later.
Remember that in June a KCMO audit ruled that local lawyer Bill Session's company shouldn't have been awarded a KCMO contract . . . Our quick post on the subject elicited a few good responses along with the usual cadre of weirdos.
Today . . . Helling's column kinda takes a swipe @ KCMO's MBE/WBE program but that's really like shooting fish in a barrel.
Here's a bit more TKC EXCLUSIVE REPORTING on the sitch . . .
- Critics are calling out Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Circo for completely ignoring MBE/WBE requirements in her high priced soccer facility deal. The move is kind of odd from Council Lady Circo given that lady biz owners just like her might benefit from City help.
- Council Dude Jermaine Reed has been the only voice on the City Council making MBE/WBE requirements a consistent part of his agenda. In the 3rd District, this biz assistance program has become an important aspect of the political discussion.
- Finally, under the radar this Mayor and City Council have been exceptionally unfriendly to MBE/WBE interests given how many "emergency" ordinances they have passed that forgo this important requirement.
Last one . . . But this is something that most Kansas City Insiders and mainstream media have ignored . . .
RIGHT NOW, PLANS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF KANSAS CITY'S DOWNTOWN TOY TRAIN STREETCAR HAVE ALMOST ZERO MINORITY PARTICIPATION!!!
Clearly, minority participation hasn't really been a big deal for Mayor Sly or at least not as important as at so many pet projects and tax increases which have characterized Mayor Sly's tenure so far.
What, a nigger Mayor, Prez, Police Chief, etc., aren't good enough??? Well, too fucking bad. There ARE others of us on this planet, and while we don't moan and groan as loudly as the blacks, we too have a right to city contracts.
ReplyDeleteWe's thinks Mayor Sly James is a good mayor. Our type of guy. Now do yous needs anyfeng Massah?
ReplyDeleteI'll have you know Mr. He Who Lives In Moms Basement and loves Glazer, that I am no weirdo
ReplyDeleteThis fuckin 'Griffy all OLD 'shit, livin in some shithole downtown' is fuckin DEPRESSING! Where's Mr. The Toad 'n Shelflife 'n Claude?
ReplyDeleteThe truth is, many MBE firms are just frontmen for a prime contractor looking to keep all the business for themselves. There are real minority businesses that never get work. Worse, HRD knows it and covers for certain companies. HRD knew about Sessions, how could they not? If yopu call his MBE firm phone number you got a "mailbox is full" message and btw, it was his lawfirm address.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason Reed is promoting WBE is because he hopes to be a female business owner in the future. It's called due diligence.
ReplyDeleteToy train is designed for booze tourism. Crazy train is a better word for it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the article mentions that Sessions is the personal lawyer of Manny Cleaver. You will never convince me that Freedom Inc., Urban Summit is not involved in this fiasco. Same names keep rearing their ugly heads.
ReplyDeleteFuck minority set asides. Compete motherfuckers. Mexicans wind up doing all the work anyway, white man makes all the money and then the niggers come in and fuck everything up.
ReplyDeleteAffirmative Action is great if you are incompetent and in a minority but it is a hindrance if you good at what you do and you happen to be in a minority because then your achievement is tainted and your competence is looked at with suspension. Does any one think that women in this day and age are disadvantaged? The dirty little secret about Affirmative Action is the real winners where upper middle class white women and upper middle class gay men. The big losers from Affirmative Action where African-American men and they are set to take another hit with the immigration reform bill that their own Black Caucus is selling them out on. Contract set asides are an open invitation to corruption. Anytime the determination of who gets contracts is not based on the lowest bidder, you invite bribery and cronyism.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty big step DOWN for Helling.... who was always assigned a photographer to gather HIS pictures while he reported the stories. Now he's 'one man banding' to both report and shoot the news stories.
ReplyDeleteCost cutting. The days of journalistic glory are long gone. His bosses at the Star probably consider him vastly overpaid. After all, twenty-somethings would LOVE his job for a third of the salary he requires to pay off his mortgage.
Don't feel sorry for Dave. Your boss is thinking the same thing about YOU! It's only a matter of time.
The only reason Jermaine brings up MBE/WBE is because that is the only bit of information in an ordinance that he bothers to read. Miss Reed's pretty little head can't handle too much information at once, you know.
ReplyDeleteHow could anyone of color or physically challenged go alongside with this sham
ReplyDeleteWe tried to point out issues regarding the MBE/WBE program to cindy circo, and to HRD phillip yelder and shared with them a company that had tried several times to use a minority to "front" a business and when that didnt work they got another minority, a roofer from another state (Neb.) to claim he owned the company and they got certified, in another instance a white male had a business, married a minority woman, he had a PHD in his companies field she had a high school diploma and he dissolved the company and his wife opened a new company as an MBE WBE DBE company where he became her full time employee, in another case there is a white male that stated he IS white but found a loop hole that allowed him to register his company as an MBE / DBE and ALL of these companies including three others despite cindy and philip knowing continue to function in KC as a minority owned company and they have no intention of changing that
ReplyDelete