Cottage Grove Heights Community Coalition

MESSAGE: KEEP AWAY, BUSINESS AS USUAL, NO BLACK ENTREPRENEURS ALLOWED

Rahm's Missing Black Economic Agenda

With a few days to go in Chicago’s mayoral runoff campaign, millions already spent on political commercials and several candidate debates under their belt, neither Jesus “Chuy” Garcia nor Mayor Rahm Emanuel have presented a clear road map for how they will spur African-American business growth by reforming the city's contract process, complying with minority set-a-side requirements and creating special investment pools and incentives to assist aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners. Stunning, given economic development is our community’s top priority and African-Americans are supposed to represent the swing vote in the upcoming election.

However, Mayor Rahm Emanuel did pen a piece published in the Perspective Section of the March 10, 2015 Chicago Tribune entitled, “Rahm Emanuel: Forget right to work. Create a right to thrive.” In the editorial, the Mayor reminds us he unveiled a concept called Right-To-Thrive Zones in his neighborhood economic policy speech earlier this year that he believes will spur neighborhood development and create neighborhood jobs. And, although he has chosen not to mention the Zones in any of his commercials, debates or daily talking points, he promises, if elected in the April 7, 2015 runoff, to make them the centerpiece of his second term.

Before I recommend improvements and explain why I believe African-Americans should interpret the Mayor’s Right-To-Thrive Zones as “Keep Away, Business As Usual, No Black Entrepreneurs Allowed” as currently articulated, lets briefly summarize their claimed benefits.

Zones will be established for the city’s most economically depressed neighborhoods. A concierge service will be established to help Zone business owners navigate the city’s zoning, permits and licensing processes. Zone businesses will be eligible for job training and placement services; investment funds generated from reforms to city manufacturing and tax increment finance districts; and time limited exemptions from property, income and sales taxes.

That’s what’s promised. But, what is new? Not much! The Zone communities and their selection criteria have not been provided. Neighborhood Business Development Centers and Special Service Area Providers already provide concierge services. Neither Cook County nor the State of Illinois has approved the envisioned tax exemptions and eligibility requirements for them are not given. The job training and placement services promised currently exist. Finally, the new investment pool relies on funds already available in existing manufacturing and TIF districts.

Now, let’s discuss why I believe African-American entrepreneurs should interpret Right-To-Thrive Zones as a “Keep Away, Business As Usual, No Black Entrepreneurs Allowed” as currently articulated. First, as pointed out above, the Zones offer no new benefits to us or anyone else. Second, based on the picture and caption accompanying his editorial in the print version of the Chicago Tribune, it appears the Mayor doesn’t even plan on using them to empower African-American entrepreneurs. The photo is of a University of Chicago development and its tenants the Hyatt Hotel, Akira, Starbucks, LA Fitness and several other national chains. Not a single African-American owned business is visible. The photo’s caption reads, “Neighborhood economic development, such as the Harper Court Complex in Hyde Park, is a centerpiece of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s business strategy.”

Let’s state for the record that African-Americans desire convenient access to and patronize national coffee houses, grocers and retailers just like residents living in other neighborhoods. And, yes, African-Americans benefit from some of the mostly entry-level service jobs these chain operators create. And, yes, African-Americans have a much better chance of being employed by a national chain than they do by the overwhelming number of stores owned by non-African-Americans in our communities. They tend to hire workers of the same ethnic background.

However, we are very aware that the value of the few service jobs created and donations made by these fast food restaurants, large national chains, developers and non-African-American owned stores pale in comparison to the billions of dollars they annually export out of Chicago’s predominantly African-American neighborhoods. African-Americans are also mindful that they virtually receive none of the professional service contracts and construction jobs associated with the building and ongoing operation of these businesses. And, we are clear that decades of coordinated policies between government bureaucrats, corporations, civic organizations, foundations, financial institutions and universities are largely responsible for the intentional destabilization of our communities and African-Americans losing control over their business districts.

Given this, what’s missing from the Mayor’s Right-To-Thrive Zones are immediately disruptive strategies that specifically benefit African-American entrepreneurs and fast track the reversal of these past discriminatory economic policies. This is important because African-Americans strongly desire to regain control of our neighborhood business districts so we can begin using the proceeds to heal, strengthen and protect our communities.

Here are a few initiatives the Mayor can incorporate into his Right-To-Thrive Zones that will ensure they benefit African-American entrepreneurs. Request For Proposals for all city services in a Zone should be issued as separate, standalone contracts (not part of an umbrella agreement) and open only to Zone based businesses. Existing neighborhood small businesses and nonprofits in a Zone should receive bonus points equivalent to 10% of the points possible when their RFP responses are scored. Vendor payment cycles should automatically be cut in half and a loan guarantee collateralize against future payments issued as a standard part of all city contracts awarded to Zone businesses. City owned land should be set-aside and made available to Zone headquartered businesses for a nominal price. The city funded micro loan/equity pool should be increased from $1 million to $100 million by mandating the participation of the corporations who benefit from the billions awarded in city contracts and the firms who manage the city's billions in cash, pensions and investments. All awards of city land, TIF funds and micro loans/investments within a Zone should require the approval of an independent Zone community board.

I know the organization I head, the Black Metropolis Convention & Tourism Council, would benefit from such policies. For twenty years we have developed, incubated and tested numerous tourism-related business concepts. With an economic development grant and some start-up capital from the city, these concepts could easily be scaled to produce $5 million in revenues and 100 jobs annually for Bronzeville. And, I know countless other African-American entrepreneurs and organizations across the city with equally worthwhile ideas tied to various industries that could collectively generate at least a hundred million dollars more and a thousand additional jobs.

However, most of our African-American elected officials do not have a background in business or experience operating a successful enterprise of any size. Therefore, they fail to understand basic concepts like small businesses drive the economy and revenues earned by community-owned businesses keep circulating in that community -- which is why other neighborhoods thrive and ours suffer. Consequently, many entities like ours are forced to watch angrily from the sideline with other fellow African-American entrepreneurs as our government representatives time and time again give city land, tax breaks and subsidy funding earmarked for our neighborhoods and valued in the tens-of-millions of dollars to outside developers, chain operators and nonprofits.

The real challenge for Rahm is the use of Right-To-Thrive Zones to spur African-American economic empowerment would not be popular with developers who make money chasing after and gentrifying destabilized communities; land-locked, inner-city universities with expansion ambitions; large corporations who enjoy near monopoly status in our neighborhoods; nonprofits from outside the community favored by biased city bureaucrats and foundations; civic elites who perpetuate the myth of Black managerial incompetency by green lighting social initiatives that relegate us to subcontractor status; financial institutions guilty of both redlining and profiting from predatory loans; or compromised Black elected officials, board members and commission appointees whose loyalty to external interests have failed to protect their fellow African-Americans from this daily onslaught.

For the remainder of the runoff campaign, Rahm may choose to say little or nothing about his plan to specifically empower African-Americans economically. He may choose to roll out election gimmicks that repackage existing neighborhood economic development programs that have historically benefited others as somehow new and in the interest of African-Americans. He may attempt to identify and buy out enough mythical "Black Leaders" in exchange for their unrealizable promise of delivering the Black Vote -- which didn't work out so well for him in the general election. If he takes any of these paths, the African-American masses should view his Right-To-Thrive Zones as a sign of what’s to come in a Rahm Emanuel second–term that screams “Keep Away, Business As Usual, No Black Entrepreneurs Allowed!” and vote accordingly.

But, if Mayor Rahm Emanuel convenes a press conference before election day where he publicly releases a Right-To-Thrive Zone draft ordinance containing substantive policies, initiatives and funding like those I proposed above that would truly benefit African-American entrepreneurs in significant numbers AND commits to using his famed bull-headiness, courage and arm-twisting abilities to pass it at the first City Council meeting following his swearing in for a second term, he likely will earn the support of a sizable majority of the African-American electorate and win the April 7, 2015 runoff election.