Why the rush to judgment on tragic April 2 fire?

April 28, 2010, Column #17, "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues...,"

by Ron Edwards, a weekly column featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Those eager to fix the blame on Black department leadership should be ashamed

The Star Tribune and certain Minneapolis City Council members act as if this is 1906 San Francisco, when 30 fires destroyed 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks, killing 3,000, or 1871 Chicago, when 17,500 buildings and over 2,000 acres of the city burned to the ground, with 300 losing their lives.

When it is said that the tragic fire of April 2, 2010, that destroyed a building and took six lives is the worst in 24 years (when there was in fact one far worse), we should be reminded of how great the service of our Minneapolis Fire Department is.

But for some opportunistic politicians and the opportunistic Star Tribune, this is a chance to use this tragedy to scapegoat the fire department’s Black leadership and try to roll back civil rights gains obtained during the 20 years a federal oversight committee evaluated the department.

I know. I served on that committee. I never missed a meeting. I know just how good this department is.

In this period of anti-Obamaism, it is clear that some have decided the Minneapolis Fire Department leadership would be an easy mark to use as a steppingstone to desired political office. They could not be more wrong.

All the Star Tribune and City Council Member Gary Schiff (DFL, Ninth Ward) have managed to do as shameless, vocal town criers against the department’s Chief Jackson, Assistant Chief Penn, and Fire Marshall Tyner, all African Americans, is get egg on their faces.

And although I appreciate the fact that Mayor R.T. Rybak has stood strong in his support of his chief and the department, it is time for the city council and certain City departments to support them as well.

The entire fire department personnel, Black and White, is furious that the department is being painted as comprised of incompetent, uncaring firefighters who don’t know their jobs. This is an affront to their individual and collective professionalism. The leadership is held in high regard by the department.

We are now learning that Chief Jackson did every thing he could to clarify questions asked by the media and elected politicians. But that isn’t enough for those who already know the false scapegoat statements they want to promote.

Racism not only enables reaching conclusions without the facts; it also entails purposefully ignoring the facts. I can only conclude from the report of Minnesota State Fire Marshal Jerry Rosendahl that the Star Tribune and Council Member Gary Schiff are suffering from self-inflicted “wounds” to their credibility.

In his letter to Chief Jackson, of which I have a copy, and which the Star Tribune was forced to report last Wednesday the 21st, Rosendahl does not criticize the fire department’s performance, although clearly the Star Tribune and Schiff thought he would. But that is one of the high costs of racism: loss of objectivity along with an inability to see the real world as it is.

Rosendahl said the City should increase its code inspection frequency.

His recommendation that the buildings with dual use — apartments and commercial tenants — be inspected at the same time, not separately, is a policy Chief Jackson implemented last year. For the department to make more frequent inspections, the City will have to provide the resources, manpower and budget that will enable it to do so.

The state fire marshal concluded that the department has done a “thorough” job and that existing protocols have been followed.

Developing these procedures and recommending funding and resources for more inspections is the responsibility of the city council and the Department of Regulatory Services.

The council has yet to provide such additional needed resources.

Missing in all of this is an appreciation of the heroics of the firefighters.

Eight almost died in the April 2 fire when they entered the burning building to rescue those inside. Only their training and quick reactions saved their lives.

Indeed, so sure was Chief Jackson of their performance that he became the first fire department chief in the state to request that the state fire marshal do a department review. Rosendahl obviously approved of his actions: “I commend you and Fire Marshal Brian Tynor for making this request to us. This type of transparency in government is especially critical in the interest of public safety.”

The state fire marshal points out on pages seven and eight of his report that, in terms of apartment fire deaths and fire death rates, the Minneapolis Fire Department is operating better than the national average. For this we should be thankful, not critical.

Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis.

Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
Posted April 28, 2010, 11:56 p.m.

An ‘Economic Uplift’

May 5, 2010, Column #18, "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues...,"

by Ron Edwards, a weekly column featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

School district headquarters to be built in North Minneapolis

The lack of Black contractors and workers on the TCF Gopher stadium laid bare the University of Minnesota’s refusal to comply with hiring compliance laws.

We saw hiring refusal laid bare again at the Twins Target Field construction. What will the school district do?

“Refusal to comply” describes the reality of “no attempt.” “Failure to comply” masks the refusal by suggesting attempt was made. Slavery was a refusal to comply with the “inalienable rights” of our founding documents. Jim Crow was a refusal to comply with the Great Emancipation. No hiring compliance is a refusal to provide equal access and equal opportunity.

Will the Minneapolis Special School District One break this pattern of refusal by including Blacks in its $27.5 million headquarters building construction project in North Minneapolis it approved five-to-two last week? Or will the move from its 50-year-old White N.E. Minneapolis headquarters be another slap to North Minneapolis by providing only White economic uplift?

Mortenson, developer/construction manager, and Legacy Development, sub-contractor/developer, both parade as bringers of diverse economic uplift.

Off the parade route they routinely refuse economic uplift to people of color.

Remember the former director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department’s infamous statement: Minneapolis could meet its minority hiring compliance without hiring a single Black person? How? White women classified as minority combined with submitting false compliance figures.

Mortenson’s March 16, 2010 letter to the Ball Park Authority claims diversity success: Of $314 million in contracts awarded on Target Field, $108 million was to small businesses and to businesses of women and minority firms, of which $38 million was awarded to women business enterprises (WBEs) and minority business enterprises (MBEs). Lynn Littlejohn’s Mortenson letter shows that Calvin Littlejohn’s Tri Construction, located at 1200 West Broadway, received the largest African American contract, a little over $2.1 million.

Hispanic and Native American firms did better. Nordic Construction, which claims to be Hispanic, received $6.3 million.

Mortenson’s March 16, 2010 letter claims 2,038,000 hours logged in by WBEs and MBEs. Really? Then why isn’t there a roster of the workers listing as required by law, their names, residence addresses, and social security numbers?

Mortenson’s parade of claimed compliance is like the parading emperor wearing no clothes, as Mortenson wears no proof by audit, authentication or certification. Now that the Twins have their new toy, Target Field, and all is well in their Camelot, will we again get a “so what” about deteriorated North Minneapolis? We look to the Minneapolis Special School District to model compliance by tearing down this wall of refusal.

We are told the school district’s $27.5 million HQ construction project will be different. At the school board meeting last Wednesday, April 28, 2010, Fifth Ward Council Member Don Samuels talked about the significant “economic uplift” that it would bring the community.

In light of the University and Mortenson’s refusals, now is the time for the school district to outline how it will demonstrate compliance with audit, authentication and certification of the work force utilization commitment in terms of the percentage of African American skilled and unskilled jobs on their project.

One of the most important aspects of getting a disadvantaged community involved in the fruits of success is a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).

I am surprised one has not been proposed.

The Northside Redevelopment Council proposed a CBA for the massive rebuilding program and research facility that was going to come to North Minneapolis — proposed but not done. But the idea kept the community at bay.

To prevent another naked emperor parade, I am proposing the school district require Ms. Littlejohn’s Mortenson Construction company and Legacy Development subcontractor post a surety bond guaranteeing the meeting of these goals equal to the cost of the project. Failure to meet the goals would cause the bonds to be forfeited and placed into a community education trust fund for children of color so they too can enjoy the project’s economic uplift.

A bond to be put up by the NAACP for the Holman Project of McCormick Barron of St. Louis, MO was stipulated by the federal court to protect the developer on that private project. The NAACP didn’t have the money then. For this public project, I propose the developer’s surety bond be posted to protect the community’s “uplift.”

There is history to be made here to allow children to be educated and parents to be employed. What better way to initiate true economic uplift in our time?

Stay tuned.

Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.The MinneapolisStory.com.

Posted 5-5-10, 11: 20 pm