EDITORIAL:
In April of 1999 La Prensa San Diego wrote an editorial with the headline “City of San Diego: Minority Contractors Not Welcomed!” This was after the passage of the Prop. 209, which dismantled Affirmative Action in the State of California and after the Association of General Contractors winning their court challenge on the way the City of San Diego awarded contracts based on race or gender.
In 1999 the City of San Diego issued a report on the status of minority contractors doing business with the city and it was reported then that minority contractors were receiving less than one percent of the contracting monies spent in 1998.
Fast forward to 2009, ten years later, and to nobody’s surprise in the City of San Diego nothing has changed. White contractors are receiving 98.8% of the contract dollars spent by the city while Hispanics received 0.57% or $702,000 out of the $123,809,886.00 spent by the city. The news is worse for female contractors who received 0.47% of the contracts or $585,400, and for black contractors who received 0.03% of the contracts or $40,000. For a city as diverse as San Diego these numbers are an embarrassment to say the least.
As we wrote in 1999 these numbers should have caused moral outrage by the elected leaders of the day, Juan Vargas and George Stevens, and should have caused moral outrage with the sitting council members in 2009. Ben Hueso and Tony Young. But as in ’99 when there was hardly a word, neither Hueso or Young seem particularly upset by the these numbers as reflected by their lack of public outrage and action.
In 1999 the San Diego City Council threw a bone to the minority contractors by extending the role of the Latino Builders Association and the Black Contractors Association which were tasked with developing contracting opportunities within their respective ethnic groups and the city committed to supporting such organizations as the Hispanic Chamber of the Commerce. These efforts were a dismal failure, yet the city is still supporting these organizations, and a few others, as the answer to the lack of minority contracting.
In yet another report from the District Attorney’s office to the city council on Sept 16 they offer no substantive, legal, path to rectifying the situation. The District Attorney’s office is to offer a more detailed report in October or November.
In the meantime the Associated General Contracts (ACG) continue to file lawsuits to ensure their 98.8% contract rate by eliminating all references to ethnic/gender based awarding of contracts, reflected in their June 2009 lawsuit against Caltrans.
As in 1999 it will take political leadership, political outrage, and political courage to stand up to the ACG before we see any change. The old way of doing business, of using front groups such as the Latino Builders Association and the Hispanic Chamber have proven to be a waste of money and time. The above groups have failed miserably and should be de-funded to make room for more representative groups.
It will take political will and action from women, the so-called minority communities that constitute the majority populations in San Diego and Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council (especially Councilpersons Young and Hueso) to correct the dismal failure of Prop. 209. Until that time San Diego will continue to be known as a city that discriminates and does not welcome or appreciate minority contractors!