Jackson Jambalaya

Gates is a water carrier, Sam R. Hall the load boss and dispatcher.

Crudup has it backwards. He claims if you give black contractors business, they can improve themselves. The fact of the matter is if they improve themselves, they will have no problem getting business.

Reminds me of the Habitat philosophy. Give somebody a free house and they will improve and enjoy progress. What's wrong with improving and progressing and then being able to afford a house?

7:47 That sounds suspiciously like hard work.

Tithing must be down in Jackson this year.

Not once in his speech did I hear the words "Our contractors have a reputation of performing High Quality work," "Our employees report to work on time and work the entire shift every day they are scheduled," "Our contracts are completed on time and within budget." "Our work can be inspected and approved the first time." I don't care if he went to school with somebody's mother. That won't keep my building from having foundation problems, to be free of flooding, safe from electrical fires or have a non-leaking roof.

It's time for the legislature to protect the airport once and for all. There is no earthly reason why the City of Jackson should control one of the most important state-wide economic impact assets of the State of Mississippi. Do something, legislature.

8:33 am - Amen. The problem in a nutshell..........

This "I'm entitled to a handout bc the color of my skin only" has got to stop. Like the other person said, if you do quality work, treat your customers and employees right then you should have no problem getting business because at that point there is EQUALITY! Just the type of thing MLK marched for. Bunch of racist biggots is what they are.

Since when were the blacks in Jackson, Mississippi the MINIRITY? This truly makes my blood boil. There are a handful of blacks in our city who pay property taxes and water bills; there are a handful who work hard to make our city better for everyone. This is great, Socrates - let's run those whites who DO pay taxes out of Jackson - to those areas where you "can't do business" - so the infrastructure can totally crumble. You're a disgusting racist who is willing to crap in your own back yard just to destroy whites.

If a group of white businessmen met for a similar conference they would be labeled as racist. So, I apply black racism against whites to set aside program that he is promoting.

So the argument is that getting crony government contracts will make these recipient MORE reliable, efficient and competitive?

Because in my experience, the result is always exactly the opposite of that.

Majority of population in Jackson is homeowner, not renters, according to the US Census. Given Jackson is 20% white, that means there are quite a few black homeowners. Try again.

I have a friend that worked for an out-of-state construction company that spent several years in Jackson on a project. According to him, many large construction companies have determined that the most efficient/cost effective means of meeting minority contractor requirements when working in black run cities is to set aside a portion of the project for the minority contractors. In his case, the company set aside one floor of a multi-floor project, and instead of wasting time vetting minority contractors and monitoring the quality of their work, they simply turned them loose and contained them to a single floor. They had it budgeted in from the beginning to come behind them and redo the entire floor with their own crews.

KF
I realize you rounded up and 20% sounds better, but, in 2013 data Jackson was 17.3% white. From 2000 to 2013 population fell 6.3%.

this blows my mind. Garrett is one greedy sob. I'm really trying to figure out how his version of a minority set aside program would work. Last I looked, there were 5 blacks/2 whites on the city council that voted his contract down. they suspected hanky panky, for sure. and, the other vendor also had minority contractors involved. So, Garrett's new push is to trash the other contractor and to tell the city council that they should give the contract to a "real" minority contractor. I guess that means that Garrett is the only real minority contractor in this city.

Longtime Hinds County clerk Barbara Dunn told me several years ago that taxpayers would be absolutely shocked if they knew how much money was wasted in order to give more work to black firms.
These set asides and giveaways hurt the progress of blacks. Instead of improving their companies to compete fairly they take the handout work and do very little to improve. Example - when the convention center was built a minority contractor who did very little of the actual work was made a partner and given 1/2 of the profits. This was a requirement of the contract. The contractor was very old at the time but his daughter was in the prime of life. She was made assistant project manager on the site but knew very little about what was going on. Instead of taking the opportunity to ask questions, learn and help out, she would come to work late and contribute very little. So what is the point of the set aside? If they don't try to learn when they have a chance why not take some cash from the tax payers and give it to a random black person?

There is a problem with blacks growing business in Jackson. But one reason is that a very small group of black business people have cornered the market. They team up with anyone on every type of project.

Where are the internship/apprentice programs that would actually grow new black owned businesses?

I worked at a white owned supply company and a black company won a minority contract. The owner of the minority company had us supply and deliver and he sent them the bill. He never touched the product but got more for it because he was black.

Seems like Garrett needs some of that republican welfare Mattiace is getting.

There is no shortage of blacks who know how to do various types of construction work. But very few of them know the business side. They would have to work for a successful contractor as 3:27 suggested in order to learn the business side. After several years of experience you need money to start your own business. I am not up to date on current bonding requirements, but my educated guess is you would need $250,000 to $5000,000 to start a commercial construction company and have enough cash to survive. And the kicker is - this money cannot be a loan. You mush have the cash to get bonded. So you need a college education, hands on construction experience, middle management experience, and cash. Plus a lot of drive. It would be much easier to become an attorney. Or you could start many types of businesses that are less complicated and allow you to use borrowed money.
The folks that are always claiming discrimination never think that many more white people can get 1/4 million from dear old Dad than can blacks. Certainly blacks have more wealth than 60 years ago, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot with so many unwed mothers and so much crime. I believe the figure is some like 70% of blacks are born to unwed mothers. Tell me how these children are going to own construction companies? Their mothers killed their chances by getting pregnant with no father around. You cannot blame that on white people.

This guy sounds like an extortionist. "You can't get there without me" and "you have to mentor the competition" sound illegal.

This guy is nothing more than a racist a-hole.

Seems like Garrett needs some of that republican welfare Mattiace is getting.

So ask yourself. Does Soc truly want the playing field leveled state-wide or does he only want to more fully exploit the black contracting mama-classmate advantage he already possesses in black majority governed municipalties?

Though, in all fairness to Soc, it doesn't matter what the political affiliation might be, Mississippi's Jim Crow whites, Repugnitcan or Donkeycrat, are still getting their jiggies with it.

Haley is only the latest Ross Barnett.

Time to play the flip side. Other engineers play the same game. Calhoun has fish fries for politicians. Then there are the big three: Carl Ray, Joe, and Rudy. They pay to play or get people elected at the local and state level. Socrates is just being more open about it.

Two wrongs make a right!