Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed presses Cuyahoga County commissioners on minority hiring
24 January 2010
One CommentThe Plain Dealer
By Henry J. Gomez, The Plain Dealer
Posted January 24th 2010
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County commissioners received an unexpected visit Thursday from City Councilman Zack Reed, who worries blacks won’t get enough of the jobs that construction of a downtown medical merchandise mart and new convention center will create.
Commissioners allowed Reed several minutes to speak at the end of their weekly meeting, and Reed blasted them for signing a recent pact he believes fails to guarantee minorities work.
“I didn’t see anything set aside for African-Americans,” Reed said.
The outspoken Mount Pleasant-area representative added that if blacks are good enough to hold janitorial jobs at the complex, they should be good enough to help build it.
His argument resonated somewhat with Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, who had expressed similar misgivings before signing off on the deal two weeks ago.
The $425 million project’s employment goals call for at least 40 percent of the work go to county residents and 20 percent to Cleveland residents. Jones has said he favors higher goals — up to 50 percent for county residents. But contractors are only required to make good-faith efforts to meet the goals because the county cannot lawfully force so-called set-asides.
Jones explained all of this to Reed, who left the meeting deflated.
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6 November 2010 at 4:22 am