Are local contractors getting a fair share of redevelopment jobs?
City admins request summary report of initiatives to hire local, buy local
City officials are in the midst of reviewing sections of agreements drawn up with waterfront redevelopers that outline developers’ responsibilities to hire local workers and purchase local building products.
The agreements with master waterfront redeveloper Asbury Partners [majority owned by iStar Financial] and boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette contain language that the developers make efforts to seek and use local laborers and building materials for development projects in the city.
For the past several years, the city has worked with outside entities and nonprofit groups to compile master lists of contractors and stores, according to Planning and Redevelopment Director Donald Sammet. Previously the city worked with a company called Asbury Works, but their responsibility was transferred to the Faith Based Initiative Group [FBIG], who are the current “go-to people” to help connect local contractors and developers, Sammet said.
An FBIG program called “the construction connection” that was developed with the city is “designed to help local contractors and construction laborers connect with each other, enhance their businesses by finding out how and where to obtain necessary licenses,” according to the FBIG website.
“They are the ones in the know as far as who the local guys are,” Sammet said.
The FBIG has been connected to the city since 2006, said program director Ramona Thorton, acting as a clearinghouse for contractors and developers to connect, but the nonprofit group has not seen a lot of activity since they moved into a location in the Springwood Center in 2012, she said.
Thorton referred specific questions about the construction connection program to program director Ed Rice, but Rice did not return the Sun’s request for information.
With the support of the city, the group does receive public grant funds meant for a job training program, according to City Manager John “Jack” Kelly.
The group recently received a recent $64,000 grant, made possible by the county’s Workforce Investment Board, are still in the planning stage, said Deputy Municipal Manager Anthony Nuccio.
To date, no specific agreements have been drawn up between the city and any nonprofit entities to help coordinate the use of local workers and contractors in the waterfront, and it is “up to the developer to make good faith efforts and print out advertisements,” Sammet said.
“While we are generally familiar with FBIG’s mission, it was unclear to us that they are the City’s official agent to coordinate both Local Labor and Local Building Products lists,” Carrie Turner, general manager of the boardwalk for redeveloper Madison Marquette, said in an email to the Sun.
Madison’s 2010 agreement contains a provision that allows the city to legally request a summary report from developers that outlines local hiring efforts but neither Turner, Sammet, nor Kelly could confirm the city has ever made such a request. The agreement with iStar, drafted in 2002, does not contain such a provision.
Kelly, who was appointed in January, requested the information from both developers on Friday, he said. In addition, he’s assigned Community Development Coordinator Cassandra Dickerson to compile a list of local contractors and area stores.
Both redevelopers remain confident they have been meeting their obligations.
“Madison is deliberate about keeping dollars in the community when we can; three quarters of the seasonal maintenance staff are residents, we hire local youth for the splash park and mini golf through our relationship with the AP High School’s Blue Bishop’s Business Ambassador Program and the Community Development Initiative’s Go for the Gold Program, and we patronize local hardware and supply houses for materials,” Turner said.
“iStar Residential makes every effort to comply with all of our agreements, and we believe are in full compliance at this time. We look forward to addressing any concerns the city, or community may have over this issue,” Brian Cheripka, vice president of land for iStar Residential, said in an email to the Sun.
The most recent development projects that utilized local labor Sammet could recall were Metro Homes, who ran out of financing before the Esperanza building was complete, and developers of the Wesley Grove townhome complex, he said. Wesley Grove was completed in 2007.
The city’s new moves to review the effectiveness of redevelopment agreements in promoting the hiring of local workers and contractors was spurred by Henry Vaccaro and Duanne Small, who are critical of the city’s policies. Vaccaro grew up in Asbury Park and has operated several businesses in the city. Small is a city resident.
Both own contracting companies.
Vacarro sat down with Kelly last week to discuss the matter, and Small brought his concerns in front of City Council at their July 16 meeting. Both have long been vocal on the issue.
Vacarro told the Sun when his firm worked with the original Asbury Partners, the Fishman brothers, he was required to submit reports that listed the named and addresses of people on the job, and he feels he has been squeezed out by the new redevelopers when all he wants is a fair chance to make money in a city his family has been a part of for generations.
“When I get excluded in my own home town, it ain’t right,” Vacarro said, adding that he also called Councilman John Moor to voice his concerns.
“I think they are legitimate concerns,” said Moor, in regard to making sure redevelopers are hiring locals and seeking local building products. Moor said it is unclear how the city’s responsibility to hold developers accountable was farmed out to the FBIG, and thinks the city has largely been “neglectful” in seeing the matter through.
Small views the lack of employment opportunities for local residents as one of the largest contributors to violence and crime in the city, he said, and he believes it is time for the city to get serious about holding developers accountable.
“When people in the community are working, the better the quality of life in the community,” Small said. “You won’t have people that have to survive on the streets. The local contractors are the ones that put people in the city to work.”
For Small, the city’s self-management of a program that is so vital to citizens’ well-being is of paramount importance.
“If you can’t manage it, you can’t measure it,” said Small.
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