Elmer Smith: W. Phila. group issues alert: Put local people in local jobs

THERE WAS gold in the streets when SEPTA was rebuilding the Market Street elevated line.

But you had to be from outside the neighborhood to mine it.

At least, that's the way it seemed to Shirley Randleman of the 52d Street Business Association Arts West.

"Last time we checked, almost all of the workers were from outside," she said. "A lot of them had New Jersey license plates.

"There were a lot of unemployed local people standing around watching outsiders work on jobs they were qualified to do.

"Our organization was part of an effort to recruit local people. A lot of that effort went into a black hole, because we didn't stay on top of them.

"But our mind-set this time is that nothing else needs to happen in our neighborhood that we don't benefit from.

"We're looking at the West Philadelphia High School project. It's not going to happen this time."

The district broke ground for the $70 million project on a four-acre site at 49th and Chestnut streets a few months ago. Except for a small work force pouring concrete, not much has been done.

But, in a classic pincer attack, the district and the community groups are bringing pressure from above and below to make sure this project doesn't become a spectator sport for neighborhood people.

Randleman's group, the Philadelphia Education Fund, and others are forwarding the names of union construction workers in the neighborhood for the school district to pass along to their contractor.

"The key is holding people accountable," said Randleman. "We want to know how many people have been interviewed, how many were rejected and why."

The school district's business director, Michael Masch, has forwarded the list to Daniel J. Keating Co., the general contractor on the West Philly High project.

"We gave those names to Keating," Masch said, "and I actually have letters to them and all their subs saying we want you to consider these names. We will monitor that.

"There will be a 250-person work force out there when it gets into full swing. We'll watch it closely."

The most-effective strategy to ensure minority hiring on public-works projects is to increase the share of business that goes to minority contractors.

The Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity places responsibility for that on the owners of the public-works projects.

"We took that seriously," Masch said. "The West Philadelphia project has a 30-percent minority-business-enterprise participation and 16- percent participation by women-owned businesses. We believe we have a very strong program."

Overall, Masch said, $116 million has gone to minority- and women-owned firms in district-

financed projects since the start of the fiscal year last July 1.

"In my office, we competitive- bid all our bond and legal work. This involves $34 million in refinance and $25 million in new borrowing. We've started polling all our firms to assess the diversity on their staffs.

"Now our emphasis is on workforce diversity and how to prepare kids for opportunities as they come up."

Four years ago, the district with great fanfare unveiled an agreement with the Philadelphia Building Trades Council for an apprenticeship program to admit "recent" district graduates to building-trades apprenticeships.

That agreement expires this summer. But the district's enthusiasm for the program has cooled.

"We're evaluating whether to renew it," Masch said. "The superintendent and the SRC [School Reform Commission] chairman don't believe it should be renewed without amendment.

"There is confusion as to what 'local' resident and 'recent graduate' means. That was bad drafting. We can't really say if they have complied or not.

"Problem is, we have more people trained in the building trades than there are jobs for. If we want to provide opportunities for our young people, we have to train them ourselves for jobs that are out there."

Meanwhile, folks in West Philadelphia are making their lists and checking them twice.

"We're not going to get caught off guard again," Shirley Randleman said.

Send e-mail to smithel@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2512. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/smith