The release last week of some very good recommendations by the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity should be celebrated.
But it's hard to get too excited when Philadelphia has taken similar steps so many times before, then done little or nothing to change the lily-white construction crews seen at most work sites.
One of the biggest disappointments of the John Street administration was seeing that black mayor often talk the talk but not back it up when it came to significantly increasing minority participation in construction projects.
Some observers said Street's political alliance with powerful electricians union leader John Dougherty kept the mayor from demanding that the building trades take in more minority apprentices.
The lack of minority carpenters, painters, electricians, and plumbers at city work sites has been matched by the dismal participation of minority contractors and subcontractors.
Voicing his disappointment, Mayor Nutter, only a couple of months into his administration, appointed an 18-member diversity commission on March 30. Nearly a year later, it has issued a report with solid observations and recommendations.
Now, the mayor must show that he won't let this report collect dust the way similar ones have in the past.
The commission said that of the $26.3 billion generated by local construction contractors, less than 1 percent of the gross receipts went to African American and Hispanic firms. Female-owned firms got about 5 percent of the revenue.
The commission made 31 recommendations to increase the number of minority firms getting construction jobs. At the top of the list is compiling an up-to-date database of available contractors, setting realistic minority participation goals, and denying waivers to projects that only pay lip service to meeting those goals.
More than 40 recommendations were made by the commission to increase the number of minority workers employed at construction sites. It said the building trade unions should have a membership goal of 32 percent minority and 7 percent female. It said some unions continue to drag their feet in providing current membership data.
The commission noted a prime reason for the lack of progress in getting unions to voluntarily become more diverse: "Many believe that in order for minorities in the Philadelphia region to make gains, whites in the region have to lose."
Seeking to debunk that myth, the commission pointed out that with many in the building trades due to retire in the next 10 years, there should be plenty of openings for minorities without displacing whites. It also said there would be room for more minorities if so many jobs weren't going to workers who live outside the region.
The commission deserves gratitude for its effort. It has given the city a blueprint to accomplish greater diversity in the construction industry. But if the mayor, City Council, unions, and contractors do what their predecessors did with previous blueprints, all that good work will be for naught. Mayor Nutter must provide the leadership to make sure that does not happen.