Based on the numbers, it would appear that the Magic and the City are exceeding the Blueprint plan. The plan calls for 24 percent of the contractual dollars to be awarded to minority and women owned companies. At this point, $77.8 million or 34 percent of the dollars awarded so far have gone to local minority or women businesses.
Eighty percent of the contracts have been awarded, and with 20 percent left, it would appear that City and Magic has hit their benchmarks. There are over 100 minority and women firms on this project with 46 African American companies, 28 Hispanic, 17, Asian American, and 37 women firms. With these numbers, everyone should be impressed and congratulate the City and the Magic on a great job.
Nevertheless, NAACP Branch President Randolph Bracy is protesting the project and claiming to the media that the City and the Magic are breaking their promises. Bracy asserts that the City and the Magic has only actually awarded African Americans with only 8 percent of the contracts with 380 million contracts. Based on his numbers, he is making the Magic and the city aware that he is keeping count.
Last week Bracy held demonstrations at City Hall and the Magic Arena. He has been authorized by the national NAACP to use direct action, including picketing, boycotts, and lawsuits to force the Magic and City to live up to its promises.
Based on the fact, that only 20 percent of the work has been done on the Events Center, this is the right time to keep the pressure on the decision makers. There is 80 percent of the work left to be done, and more Blacks should benefit from the project and the Blueprint. The African American businesses are having limited success with large contracts, and receiving the majority of small contracts.
Orlando’s leadership has allowed conflicts of interest, and backroom deals to reduce the effectiveness of the program. It will be a little more than a year before the numbers of workers will peak to 900. Many eyes will be watching to see how many African American workers are on the project.
It is necessary for the City and the Magic to have more town hall meetings to resolve the misunderstanding of the African American numbers with the Event Center. I hope that Rev Bracy and the NAACP will come to a consensus with the Magic and City.
Our community deserves every bit of accountability and transparency, if the Magic and the City are not living up to their promises. There are millions of public dollars on the line and every contract should be scrutinized with no backroom deals.
Everyone should have access to the contracts and make sure that the numbers are fair. The Events Center is relying on millions of public dollars and everyone should be watching.
