March 13, 200917 yr MIAMI -- A historic agreement may give the Florida Marlins a green light for the stadium and could provide a boost to local businesses. The Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will announce a historic agreement with the Florida Marlins on Friday. It will be a first of its kind deal that will guarantee contracts for Black Owned Businesses (B.O.B's) during the construction and subsequent operation of the proposed $515 million state-of-the-art world class ballpark in Miami-Dade County. The Community Compact and Agreement was agreed to in principal on March 2. The purpose of this compact is to promote racial diversity in the construction and everyday business activity of the Marlins in the new ballpark. The team will commit 15 percent of its portion of the construction costs to black-owned businesses in South Florida. The team will also seek to award 15 percent of the operating contracts to African-American businesses. Additionally, the Marlins reaffirm their commitment to assist with the educational programs both for adults and youth in the community and work with community-based organizations and grassroots organizations to provide assistance to them. The formal announcement will take place during a signing ceremony at the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Leaders Luncheon at Jungle Island in Tree Top Ballroom in Miami. Attendees included Bill Diggs, President of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, Bishop Victor T. Curry, President of the NAACP, David Samson, President of the Florida Marlins and other community leaders. "This is a great day for black business, not only in Miami, but nation-wide. It shows the strength of collaboration between the NAACP as an advocacy group and the chamber of commerce as an effective economic development organization. This agreement creates a standard for partnerships and how they should work in the Black community across the country," Bill Diggs, president and CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce said. On Thursday, the panel approved an item to expand a special taxing district on Overtown. It will generate millions of dollars for infrastructure, improvements and affordable housing in Overtown, NBC 6?s Steve Litz reported. Diggs said it is important that African-American contractors are involved in the process. ?We are talking about millions of dollars coming back to black-owned companies that can now take their kids to games because, guess what, their families are now working and they understand the value of that,? he said. Bishop Curry, president of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP agreed. "The Miami-Dade Branch of the NAACP is committed to ensuring that contracts and other significant opportunities be made available to Black businesses in the pre-construction and ongoing operations of the Florida Marlins Stadium Project, "said "We are taking proactive measures to protect the civil rights of our members and the community at-large." Marlins president, David Samson, the team is proud of the partnership. "The Florida Marlins are extremely proud to partner with the NAACP and the Miami-Dade Chamber on this unprecedented agreement and we hope that this will serve as a catalyst to establish similar partnerships throughout the country," Samson said.. "It's important to our organization as a good community partner to guarantee that Black Owned Businesses contribute and share in the ballpark's success. We look forward to seeing the results of this partnership so that a broad range of people in Miami-Dade County can enjoy the many economic benefits that come from a construction project of this magnitude." County commissioners are expected to vote on the final approval next week at their next meeting on March 23. Copyright 2009 by NBC6.net. All rights reserved.http://www.nbc6.net/news/18922699/detail.html?dl=mainclick
March 13, 200917 yr pretty strong play - i also if this will help take some pressure off the bidding vote making that a little more certain and easing the county stadium vote to the simple majority
March 13, 200917 yr It needed to happen, but this is such a stupid deal. This is typical pork barrel spending. In order to get the votes of certain politicians they want to know "what is in it for me"? This is the unfortunate but real side of politics. You have to accomadate their constituents to get their votes. As I have said before these are the kinds of things the Marlins have to do to get the deal done. This is the bottom of the 9th with a tie score. This equates to bunting the man over to second base with one out. We won't know until next weel if we can score the go ahead run. This is the time to make extra concessions ( and bribe whoever you need to bribe ),
March 14, 200917 yr Strong move I guess that is checkmate! Pretty ballsy...Black contractors in Little Havana...Go Figure!
March 14, 200917 yr I wonder if one of the reasons the Marlins did this was to make it more politically unpalatable for the city/county commissioners to reject the stadium? I'm sure this isn't a coincidence.
March 14, 200917 yr I wonder if one of the reasons the Marlins did this was to make it more politically unpalatable for the city/county commissioners to reject the stadium? I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. Aside from creating good will, this is definately a political move. Now you have a project strongly supported by the locals in Little Havana, heavily backed by the local construction industry, and now a partnership with the area's black owned businesses. Reject this and the commissioners will have to answer to a large percentage of their constituency.
March 14, 200917 yr I wonder if one of the reasons the Marlins did this was to make it more politically unpalatable for the city/county commissioners to reject the stadium? I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. Ya think? Their motives are as obvious as balls on a tall dog.
March 14, 200917 yr I wonder if one of the reasons the Marlins did this was to make it more politically unpalatable for the city/county commissioners to reject the stadium? I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. Ya think? Their motives are as obvious as balls on a tall dog. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL :thumbup They saw what happened in DC, my guess is this was in their playbook all along.
March 14, 200917 yr well done Marlins. As much as this is a obvious political play the other side has been using special interests groups politics all along turn around is fair play
March 14, 200917 yr It needed to happen, but this is such a stupid deal. This is typical pork barrel spending. In order to get the votes of certain politicians they want to know "what is in it for me"? This is the unfortunate but real side of politics. You have to accomadate their constituents to get their votes. As I have said before these are the kinds of things the Marlins have to do to get the deal done. This is the bottom of the 9th with a tie score. This equates to bunting the man over to second base with one out. We won't know until next weel if we can score the go ahead run. This is the time to make extra concessions ( and bribe whoever you need to bribe ), Not quite. The money is already coming from the district of these politicians. Pork-barrel spending is when you are trying to get money which you (and your constituents) aren't paying for at all, or at least not too much. This is Miami-Dade money. If anything, it's probably closer to earmarking exactly where the allocated funds will go (I know they haven't officially agreed to spend the money, but yeah). That said, our politicians absolutely MUST ask "What's in it for me?" That's their job - to do the best they can for their constituents. You're exactly right, but that's not necessarily the unfortunate side of politics. The representative aspects, to me, show a healthier democracy. Of course the politician may be driven to please his constituents for other reasons than pure altruism, obviously, but my point remains. I like the analogy. The stats guys might pick on you because a bunt is considered a poor offensive move, but I think it's a smart one in the bottom of the 9th with a tied. (Have there been studies done to hone in on a bunt's viability in that situation?) I agree with you guys. The politics involved is getting retarded. When you're asking for this sum of public money for a private business, there's going to be politics - we just gotta deal with it.
March 14, 200917 yr Never a slam dunk with this organization and the bottomless supply of politics and personal positioning, but this has suddenly become a 90% 'er, imo. Let's just hope all the 11th hour gremlins have finally surfaced. Good news for a change!!
March 14, 200917 yr What about Hispanic-owned Businesses? The Marlins have promised them 100% of the Front-Lawn-Parking-Concession.
March 15, 200917 yr What about Hispanic-owned Businesses? The Marlins have promised them 100% of the Front-Lawn-Parking-Concession. :thumbup
March 16, 200917 yr funny since this agreement i have not seen any negative articles about the stadium
March 16, 200917 yr funny since this agreement i have not seen any negative articles about the stadium I've noticed it too! But they still have plenty of time before Thursday. However, now with the NAACP on-board, I doubt there will be an organized African-American community protest against the stadium like there was at the last City Commission meeting on Feb. 13. Hopefully there will be no more surprises.
March 16, 200917 yr So when is the damn vote going to place? City Commission: March 19 County Commission: March 23
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