Like Guilford County government, the City of High Point and Guilford County Schools, whenever there’s a large construction project, the City of Greensboro wants to use as many Minority- and Women-Business Enterprises (MWBE) as possible.
That means that, currently, city staff is actively seeking out those businesses to take part in the Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex project, which will be a community center extraordinaire in East Greensboro.
In addition to being a community center, the $65-million Windsor Complex is designed to be “an innovative and collaborative space.”
It’s being developed by the city’s Public Libraries and Parks and Recreation Departments.
In addition to the things that normally take place at a typical community center, the 65,000-square-foot facility will provide users a location to learn and play together and take health and wellness classes – and the center will also offer access to Greensboro services and Guilford County public health and social services, as well as other government services.
The Greensboro City Council has already hired Samet Corporation as the “construction manager at risk” for the project and the city is now working with Samet to maximize the amount of minority participation in the project. Samet and the City of Greensboro will try to help connect interested second-tier subcontractors with prequalified first-tier subcontractors for participating packages for the project.
In order to get as much MWBE participation as possible, the Greensboro Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise Office is hosting an open house for second-tier subcontractors on Wednesday, August 28 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurs at 1451 S. Elm-Eugene St.
At that event, potential MWBE participants will learn details about the $65-million Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex project.
Complimentary food and drinks will be served in a “relaxed, professional setting sponsored by the City of Greensboro, Guilford County and the Samet Corporation.”
The open house will provide an opportunity for interested firms to network directly with industry leaders and other companies while they gain insights into the project’s requirements and its MWBE goals.
For the record, the project’s bare minimum MWBE participation goals are 17.25 percent MBE and 15.75 percent WBE.
The complex is designed to “promote lifelong learning, and encourage social interaction. It will feature elements like an indoor aquatics space that includes “a lazy river, water slide, and lap pool,” as well as “a teaching kitchen, gymnasium, walking track, weight and fitness rooms, and a fully renovated outdoor park with a multipurpose field.”
The coming Windsor Chavis Complex will also have a covered basketball pavilion and “dedicated natural areas.”
Giving contracts (tax payers money) based on skin color? Diversity for one is hate for another. Every business struggles, and then they give contracts to minorities based on their skin color. A major lawsuit against Skip Austin and his gang might be the answer.
Our govt has attorneys at the taxpayer’s expense. The only approach might be through the courts.
It seems that Greensboro is more interested in DEI policies rather than having the most qualified people complete a given job on time and within the agreed budget.
This has been going on for years. The City & County continue to hire more of the faithful to administer these programs.
Wow……. it must be nice. I retired with 30 years in the commercial subcontracting business. We worked all over North Carolina as a non-minority contractor. We worked on private projects, city-owned projects, military projects, churches, colleges, hospitals, and retirement homes. We worked with local General Contractors, Regional General Contractors, and National General Contractors. Over the years we had contract values from $1,000.00 to $1,300,000.00. The competition at every level was, and still is fierce, so we had to scramble for every contract. We received requests for bids every day, but not once do I recall being invited for tea and crumpets!!
Before you go off on a tangent, remember this city is 42-45% black and 11% Hispanic and 10% Asian. Diversity in hiring should always be the goal.
This is not a “hiring” process…… they 2nd tier subcontractors to the 1st tier subcontractors. They are the actual foot soldiers on the job doing all the actual work. Visit ANY job site, and look around, half the workforce is Hispanic including a majority of the 2nd tier contractors. That’s not the problem here. The problem is the wrong minority is providing the majority of participation. It is only discussed behind closed doors and in whispers…..but that is the issue. It will only get worse now that they have flooded the country with immigrants. They will slowly move into the construction workforce, displacing more of the remaining non-Hispanic workforce and that will disproportionately affect black workers. If a politician or anyone else brings it up, the media scoffs at it and refuses to talk about it, but here it is in real life…..Votes matter and here, in the real world, is where it shows up. No matter how much tea and crumpets they serve, it will not change that fact.
Uh, no. The most qualified should be hired.
Thank you, Miller.
Anything else is institutionalized racism.
Sigh. You elect this govt, this is what you get. If you don’t vote in the next local & national elections, whose fault is it?
Gosh Skip Samet got this contract you must be pulling your hair out. Let’s see Guilford County schools are using them, A&T are using them now the city is using them Looks like YOU were the RACIST problem in the new jail project huh imagine that.
“Greensboro City Council has already hired Samet Corporation as the “construction manager at risk” for the project…” Geez, the same Samet that was doing a great job on the jail demolition and construction until Skippy had them fired, rebid the project to get greater MWBE participation, costing the Guilford County taxpayers millions in additional cost. Of course, with record property tax increases, Skippy doesn’t care. I am surprised the city council approved this hire, given some of the members preoccupation with race over results.
When is the state of North Carolina’s legislature going to pass a statute declaring all these alphabet programs unconstitutional, because they are. Think of the tax money that could be saved by eliminating such programs. Taxpayers are paying for a huge department in Raleigh devoted to vetting businesses requesting to be placed on the alphabet list and then monitoring the program. Same for local governments. As Bigcity points out above, the percentage of minorities in Greensboro surpasses the White population. If correct, why would the minority population not surpass the number of White contractors, thereby giving minorities an advantage in numbers? Could it be that minority contractors cannot compete when measured by the real attributes necessary to build a successful business and succeed? Rather than the government enforcing unconstitutional programs, minorities who want to start a business, ought to learn what really counts in establishing and building a successful business. Another part of government intervention into businesses is the pressure placed on businesses to hire minority workers. Again, if Bigcity is correct in his numbers, businesses have no choice but to hire minorities because there is not enough Whites to do the job. Skip Alston has such resentments against Whites and uses this resentment to bully others into manifestations of his perceived White racism.
Could it be that racism endures because it is predicated on reality?
Please give examples of individual racism in 2024. If dislike of someone is predicated on an irrational reason but no harmful acts are manifested because of that irrational reason, is that racism? Does the definition of racism include thoughts about a person based on enate characteristics of that person or group? Or, if those thoughts are based on an experience but no harm is manifested as result of those thoughts, is that racism? Let’s take DEI as an example. DEI’s existence is based on illogical or unreasonable government policy. DEI assumes the alphabet groups cannot get ahead because of enate characteristics. There is no proof of that. DEI is government racism based on an irrational reason and then acted upon by harmful acts. As far as racist thoughts by an individual never acted upon, freedom of thought cannot be governed away. Let’s suppose a White woman decides not to enter an elevator only occupied by a Black man. Is this because she is a racist or because she is aware that percentagewise Black men commit a disproportionally larger number of crimes? What if the man were green and the woman knew that green men commit a disproportionally larger number of crimes and therefore, decided not to enter the elevator. Is the woman prejudiced against green men? There is racism practiced in the US, but it is not practiced by the individual but by an irrational and all powerful federal. state and local governments.
What a magnificent misunderstanding!
Read it again, and try to understand.
– Racism endures because it is predicated on reality.
That’s a very radical sentiment to express today, but only to those who are capable of comprehending it.
I thought you were better, Term Limits.
And what reality might that be? Examples, please, demonstrating that racism is predicated on reality. Whose reality? I do not see racism all around me. I do not see racism practiced all around me. Are there people who do not like others because of innate properties, of course. However, as long as that dislike remains a personal feeling and there is no overt racist acts manifested, then there is no racism. The parties that are most guilty of overt racism is government as practiced by DEI and other alphabet groups. That is the reality I know.
TL, you’re tilting at windmills – and still don’t get it.
Racism is ubiquitous. Just ask any Leftist. They assert that everyone is racist. and for once, they’re right. Even the Reverend Jesse Jackson once confessed that he was relieved when walking down a dark NYC street and hearing footsteps rapidly approaching from behind, to turn and see that the guy was white. And he’s a civil rights icon!
Every individual instantly judges another individual on first sight. Trust me, I know. I’m a door-to-door salesman. They’ve formed an opinion of me within milliseconds – and I them. Part of it is race, and the other criteria are multiple and indefinable, or nebulous at least.
Racism is only the acknowledgement that there are differences between the races. It is not bigotry. It is the understanding that these differences constitute the diversity that we are constantly exhorted to celebrate. We cannot deny the differences because they are obvious.
The hypocrisy of the Left is exposed when you realise that certain differences are acceptable to express, whereas others are not.
They can’t have it both ways.
There are clear and conspicuous differences between all the races. This fact has been accepted as obvious forever, up until recently. Because it is obvious.
To pretend that these differences only amount to differences that are skin deep is absurd.
Doesn’t the very mention of race mean discrimination?
Yep…..spot on Term Limits.
Funny how the City discriminates against Woman Owned Businesses and Disabled Owned Businesses. They only look for Minority. The Federal Law mandates they look for all three. I guess Hightower runs the show.
It will be interesting as to how much this will add $ to each contract due to the fact I am sure the city council will check each contract to make sure their friends are compensated for trying to bid. This is one reason some many firms have decided not to bid on jobs in this city.