At Monday evening’s Ward F Town Hall meeting, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop accused the Jerramiah Healy administration of putting a discrimination study “on the shelf because they didn’t want to deal with it.”
Addressing why his administration decided to take the reins on the Croson study, used to determine if any disparities exist between hiring white contractors versus hiring minority and/or female contractors.
Carolyn Oliver-Fair, the president of the North Jersey chapter of the National Action Network, asked Fulop how she could get a copy of the study.
Fulop responded by providing some background on the study, accusing the Jerramiah Healy administration – without referring to him by name – of “putting it on the shelf because they didn’t want to deal with it.”
A press release from September 23, 2014 stated that the study, conducted by the firm MGT America, commenced in 2007 and was completed in May 2011.
The $370,590 study called for the city to add outreach programs, expand the utilization of and using “multi-prime construction contracts” for large scale projects – among other things – all in relation to minority women business enterprise programs.
The mayor added that Councilwomen Diane Coleman and Joyce Watterman “put an actionable plan in place” for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which currently has three inspectors overseeing construction sites to make sure everything is done by the book – with penalties in place if the rules and regulations are broken.
Compliance Officer Director Pierre Leander and Deputy Director Kevin Kane, a Freehold Councilman, will be overseeing this aspect of diversity and inclusion.
Fair said while that was all fine and good, she would still prefer a copy of the study since African Americans are “in a state of economic Jim Crow.”
Coleman explained that it took some time to put together a policy, plan and hire staff as a result of the study, before getting into the particulars of the matter.
Fulop collected emails at the end of the meeting for residents that were interested in seeing a copy of the Croson study.
