I am no fan of John Street, and these days, that's not an uncommon statement. I do believe, however, I have my own set of unique reasons as to why.
I'm no fan of John Street because I truly believe he missed an opportunity to create something new.
What is this "new" thing he missed? Well, he DIDN'T miss transforming neighborhoods by tackling blight. He DIDN'T miss taking advantage of the national economic upswing in the housing market to spark development. And he DIDN'T miss capitalizing on the market to transform the local economy.
Just think about it. Pre-John Street, South Broad Street was empty. The Kimmel Center was just built and there was nothing significant between that and City Hall, aside from the Bellevue. The housing market was at a slow pace, and having a "city job" was coveted. Today, we now have world class restaurants throughout the city. We have New Yorkers moving here as if Philly is their 6th borough. And we have national publications telling us we're the "next great American city."
I thank John Street for putting Philadelphia on the right track because he could have just paid attention to social issues and not ride the economic wave.
Unfortunately, what John Street missed was the opportunity to create new wealth among black professionals in the city. Let me repeat....John Street missed the opportunity to create NEW WEALTH among the black professionals in the city.
The writer of this blog truly believes that this was a major mistake on his part. Don't get me wrong, paying attention to minority contracting is important and noble. But when a lot of us think of minority contracting, we think of that contractor who's not in the union; who works tirelessly chasing "prime" contractors with the hopes of being a "sub"for that particular deal; and who hopes to one day become qualified enough to have the capacity to do his/her own job. We know of this disparity all too well. However, I believe if more black professionals were competing on the same level as the local major players, then those minority contractors would have a natural place to work and grow.
I look at the late great former Mayor of Atlanta, GA, Manyard Jackson. If you look at his legacy, he pushed the promotion of black professionals while he ran the city. He did it as a policy, and not as some sort of pay-to-play scheme.
I recently interviewed an attorney who came up under the Jackson administration in Atlanta. He explained to me that his success today as a bond-lawyer came from a simple phone call. As he described it to me, the call went something like this:
"Hello. This is Manyard Jackson."
"I'm glad you were awarded the contract."
"Can you do me a favor? I have this young attorney I know."
"I would love it if you would walk him through the deal and teach him the ropes."
What I love about that conversation was the fact that you know the recipient of the contract wouldn't dare say NO to a sitting mayor.
A mayor of any major city has the ability to create new wealth by simply positioning black professionals in key places. Sounds simple. Unfortunately, an all too common excuse that institutions, firms, and agencies use is that despite being open to "diversity," these institutions continually claim that they can't find the black professional with enough talent or experience to handle the job, the position or the contract. Thus, we systematically miss these opportunities to show our talent. Thus an unending cycle continues, which could have been stop under John Street if he had the policy of positioning young black professionals in areas where they can get that experience.
Black professionals graduate from college and graduate schools every year by the hundreds. We're often given two things when we do graduate. Student loan debt and the hope of getting that job, position or contract to reflect the education we worked so hard for. What happens a lot of times is that when we don't immediately get that job position or contract and because the debt continues to knock on our door, we put our dreams on hold in order to take "something to hold us over" until we get there. Next thing you know 1, 3, or even 5yrs go by and we're stuck. I think John Street could have helped us here in Philly, the way Mayor Jackson help black professionals in Atlanta. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.
For several years, I watched closely how Nutter came into power. He planned purposefully to establish himself as an independent thinker while on city council. He focused on city-wide issues while at the same time he took care of his constituents. But now I ask: What of us? Will Nutter look to make placing black professionals in key positions, places or circumstances as a policy? If not, then maybe it's not such a New Day.
To all my fellow black professionals in the City of Philadelphia, what are your thoughts...?
