THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407220574
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Will the city's plan to finance an upscale downtown mall with millions in federal anti-poverty funds really benefit low-income blacks who live in the surrounding community? The Virginia NAACP isn't totally convinced.
In a letter to the nation's chief housing official, state NAACP Secretary Linda Byrd-Harden has asked for strict guarantees that residents near the proposed mall site be given a fair shot at 3,000 jobs expected to be generated by the proposed MacArthur Center.
One of the planned anchors of the mall, a Nordstrom department store, would be financed in part with a $33 million loan guaranteed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
``The use of anti-poverty money to underwrite an upscale, affluent department store does not normally fall within the realm of fighting poverty,'' Byrd-Harden wrote. ``For this reason we believe this request should be held to greater scrutiny.''
She was not available for further comment. Paul C. Gillis, chairman of the NAACP's Area II Conference, said the group is not out to threaten the project. ``Our fears are that the minority community that lives in the surrounding area will not be given an opportunity to be employed by Nordstrom.''
Gillis said blacks have not been hired initially at other downtown city-sponsored projects. ``We want insurance,'' he said. ``We aren't looking for a battle with the city. Nor will we back up and run away from the issue. We don't want the loan to be approved without certain safeguards in place.''
Mayor Paul R. Fraim, in a letter responding to the group, said the city has developed plans to help low-income people qualify for jobs at the center.
The anti-poverty loan is a chunk of the $270 million mall funding package. The city has applied for a Section 108 loan guarantee from HUD to pay the city's share of building the Nordstrom store. To qualify, 51 percent of all jobs created must be made available to low- and moderate-income residents.
As collateral, the city plans to use $33 million in Community Development Block Grant funds earmarked to erase slums.
The 1.1-million-square-foot mall would be built on 17 acres of parking lots north of the MacArthur Memorial. Several blocks to the east are the Tidewater Gardens public housing neighborhood and the Church Street-Huntersville area, black neighborhoods where family incomes were among the lowest in the city, according to the 1990 census.
The city hopes HUD will approve the loan by September. Construction would begin before the end of the year, with the mall scheduled to open in early 1996.
In the letter to HUD chief Henry Cisneros, state NAACP secretary Byrd-Harden asked that HUD require that Norfolk provide ``specific proposals'' indicating how low-income minorities will be benefit.
A HUD spokesman said he was not aware of the NAACP letter. ``Secretary Cisneros enforces the 108 loan rules very strictly,'' the spokesman, Jack Flynn, said. ``If 50 percent of the jobs aren't available to low- and moderate-income persons, with an emphasis on the immediate surrounding area, there's no way they'll get that loan.''
In a letter responding to the NAACP, Fraim explained that the city's Empowerment Zone proposal would establish an ``Urban Apprenticeship Program'' to recruit, screen and pre-train ``in order to provide a pool of qualified candidates to Nordstrom.''
He said access to the job listings would be available through a neighborhood-based computer job bank.
A general description of that plan was included in the loan application to HUD, Stephen W. Cooper of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority said. ``We still need to work out the details. Whether we receive empowerment funding or not, we'll going to proceed with the training.''
But, he said, ``It's up to Nordstrom to decide whether they are hired. The loan application only requires that 51 percent of the jobs be offered, not filled. It's not a quota thing.
``HUD will audit to see that we did what we said and made a legitimate effort,'' Cooper said. ``But once the jobs are filled, they are no longer involved.''
The NAACP is also seeking guarantees that blacks benefit beyond low-paying jobs.
``Minorities should be involved from the architectural design, to minority contractors in all phases of construction, to store operation at all management levels,'' Gillis said.
Guarantees for minority contractors are hard to get, said James Wright, project director for the Hampton Roads Minority Business Development Center. ``Because of the demographic makeup of Norfolk, I would hope that the city, as part of its criteria to the developer, require that a good faith effort be put forth to ensure that minority contractors participate in the construction and management of the mall.
``There are qualified construction firms here,'' he said.
``We do that with every contract we do,'' Cooper of NRHA said. ``But it's not necessarily a requirement of the 108 loan program. We have a minority participation component in all our jobs, to the extent possible.''
City Councilman Paul R. Riddick said he wasn't worried that the city would not meet its commitment.
``It's nice for (the NAACP) to write HUD and express concern. But in terms of any types of special concessions, until something goes wrong they don't have a point. I'm speaking as a minority member of the council who has confidence in my fellow council members.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map
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