From city Communications Director Brett Broesder:
As construction at Steelpointe Harbor kicks into high gear, Mayor Bill Finch, the City of Bridgeport’s Small & Minority Business Resource Office, the Fairfield County Building Trades and Bridgeport Landing Development, developers of Steelpointe Harbor, met with several local, small and minority owned businesses to discuss opportunities available at the 2 million square foot super regional waterfront project.
“After decades of broken promises, construction is finally happening at Steel Point,” said Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch. “Starbucks, Bass Pro Shops, and Chipotle will all open this fall. Once complete, this waterfront development will be home to apartments, retail, hotels, a grocery store, and more. It will create thousands of jobs and add tens of millions of dollars to our tax rolls. This is yet another great example of how Bridgeport is getting better every day.”
The Steelpointe Minority Contracting Opportunities Information Session was open to Bridgeport-based small and minority-owned firms. Among those in attendance were Marshan Coleman, a Bridgeport native and owner of Premiere Construction Mac LLC., and Willie McBride, owner of WC McBride Electrical Contractors, LLC.
“It’s a really great opportunity to do work on such a huge project that’s going to be a staple for the city of Bridgeport, I can’t wait to start,” said Coleman. “When I grew up we didn’t have such a great reputation, but this administration has done a lot to help individuals like myself. There are opportunities, that ten years ago I don’t believe were there. With Mayor Finch in office, he has been adamant about participation and giving opportunities to people who have not had these opportunities before and I am a direct result of that.”
“The city has been tremendous help to me. It gives minorities more of an opportunity to work on these jobs,” said McBride. “I probably went to ten or fifteen rallies and heard they were going to develop this property for the past twenty years. I stood out there in the rain and snow; rallying for Steelpointe to be developed and it’s just a pleasure to drive by and see something finally going up there. Being part of it is tremendous, it’s a dream come true.”
Steelpointe Harbor will serve as a major boon for the city’s economy with Bass Pro Shops serving as the site’s flagship store and a waterfront development in the state’s largest city, representing the biggest economic development project in Park City since the Industrial Revolution.
Overall, Steelpointe Harbor is a 2 million square foot super regional waterfront project located adjacent to I-95 in Bridgeport Connecticut. Spanning 82 acres, the project will feature more than 750,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment, a 12-screen premium theater, two hotels, 1,100 mid-and-high rise residential units, 30,000 square feet of office and a 200-slip full service deep water marina.
The Bass Pro Shops currently being constructed at Steelpointe Harbor will be the only Bass Pro in the entire state. And, the Starbucks and Chipotle represent firsts in the state’s largest city.
Created in 2008, one of Mayor Finch’s first initiatives after being elected, the Small and Minority Business Resource Office (SMBRO) provides training and connections for entrepreneurs to create businesses and compete for city contracts, such as school construction projects. Since that time, the city has hired its first African-American construction manager for a school project and seen four minority owned businesses create joint ventures with established firms.
Recently, through the efforts of SMBRO and its director Deborah Caviness, more than $50 million has been awarded to small, minority and women-owned businesses on our four most recent school construction projects. On these four construction projects–Black Rock Elementary School, Fairchild Wheeler Magnet High School, Roosevelt Elementary School and Longfellow Elementary School –100 out of 101 subcontracting opportunities were awarded to minority or women-owned businesses.
Drivel of the week from the ministry of public enlightenment.
Brothers, I am extremely happy you are getting this opportunity to pursue contracts on this city endeavor, but the meeting was just informational if I’m correct. I am happy for any black persons who better themselves and thus bettering the lives of their children and family. You also understand this an election year and the Mayor has to find an in back to the black voting public he has lost by his inaction toward the black community since he has been Mayor.
Brothers, for the two of you who may or may not receive contracts, there were about 10 to 12 blacks who didn’t get hired on the Bridgeport Fire Department because of the Mayor and his Civil Service Director, David Dunn and their hiring policies. Brothers, there were at least that many if not more blacks who aspired to be Bridgeport Police officers who were passed over by the policies put into place by Mayor Finch and David Dunn.
I say these things to make you understand that should you guys get these contracts and make a ton of money for yourselves, your employees and for your company, don’t pat this man on the back when what he did for you, he failed to do for countless others Brothers and Sisters who aspired to be Bridgeport Firefighters and Police Officers. Understand, I am not telling you you shouldn’t apply and get these contracts, what I’m saying is he should be held accountable for stepping on the throats of hope for other blacks who want to work for the city in which they live, Bridgeport. He should be held accountable to all those residents who want a job in Bridgeport that will transform their lives, instead of transforming the lives of suburban white males. Good luck, Brothers.
Donald Day, I agree with you but let’s not forget the testing process that Finch/Dunn have in place has also denied white females to become police and firefighters.
Are these companies truly minority business? Across this country the game has been played where white business owners would place a minority out front as the owner to get these types of contracts. Plus these are short-term contracts and the lies Finch keeps telling about “It will create thousands of jobs and add tens of millions of dollars to our tax rolls. This is yet another great example of how Bridgeport is getting better every day.” What a liar.
Bridgeport is a community with significant “minority” populations. When it comes to totaling up all of those people, we find too many are unemployed or underemployed in such ways that meaningful work that permits a living wage is high on their list of needs.
And a Mayor should be listening and acting in such regard to the extent he can. In Bridgeport the scale of public dollars spent on schools, the number of housing units benefiting from public funding and/or tax abatements, and the emphasis on park and recreation development should have provided lots of opportunity for unskilled or low-skilled workers.
Election laws regulate the listing and reporting of financial support for incumbents and challengers. It is interesting the Mayor can celebrate over $400,000 of campaign funds, from whom derived, when, etc. but there are no charts available to show actual minority workers were employed for how many months at what pay levels and that added up to what % of the total public dollars spent on these projects. The City Council does not mandate the keeping of such records. Why not? Wouldn’t you want to know the facts if you were elected by all the people to represent all the people? Time will tell.
Now this is very interesting.
I looked up Premiere Construction Mac LLC on the Secretary of State’s CONCORD website and lo and behold no business was listed under that name. Nor was Premiere Construction Mac. There were two Premiere Construction companies, one Premiere Construction Group LLC out of Greenwich CT and another Premiere Construction Inc out of NYC. And I could not find any taxpaying entity with a variation of that name.
I did find a Marshan Coleman listed. I am happy to report he is current on his real estate taxes but appears to be delinquent to the tune of $13,154 in motor vehicle taxes.
I await with bated breath Brett’s response.
Bob, I heard Mr. Coleman was delinquent in his car taxes when the entire DeJesus issue arose. I personally feel if you are significantly delinquent in Bridgeport taxes, you should not receive $1 in taxpayer funds for any municipal endeavor.
Kenneth Moales Jr. owes $20,000 in payroll taxes to CT, yet he is receiving taxpayer funds for his daycares. It is insulting to those who do pay their taxes.
Willie McBride, owner of WC McBride Electrical was up until recently a city electrician. Strange move.
I checked Willie and his business is registered and he seems to be current on his taxes.