Metra delays Englewood project to study minority contracts
Protesters made their point. Metra officials said they were sympathetic. But it’s not clear if anything will happen to satisfy complaints the agency is ignoring black contractors for its massive Englewood Flyover project.
“This is one of the greatest insults to a whole group of people and a population base in Chicago,” Congressman Danny Davis told Metra officials Friday. “I’m not saying it’s intentional, but mistakes sometimes get made.”
Davis was accompanied by Congressmen Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr. and a crowd of neighborhood residents. The three Chicago Democrats accused Metra of shortchanging the black community when it came to awarding contracts and jobs for the flyover, a $141.6 million elevated track that will ease freight and commuter train congestion in the area.
Less than one-half percent of the winning construction contract has gone to black firms, activists contend.
Metra countered by saying it is committed to ensuring more than 25 percent of the contract goes to a “disadvantaged business” or DBE firm, and is following federal and state guidelines. Disadvantaged businesses include companies owned by blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians and women.
The contract has not been awarded yet. It was to have been voted on Friday but the agency asked for an extension.
Acting Metra Chairman Larry Huggins told the crowd that he grew up in Englewood and understood what jobs meant to the lower-income, black community.
“We made a commitment to the DBE process,” Huggins said. “At the end of the day, all we can do is to delay the process and hope everyone can come together.”
Rush said he was “sick and tired” of seeing construction-related jobs go to people outside of Englewood. “This contract is a shame. It’s repugnant to the community.”
Jackson added, “We get all of the dust and dirt and none of the dough. There’s a moral imperative to award this in a fair and equitable manner.”
The same day of the protest, the board approved an updated DBE policy.
“The timing could not have been worse,” board director Jack Partelow of Naperville said. “Was there any indication this problem was developing?”
“We could not have anticipated this type of controversy,” CEO Alex Clifford said.
He noted the agency had tried to recruit black-owned firms and reach out to Englewood businesses. Metra is working with the state to establish a mentor program that should allow for hiring black workers by the contractor.
Board director Jack Schaeffer of Cary said he sympathized with the protesters.
“If there was a big project in McHenry County and all the employees didn’t seem to come from my area, I’d feel unhappy,” he said.