CongressmanBobby Rush wouldn’t give the press a look at the “memorandum of understanding”he says he negotiated with IHC Construction/Illinois Constructors Joint Venture,the successful bidder on METRA’s $93 million Englewood Flyover rail overpassconstruction contract to boost minority employment on the project, probablybecause the deal is essentially meaningless for increasing employment in the Englewoodneighborhood. The project is intended to untangle one of the most congestedrail bottlenecks in the United States, and reduce freight train interferencewith commuter rail service on Chicago’s south side.
Ballyhooedlast week as a boosting employment for Englewood residents, the deal reallydoes little or nothing for jobs in the neighborhood. According to METRAofficials, the deal sets up a community liaison to facilitate contacts betweencontractors on the project and minority businesses and workers, and providesmentoring for African American owned companies. What it doesn’t do is requirethe general contractor to hire companies not included in its bid to METRA. Ifit did, that would violate state bid shopping laws. While IHC President DavidRock says “It’s my goal to get some local folks jobs,” he quickly adds “Theystill have to be able to do the work.” Given the high rate of gang relatedshootings in Englewood, what happens when skilled construction tradespeople inEnglewood get work, is that they move out of the neighborhood.
Thecontractors and subcontractors on this project will be required to submitcertified payrolls including the ZIP Codes of each worker on the site. It wouldbe an interesting academic exercise for some local Ph.D. social science studentto use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain them, and do an analysis of theworker migration out of Englewood during the course of the construction work. However,it’s doubtful anyone will go to such lengths to test whether Congressman Rushhas actually done anything at all to improve overall employment of Englewoodresidents by this headline grabbing, legally unenforceable “memorandum ofunderstanding.”
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