Elizabeth Dickinson for Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota

Elizabeth Dickinson's Rosie the Riveter Speech on City Contracting with Women- and Minority-Owned Businesses

Press Conference Address by Elizabeth Dickinson

September 2, 2005

Thanks to all of you for being here today.

My name is Elizabeth Dickinson and I'm the Green Party candidate for mayor.

I'm standing near the Brownstone building, a community development project by and for the surrounding neighborhood by Model Cities. This type of revitalization project is the kind of partnership the city should actively solicit and engage in promoting because it uses and serves homegrown talent from the neighborhoods.

Notwithstanding this particular success story, in most of St. Paul, the dream of equal access in hiring and contracting opportunities for minorities and women has simply not been realized. The city, like this particular development, should be a model for inclusive and progressive business policies, leveling the playing field so city contracts are awarded without regard for race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and disabilities.

Yet on Tuesday night I was present at a city hearing where I witnessed a litany of pain and exclusion, of hopes dashed and expectations unfulfilled. The allegation that millions of dollars of federal money funneled through Planning and Economic Development over many years may not have reached the people for whom it was intended should be a wake-up call for the city.

One of the most disheartening aspects of St. Paul policies is that the city, including the Planning and Economic Department and the Housing Redevelopment Authority, doesn't even know exactly how it has failed — it doesn't have the exact data which would show how many contracts have been awarded to minority or women-owned businesses. And without that data and that feedback, it makes it impossible for the city to improve its performance.

So I call upon the city to expedite the draft recommendations of the Equal Access Working Group, as the city council members have done in a resolution, to include an independent, in depth examination of hiring and contracting practices. In particular, we must ensure that there are equal access goals for the Housing 5000 initiative, including mortgage and real estate brokers, management companies, property owners, tenants, developers, and other professionals.

There must be better outreach and notification of city opportunities to interested parties. Targets for development deals must include a significant percentage of qualified people of color, women, and disabled developers and vendors. The successes and failures must be transparent to the entire community. We must work with the established developers to create mentoring opportunities for new developers and work with the unions in partnership to encourage recruitment and training for minorities and women in the construction trades.

And for the Rondo neighborhood and other neighborhoods in the city, we must create more tools so neighborhoods have more of a voice in the hiring and the type of development that happens in their neighborhood. For Rondo, we should explore creating a historic district — perhaps including the Unidale mall space which was promised to the African American Community in the 1970s — so the places that hold the most importance for the community are reserved and conserved by the community for the community, so they can re-create their dreams and take their rightful place in St. Paul.

As we go into Labor Day weekend, as a member of three unions, and as the daughter of a union member, I want to acknowledge all my fellow union workers out there, including the striking Northwest airline mechanics. I have walked picket lines — not just while I was campaigning — and I deeply appreciate how standing together as a community of workers makes life better for all of us.

Finally, I'm standing with Rosie the Riveter behind me and as you may know, we've mailed out 15,000 postcards to St. Paul voters with her image on it. For my campaign, this image evokes inspirational memories of suffragettes who fought for women's right to vote, and of the hundreds of thousands of capable Rosie the Riveters who proved they could do a so-called man's job and helped win the Second World War. It also invokes the countless other women who have raised their voices, burst through glass ceilings, and channeled their efforts toward equality, democracy, and opportunity for all.

St. Paul in all of its 151-year history has never had a woman mayor. In addition to my other experiences and accomplishments, in a political field dominated by two middle-aged white men, who better is there than a woman to understand the consequences of discrimination first hand? Who better to roll up her sleeves like Rosie the Riveter and address and correct the unaddressed discriminatory contracting and hiring practices in St. Paul?

Thanks for your time.

Contact

Elizabeth Dickinson, (651) 235-1208 (cell)

Mary Petrie, Campaign Manager, (651) 226-3527 (cell)

Christopher Childs, Communications Coordinator, (651) 312-1216

Elizabeth Dickinson for Mayor

384 Hall Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55107

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Click here to read the pre-event press release.

Click here to read the post-event press release.

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