The discussion started before Michael B. Kennedy was born. By last year, his patience had wore thin.
“I serve on a lot of committees, and I felt like I kept having the same conversation. It took hours and hours of repeating the same thing. And every time, I felt like I had to start all over again,” said the architect and president of KAI Design and Build.
Founded by his father, Michael E. Kennedy, 32 years ago, KAI is recognized as one of the leading minority-owned architectural firms in the country. The senior Kennedy serves as chairman and chief executive.
To the younger Kennedy, 34, the exchanges with contractors, government officials, trade unions, developers and fellow designers inevitably returned to the shortage of minority contractors and trade participation on local construction projects.
The problem has vexed St. Louis, publicly at least, since the afternoon of July 14, 1964, when Percy Green and another activist climbed a leg of the yet-to-be-completed Gateway Arch to protest the lack of African Americans working on the landmark.
Nor has the situation shown much sign of improvement. A March study by the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis that pegged the number of minority workers on local construction jobs at approximately seven percent.
African Americans account for 49 percent of St. Louis City residents and 23 percent of those in St. Louis County.
Kennedy didn’t need census data to drive the point home.
He found proof in the overwhelming number of white faces encountered on visits to area construction sites, particularly those outside the city.
The time had come, he concluded, to move the conversation from board rooms and business meetings to a broader audience.
“I thought if I could capture everything that is being said in these meetings on video, and then get that video in (the right) hands, then maybe we can finally move onto some viable solutions,” Kennedy said.
“Building a Better St. Louis” was initially envisioned as a “ten-minute clip.”
But once Kennedy and the production company, headed by Bobby Edwards Media Group, began the interviews, they learned just how much local business and community leaders, both black and white, had to say about minority hiring.
Thirty hours worth to be exact.
Edited to 41 minutes, the film takes unsparing shots at the insularity of white-dominated local trade unions, the shortcomings of public education in St. Louis and the chronic racial divide.
“Anyone who says St. Louis is not a segregated community is someone who has had his head stuck up his you-know-what for too many years,” volunteers Terry Nelson, the outspoken head of the Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis.
St. Louis City License Collector Mike McMillan offered a more measured analysis: “What we’ve found at every level of business or corporations or government is that if (change) is not pushed from top and implemented all the way down, then women and minorities, who have always been left out of the picture, will continue to be left out of the picture.”
In an interview this week, Kennedy cited additional factors he believes shift the odds against minority contractors and workers. High on the list are the social and economic forces separating the city and outlying suburbs.
He praises adherence to the ordinance stipulating that minorities perform 25 percent of the work on projects within the city. But frets at how the threshold is rarely met on construction sites in the surrounding counties free credit score online.
Kennedy says a fair share of the blame goes to minority contractors and laborers themselves.
Construction, like all businesses, is about relationships.
African American contractors and laborers, Kennedy charges, don’t forge the necessary connections while working side-by-side with non-minorities on city projects.
The upshot, he says, is that construction companies choose to do business with white subcontractors when jobs materialize in St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Lincoln counties.
“Building a Better St. Louis” points out that minorities compete for just one percent of the opportunities to participate on area construction jobs.
“It’s not a black and white issue, it’s a cultural issue,” Kennedy says, singling out the “where’d you go to high school?” question. “It’s about the St. Louis cliques. St. Louis is not friendly to outsiders, white or black.”
“Building a Better St. Louis” makes a stab at answering the overarching question of how, or if, minority contractors can ever achieve equity.
It’s a tall order.
Kennedy believes it will occur organically.
He points out that the white males that have dominated the construction trades are retiring. With many of their children exhibiting little interest in continuing the family tradition, the door will swing open for African Americans.
The key, Kennedy says, is getting young minorities interested and prepared to step into the breach.
He sees “Building a Better St. Louis” as prompting a dialogue to move the black community in that direction.
The video was screened this week for a group of contractors and Kennedy ultimately hopes to bring it to a wider audience of government officials, civic groups and – his big goal – an airing on a public broadcasting station.
“This industry lags farther behind any other industry that I’ve seen,” Kennedy says in the video. “The more I talked to people the more I decided other people needed to hear what I was hearing. And that was to listen to the voices of reason.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“… workforce professionals we interviewed said that some employers are reluctant to hire older workers. Because of legal prohibitions against age discrimination, employers are unlikely to explicitly express a lack of interest in hiring older workers; however, one workforce professional told us that local employers had asked her to screen out all applicants over the age of 40.” - U.S. Government Accountability Office on plight of older Americans suffering bouts of long-term unemployment.
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office
BY THE NUMBERS
7.3 percent - Missouri’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in April, the lowest in 40 months.
Source: Missouri Department of Economic Development
FINAL WORD
“There has been a lack of progress on this issue, and too many families are struggling right at the time when they should be celebrating the birth of a new family member. Working parents should have the benefit of these programs.” Vicki Shabo, director of work and family programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families on study that found only 11 percent of privately-owned companies provide paid family leave for new parents.
Source: The Chicago Tribune
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Pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts said this afternoon its first-quarter profit fell 18 percent as it worked to close its $29 billion acquisition of competitor Medco.
The north St. Louis County-based company earned $267.8 million, or 55 cents per share, down from $326.5 million, or 61 cents per share, in last year’s first quarter.
Excluding one-time items, it earned 73 cents per share. Analysts forecast earnings of 77 cents per share on $11.47 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Revenue climbed 9 percent to $12.13 billion. It filled 192.8 million adjusted prescriptions, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.
Express Scripts Holding Co. completed its acquisition of Medco Health Solutions on April 2. The deal made Express Scripts the largest pharmacy benefits manager by far.
Express Scripts expects the combined company to earn $3.36 to $3.66 per share in 2012, while filling 1.4 billion adjusted prescriptions.
Analysts are expecting a profit of $3.58 per share, on average.
Express Scripts said the deal should be “slightly accretive” while it integrates Medco and forecast a moderate increase in its profit after that process is finished in the first half of 2014. The company expects to create $1 billion in annual savings after it fully integrates Medco into its business.
The company said Medco’s first-quarter profit fell about 26 percent to $245.1 million, or 62 cents per share. Excluding transaction and amortization costs, it said Medco earned 79 cents per share.
Express Scripts shares rose 44 cents to $54.34 Thursday. The stock slid 60 cents to $53.74 in after-hours trading.
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With Facebook hurtling toward a spectacular initial public offering in the $100-billion range May 18, it
The United States and Europe are urging Iran to use upcoming talks with world powers to ease international worry that it may be aiming to develop nuclear arms.
But Tehran says such concerns are based on “fake evidence” concocted to cause it political and economic harm.
Envoys for the U.S., the EU and Iran spoke Monday at a 189-nation meeting looking for ways to strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty low interest rate personal loans.
The divide over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities threatens the success of both the talks and a meeting between Iran and the U.N. agency trying to probe its atomic secrets.
United Technologies Corp. says net income from continuing operations rose more than 19 percent during the first quarter, factoring out the businesses that the manufacturer put up for sale.
That would equate to earnings of $1.26 billion, or $1.31 per share, compared with earnings from those same operations last year of $1.05 billion, or $1.06 per share.
That tops the $1.21 expected on Wall Street, according to a poll by FactSet.
The parent company of jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, Otis elevator, Carrier heating and cooling and other aerospace and building systems companies said Tuesday that revenue was $12 payday loan.42 billion in the January-March quarter, down 2 percent from the same period last year.
Including the discontinued operations, net income fell to $330 million, compared with $1.01 billion last year.
Iraq began loading crude oil Friday from a second offshore export terminal in the Persian Gulf, part of a major project to boost Iraq’s income.
Also Friday, the government agreed to allow ExxonMobil Corp. to continue working in one of Iraq’s biggest oil fields.
Dhia Jaafar, the head of State-run South Oil Company, said that the pumping started late Thursday from the terminal when a ship with a capacity of 2 million barrels docked near its platform to be loaded with oil.
The crude is being pumped from the terminal at a rate of 35,000 barrels an hour.
The new terminal is the second of five that will eventually handle about 5 million barrels a day. They will help Iraq to bring in sorely needed cash for reconstruction after decades of war and international sanctions.
With the opening of the two terminals, Basra export capacity has been raised to around 3.5 million barrels a day, he said.
Jaafar also said ExxonMobil Corp payday advance. will continue working in the 8.6 billion-barrel West Qurna Stage 1 field in Basra province, even though it has been banned from bidding on developing gas fields next month.
Iraq said that Exxon is not allowed to bid in the May auction of 12 exploration blocks nationwide because of its refusal to abandon its deals with the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The Texas-based Exxon signed six deal with the Kurds last October to search for oil in six areas, bypassing the Baghdad government, which maintains that it must ratify all such contracts.
“ExxonMobil has given assurances that it will sort out its problems in Kurdistan,” Jaafar explained. “Therefore, the government allowed it to continue working in West Qurna.”
The Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday that its net income rose 8 percent in the first quarter as it hiked prices and sold more of its beverages around the world.
Although volume growth came from all regions, the world’s largest drink maker said increases were far greater in emerging markets. In the Eurasia and Africa region, for example, volume grew 9 percent, compared with a 2 percent increase in North America.
The company also had strong growth beyond its soda as consumers increasingly have become concerned about drinking and eating healthy. Global volume for bottled water grew 15 percent in the quarter, while energy drinks volume rose 25 percent. That surpassed the volume gains in the company’s namesake Coca-Cola soda, which increased 4 percent.
Even the slight bump in volume in North America was driven largely by the company’s Powerade energy drinks, Dasani bottled water and zero-calorie vitaminwater.
Despite the competition and market saturation at home, CEO Muhtar Kent said: “We believe North America is a growth market for our business.”
Total revenue was $11.14 billion for the three months ended March 30, up 6 percent from $10.52 billion a year ago, in large part because of higher prices in areas like North America. Analysts expected revenue of $10.82 billion for the latest quarter.
Coke said it earned $2.05 billion, or 89 cents per share, a penny per share above what analysts polled by FactSet had expected. In the year-ago period, it had net income of $1.9 billion, or 82 cents per share.
The company also said that the cost-cutting program it began in the quarter is on track. When completed, the measures are expected to save up to $650 million annually by 2015.
Coke is looking to trim costs wherever possible to offset rising commodity prices, which continue to eat into profits for food and drink makers industry-wide. Coke said its cost of goods rose 10 percent in the quarter.
Kent noted that Coke’s global marketing campaign for the summer Olympics in London is set to strengthen its brands by “tapping into emotional passion points like sports and music.”
Shares of Coca-Cola rose $1.04, or 1.4 percent, to $73.48 in premarket trading.
A federal agency says a remote underwater vehicle is surveying plugged undersea oil wells and looking for natural seepage as authorities seek the source of a 10-mile oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says it has instructed operators of pipelines in the area to survey their lines.
The sheen is about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. Royal Dutch Shell PLC has two production platforms in the area. The company said Thursday it is confident the sheen didn’t originate from its operations instant personal loans guaranteed.
The federal agency said it directed Shell to conduct a seafloor assessment using a robot vehicle. Natural seepage is known to occur in the area.
The sheen was spotted on Wednesday.
Asian stock markets fell Thursday after a weak Spanish bond auction inflamed concerns about the European debt crisis and hopes faded for more help for the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1 percent to 9,717.93, after hitting its lowest intraday point since March 8 at 9,692.70.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 1.5 percent to 20,489.01 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8 percent to 2,002.69. Falling commodity prices dragged Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 down 0.9 percent to 4,296.80.
The debt crisis in Europe flared anew Wednesday after a disappointing auction of government debt in Spain signaled investor confidence in the country’s finances is weakening. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points, and the price of gold plunged to its lowest level since January.
That compounded worries that arose Tuesday, when minutes released from the March meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee gave no hint of a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, to support the U.S. economy.
The Fed has already carried out two rounds of bond-buying, most recently in August 2010, to drive down long-term interest rates easy pay day loans. Low bond yields generally encourage investors to shift money to buying stocks.
Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in an email that “markets remained under pressure with a further digestion of the Fed’s minutes which shows no hints for QE3.”
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 1 percent at 13,074.75. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished down 1 percent at 1,398.96. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.5 percent to 3,068.09.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 48 cents to $101.95 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.54 to finish at $101.47 a barrel in New York on Wednesday. It had not closed below $102 per barrel since Feb. 15.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3152 from $1.3139 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 82.22 yen from 82.58 yen.
U.S. stocks drifted lower but rebounded in later trading Thursday to end at nearly breakeven.
A string of weak economic reports — including jobless claims that fell below expectations — failed to inspire investors to move off the sidelines.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed in the red for the third straight day, while the Dow broke a two-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones industrial average () added 20 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 () dropped 2 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq () was down 10 points, or 0.3%.
Even with a few days of losses, all three indexes are up more than 10% in 2012. But investors are continuing to seek economic reports that beat expectations in order to justify that run up.
On Thursday the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits only narrowly missed economists’ forecasts, but that still pushed stocks mostly lower.
U.S. economy to outpace Europe
"There’s a general sense in the market that we’re at lofty levels, so investors get worried when disappointments pop up," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.
The week has been filled with a string of disappointing economic numbers on durable goods orders, consumer confidence and home prices. Ongoing concerns about a growth slowdown in China have added pressure on world markets.
"I think, overall, the market has had a good run, and investors are trimming some exposure," said Paul Powers, head of U.S. equity trading at Raymond James.
Most large financial stocks dropped more than 1% Thursday, including Bank of America (, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (, Fortune 500), Citigroup (, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (, Fortune 500).
While stocks are suffering, the initial public offering market has been buoyant and is on track for a record week with 10 companies set to debut.
Still, it was a mixed bags for the three companies that started trading Thursday. Millennial Media’s () shares nearly doubled, but T-shirt maker Cafe Press () ended the day roughly flat after an initial surge. Both companies priced above their initial trading range. Merrimack Pharmaceuticals () ended the day down roughly 14% after it started trading.
Stocks closed in the red Wednesday amid worries about slowing growth overseas and in the U.S.
Economy: First-time claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 24 fell to 359,000 — a four-year low — from 364,000 the previous week. But that was still higher than the 350,000 forecasted.
U.S. gross domestic product — the broadest reading of economic growth –increased at an annual rate of 3% in the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was the third revision, and was in line with analysts’ estimates.
Companies: Best Buy’s (, Fortune 500) stock dropped after the company narrowly missed expectations and said it would close 50 stores.
Sears Holdings’ (, Fortune 500) stock rose but closed lower on reports that the retailer was shopping its Lands’ End brand for $2 billion.
Like a bear in a China shop
Red Hat’s () stock jumped after the software maker reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations and a stock buyback of $133 million.
Research in Motion () shares dropped after hours as the BlackBerry maker missed expectations on revenues and earnings. The company said it’s considering strategic alternatives, and one director left its board.
World markets: European stocks closed down. Britain’s FTSE 100 () was off 1.2%, the DAX () in Germany lost 1.8% and France’s CAC 40 () was down 1.4%.
Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite () declined 1.4%, the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong dropped 1.3% and Japan’s Nikkei () lost 0.7%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar lost ground against the Japanese yen, but strengthened against the euro and the British pound.
Oil for May delivery slipped $2.63 to $102.78 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $2.20 to $1,660.40 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, sending yields down to 2.16% from 2.20% late Wednesday.
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