Flowers questions city’s spending on jobs for poor and minorities

The mayoral candidate says the "employability gap" has grown and urges an audit of Empowerment Zone spending.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

Last update: September 16, 2009 - 11:35 PM

Minneapolis mayoral candidate Al Flowers is calling for a state audit of federal Empowerment Zone spending by the city, arguing that the program hasn't helped put low-income and minority residents to work.

Flowers, who is challenging Mayor R.T. Rybak, also outlined his jobs and business strategy in a sidewalk news conference on Broadway Avenue Wednesday.

Flowers said an audit is needed to determine the legality of the spending, and he called for the city to release a five-year accounting of the nearly concluded program. The city's detailed reports on zone spending are posted on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's website.

The Empowerment Zone was created in 1999 to pump millions in grants and loans into three main areas of the city: a North Side corridor straddling Interstate 94, distressed neighborhoods between downtown and Lake Street, and East Side industrial areas.

The city got $25.6 million in grants that it awarded to agencies and businesses, plus another $130 million in bonding authority that went unused primarily because businesses assisted had to hire 35 percent of employees from among zone residents.

The use of the money the city did receive has long been a sore point among minority community activists. "We must get answers to where the dollars went," Flowers said. State Auditor Rebecca Otto said the program falls below the normal dollar threshold that triggers a review by her office, which audits the city. But she added that the federal government, city officials or a local official who suspects wrongdoing can request an audit.

Flowers said his economic development priorities will be to train city residents in local businesses, make minority communities more entrepreneurial, seek a beefed-up tax credit for moving people from welfare to work, and appoint outreach coordinators to make sure the city gets the most out of tax credits aimed at stimulating low-income communities.

Rybak has touted his administration's job-creation strategies, including investment in job training and placement. The city's jobless rate sometimes has been slightly lower than the Hennepin County and metropolitan rates, but Flowers questioned whether the city's poorest residents are benefiting. "From what we see, the employability gap has widened," he said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about candidates running in Minneapolis this year, visit www.lwvmn.org/edfund/election.asp.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438