watch the news on Channel 13 in a few minutes...it just said that Marvin Zindler has something to say about Les Alexander.
We got slime in the Rockets machine! Slime, slime, slime all over the place... Looks like it is so bad that they need to get a new machine... This has been Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness Newsssssss...
Zindler said that Les needs to stop being greedy and award 30% of the contracts to the minorities that he promised and to share the wealth to all citizens of Harris County, since he's (Les) going to be making a butt load of money next season with the new arena. Marvin also said that Alexander needs to do his business like Drayton McLane (Astro's owner)
Hes not going to be making hardly any money off the arena for several seasons. Lets keep in mind that Les has put his own money into this deal also and it will take a while for him to break even. I think Zindler is off base. The discrepency seems to be if its supposed to be 30% of all contracts or 30% of the profits. I read somewhere that the signed agreement was only 2 pages. Seems to me that the agreement is vague in its true meaning and that one side or the other is pouncing on that and interpreting it in different ways. I find it hard to believe that Alexander, being up front or not, intended for the minority groups to share in the profits. Awarding 30% of the contracts to minority owned businesses ensures a profit to them in in itself. To me, its double dipping. They get 30% of the operating contracts, which they will obviously make a profit off of. Now they want 30% of the profits from the other contracts? Is that right?
These urban league pimps only want contracts for their friends and relatives anyway. They don't give a $hi! about other minority bizzynesses. Les should cut them out completely, and award 100% of the lettable to the thousands of decent, honest, small minority-owned biz not directly-related to these a-holes. F#$! them. This is a teamster-style cash grab. Les should screwww them, and dole way,way more than 30% to decent folk.
Yeah, and Quannell X shoudl stop parking is brand new Hummer in the handicap spaces at 24 hour fitness...Anyone that watches the Sopranos knows what is going on here...
Guys, this is being discussed in the Rockets Saved Forum. Here's the linki: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56845 And here's the story from the paper today... <i>Minority leaders deny demands Group says Rockets should keep pledge By LORI RODRIGUEZ and JANETTE RODRIGUES Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle A pitched court battle between minority leaders here and Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander is just the tip of a nasty behind-the-scenes skirmish over who gets what share of downtown arena contracts. A source close to the Rockets said the negotiations broke down a week ago in the face of numerous demands by black leaders. These allegedly included contracts for specific individuals, including former Houston Area Urban League chairman Darryl King and former local NAACP president Howard Jefferson. King, owner of Quality Concession Food Inc., denied Wednesday that contracts for him, Jefferson or other politically key people were demanded or discussed. Jefferson also denied the charges, saying he would not seek any arena work. "If I'm the problem," King said, "Alexander should just live up to the letter of the agreement and I promise I won't be a problem." King and Jefferson were among the black leaders flown by former Mayor Bob Lanier to Boca Raton, Fla., to negotiate with Alexander after the first, unsuccessful campaign to build the arena. The result was a written agreement the Rockets have broken, the Urban League contended in a lawsuit. Acting on the suit, state District Judge John Coselli on Tuesday granted a 15-day temporary restraining order on narrow issues. The order, filed in court Wednesday, prevents the Rockets from entering into new food and beverage concession contracts without court approval. Black leaders' other alleged demands are an unspecified percentage of naming rights, a percentage of concession profits and an 18 percentage-point share of the 30 percent of vendor contracts earmarked by minority- and women-owned businesses. Former City Attorney Benjamin L. Hall, representing the Urban League, vehemently denied any backroom attempts at coercion. "Alexander can't make promises to the black and brown community and then simply thumb his nose at us," said Hall. "Nobody has ever recommended any specific name of any vendor. The target here is to try and create a division between white and black and brown people. It's clear that their strategy is to say blacks are trying to deal under the table, so they can tear down the coalition we have put together. "The point is, we went to our brown brothers and asked them to work with us." The coalition includes the League of United Latin American Citizens, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity. They contend that Alexander is violating the spirit of the agreement by not cutting minorities into the most lucrative part of arena operations: the food and beverage concessions. At Minute Maid Park, Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. kept a similar pledge for 30 percent participation in operations through Aramark, a Philadelphia firm that entered into a venture partnership with a few dozen politically connected players, including King. "We're all big boys. I know what I signed," King said of the agreement that pushed blacks to the polls in record numbers for the second, and successful, vote on the arena. "If we shake the tree, we should be able to pick up the fruit, and if Alexander had a problem with that, he should have said so before he put ink to the paper." The Rockets say they plan to meet or exceed 30 percent minority participation goals in the arena's operating phase as they did in the design and construction of the facility, scheduled to open this fall. The arena's design and construction portion was overseen by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, said chief executive officer Oliver Luck. The minority share of design and construction contracts has exceeded the 30 percent goal, well over the share that minorities got at Minute Maid Park and Reliant Stadium. "The reality is, the Rockets had nothing to do with it, and it's disingenuous of them to claim they were responsible for meeting the goal," Luck said. "They are trying, obviously, to establish some credibility, but that just doesn't jibe with the facts. "The sports authority, and its directors, were the ones responsible for meeting the 30 percent in the design and construction phase. "We hired the architect, and said we want you to make sure that 30 percent minority participation is done on the architectural side. We were the ones who hired the general contractor, Hunt, and worked over the last 18 to 24 months to make sure that 30 percent was reached there."</i>
Regardless of which side is right, or more right than the other, Alexander stands to be the big loser. LA is going to have to find a way out which creates a win-win. I wonder if he is savvy enough, or if his Postolos team can savvy this for him.
I understand that Les is going to provide 30% its just that the racial reps are not satisfied with their thirty percent. They want their thirty percent to come out of the other seventy percent. So if this is all fact and true Les should ask the Judge to tell them to take it or leave it. After all its Les Alexanders Business!
This is sad. My friend's mom works for the Urban league. They do a lot of good things and some of you are calling them pimps. Why don't you walk into one of those offices and say that **** to a volunteer's face?
Oski2005 - I have a better idea... Why don't YOU get the real volunteers to confront racists like Quannel X who use the race card for EVERYTHING, when the reality of the debate is basically about how much of HIS OWN MONEY Les Alexander is willing to "split" with local minority contractors. I played b-ball with Quannel before I knew who he was (about 7 years ago...). He is a liar, a punk and an agitator who is more interested in TV time and making money for nothing than he is in actually helping people. Les can and will do what he wants. His biggest problem with this is simply PR. Regardless of how it turns out, this will ultimately fade from memory as soon as the Rockets are back in the playoffs!!!!!!!!!
