I'm not sure why GS agreed to hire 50% JC residents, that really doesn't seem plausible. Perhaps this clause is buried in a list of terms that every company that comes to JC signs and the NACCP are singling out GS for enforcement.

The whole things seems sketchy to me, but I don't work at GS.

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Doesn't quiet seem like a shakedown. It more appears like they're calling for GS to live up to their promises (or make more of an effort). GS becomes the easier target because of their greater resources and need to maintain good public standing. At no point in the article, does the organization call for any monetary renumeration be sent their way.

Yea, it sounds like another Jesse Jackson style shakedown operation. GS does so much more for JC than the NAACP.

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I haven't heard NAACP mentioned once regarding any abatement process. It sounds as if they are just another organization coming to GS with their hand out, pathetic.

Grove -- there are a few paragraphs missing from your post. here's the complete story.


NAACP picks wrong target
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
T he Jersey City chapter of the NAACP this past week decided to flex its muscle and hold Goldman Sachs accountable for its failure to hire Jersey City minorities in both the construction and permanent employment side of its operations.

The company's hiring record is under scrutiny as it seeks a second abatement for a building proposed for the property just north of its tower at 30 Hudson St.

Though the NAACP's criticisms are valid - Goldman did fail to reach contractual benchmarks in hiring city residents and minorities - the decision to single out Goldman as the villain is an odd one.

Since coming to Jersey City the company has built - among other things - 21 units of affordable housing on Martin Luther King Drive, a $3.8 million project that also included space for a college prep program.

In 2006 alone, the company spent $11 million with local businesses, while also building community ties by mentoring local students and hosting 26 charitable events throughout the city.

The NAACP ignores the fact that Goldman is an exclusive, multibillion-dollar international company whose eligible job pool spans the globe, not just the limits of Jersey City - which was no secret when the city entered into a unrealistic contract that called on Goldman to hire 50 percent city residents and minorities.

This is not to be dismissive of Goldman's failures, but in a city where no developer or business has lived up to its contractual - and moral - obligation to hire local residents and minorities, a company's philanthropic record certainly should mean something.

But where was the NAACP when the city was feverishly doling out these tax breaks over the years? They weren't standing in front of the City Council opposing these tax breaks like they were last week.

Rex Reid, second vice president of the local NAACP, says the organization decided to oppose this abatement after they saw a television show where Goldman Sachs officials boasted about their presence in Jersey City.

"They were just wrong, and we could not let that go unchecked," Reid said. "But we are going to be watching from now on."

The NAACP's own poor track record is a shame.

The city's elected officials have been amazingly ignorant of local developers' hiring practices, despite the fact that the city pays a staff to collect these statistics, which never see the light of day.

The involvement of the NAACP could have exposed some real villains by supplying the strong voice that has been sorely lacking as the City Council rubber-stamped each abatement application.

Go after them NAACP and keep them honest - If the City is giving away 10's of millions of dollars away in abatements, spending 11 million on low income housing is nothing (they still gerenate an income from those low income houses and GS would still own those buildings and land. I bet GS paid very little and not true market prices for that land on MLK drive.

GS reminds me of McDonalds - they feed us siht but we feel obligated because they provide / donate towards a health service, Ronald McDonald house.

I hate how big business gets huge breaks (tax) or provides crap to society, but will hide behind their charity or helping the poor to look like the good guys.

NAACP picks wrong target

Jarrett Renshaw -- Location
Jersey Journal
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Jersey City chapter of the NAACP this past week decided to flex its muscle and hold Goldman Sachs accountable for its failure to hire Jersey City minorities in both the construction and permanent employment side of its operations.

The company's hiring record is under scrutiny as it seeks a second abatement for a building proposed for the property just north of its tower at 30 Hudson St.

Though the NAACP's criticisms are valid - Goldman did fail to reach contractual benchmarks in hiring city residents and minorities - the decision to single out Goldman as the villain is an odd one.

Since coming to Jersey City the company has built - among other things - 21 units of affordable housing on Martin Luther King Drive, a $3.8 million project that also included space for a college prep program.

In 2006 alone, the company spent $11 million with local businesses, while also building community ties by mentoring local students and hosting 26 charitable events throughout the city.

The NAACP ignores the fact that Goldman is an exclusive, multibillion-dollar international company whose eligible job pool spans the globe, not just the limits of Jersey City - which was no secret when the city entered into a unrealistic contract that called on Goldman to hire 50 percent city residents and minorities.

This is not to be dismissive of Goldman's failures, but in a city where no developer or business has lived up to its contractual - and moral - obligation to hire local residents and minorities, a company's philanthropic record certainly should mean something.

But where was the NAACP when the city was feverishly doling out these tax breaks over the years? They weren't standing in front of the City Council opposing these tax breaks like they were last week.

Rex Reid, second vice president of the local NAACP, says the organization decided to oppose this abatement after they saw a television show where Goldman Sachs officials boasted about their presence in Jersey City.

"They were just wrong, and we could not let that go unchecked," Reid said. "But we are going to be watching from now on."