1
Page 2A - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Thursday, Februaiy 23, 1989
Mason Protests Her Exclusion From Sales
Continued From Page lA.
' Ir. Alexander position was. The
(iiew balloon vendor policy) was
purely a business decision.
There was no negative intent to
preclude anyone in particular."
Tracey also said that Spring-
test recieves no public funds.
Though she admitted, "We are
[jrovided city services and one
year we were allowed as a rider
on the city's Insurance policy."
Tracey said that Sprlngfest,
Inc. keeps no record of the num
ber of black vendors allowed to
bartlclpate In the festival. "It
has never been an Issue," she
pointed out. "We have no policy
that addresses minority partici
pation."
That may be an Issue that
needs to be addressed by the
Board of Directors, Tracey con
cluded.
I can't give any numbers in re
spect to black participation In
Tprlngfest," says Steve Kauf
man, Executive Director of
Sprlngfest, 'We don't use race as
a criteria In the selection pro
cess."
The Board of Directors has
: rg ago discussed minority In
volvement in Sprlngfest, mak
ing sure that we Indeed put on a
festival Involving as many peo
ple as we could," adds Kaufman,
who says he can't belelve that
1 lason was the only black ven
dor at last year's Sprlngfest,
though he knows of no others.
We do the best we can do. It
vas never Indicated that we
.^ught to develop a quota system
or! preferential treatment should
be" given.
We believe as an organization
that the (selection) process Is
fair," says Kaufman.
Mason and her lawyer, have
doubts about the its fairness.
Mason was Informed that The
Party Store/Floating Flowers
was selected as the sole balloon
vendor for Sprlngfest '89. The
Party Store/Floating Flowers Is
In fact two different balloon
vendors, operated by whites,
that merged and applied as one
for the Sprlngfest concession.
Mason says although Floating
Flowers has participated In
Sprlngfest as long as Balloon-A-
Grams, The Party Store parti-
pated for the first time last year.
As a combined entity. The Party
Store/Floating Flowers has no
experience as a Sprlngfest ven
dor, points out Mason.
Citing her four years experi
ence, Mason says, "I feel I should
be able to participate. Most ven
dors with Sprlngfest have grown
with Sprlngfest over the years. I
am one of the vendors who has
proven the ability to handle the
capacity crowd that attends the
festival."
In an effort to assess the fair
ness of Sprlngfest's vendor selec
tion process, Alexander for
warded a letter to the
organization, dated January 31,
asking for specifics, such eis: "In
what particular respects was The
Party Store/Floating Flowers
proposal better than that sub
mitted by Balloon-A-Grams?
Why was the Balloon-A-Grams
proposal not selected? How
many vendors, with African-
Americans owning a majority
interest In the firm, ever have
participated In Sprlngfest?"
Sprlngfest, Inc. has not direct
ly answered any of Alexander's
Inquiries, accept to say In a let
ter, dated Februaiy 14, "It Is not
our practice to justify those deci
sions to persons who feel ag
grieved by them."
Kaufman says, "In present pro
cedures there's nothing that pre
cludes a black vendor from being
at Sprlngfest."
nomlc aspect of it.
"We can go spend our money,
but we cannot make any money."
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He maintains, "If the question
Is that we have to insure a cer
tain number (of black vendors)
to make Sprlngfest a truly com
munity-wide event, depending
upon the Input to the Board,
maybe something needs to be
done. Maybe we Indeed have to
Initiate something that goes be
yond a fair and Impartial selec
tion procedure."
Mason says the Sprlngfest
Board has received her Input.
She claims that she talked with
Kaufman by telephone on one
occasion. "I asked for specific de
ficiencies In my application.
"He said the choosing of the
balloon vendor was a 'subjective,
judgement call' — In exactly
those words. He did not Invite
me to come to talk to him any
further on the matter," says Ma
son. Hence began the correspon
dence between Mason's attorney
and Sprlngfest, Inc.
At this point, all Mason can
say Is that she still wants to par
ticipate as a black vendor at
Sprlngfest, "Sprlngfest Is sup
posed to be an event for the en
tire community, held in the
heart of Charlotte, But one en
tire segment of the people of
Charlotte Is absent from the eco-
Sprlngfest Seeks Black To Replace Black
Continued From Page lA.
rient black citizen on the
Sprlngfest advlsoiy board or
board of directors,"says Pattle
Tracey, vice president of Spring
iest, who was able to name one,
Gloria Duval, vice president of
Johnson C. Smith University,
'.. ho recently resigned from the
Sprlngfest Board of Directors.
Tracey explained that Nivens'
name still appears as an ad'vlso-
ry board member because
Sprlngfest, Inc. has not changed
its stationary.
"No, we have not had much in
volvement of blacks on Sprlng
fest's boards," admits Executive
Director Steve Kaufman. With
Duval's resignation, Kaufman,
says there are currently no
black members on any Sprlng
fest boards.
"That position (Duval's) Is now
open. It Is the board's desire to
find another black member for
the board," says Kaufman.
"In all likelihood it will be a
black person who'll get that po
sition."
Black Leadership Plans
Continued From Page lA.
tance.
"In communities where we
don't have these (other) nation
alities, black people are still
■loor," he said.
Peterson maintained the cau
cus can best serve the black
community by addressing the
needs specified by Its steering
committee, made up of repre
sentatives of each of the state's
11 congressional districts.
"There will lie a sharing of
knowledge," he said. In order to
achieve "a fair share In govern
ment.
"Economic development Is
part of our ongoing agenda. We
have people from all the dis
tricts who have needs. We will
serve the districts. The districts
will tell us where to go."
Grear said the organization
win have to drop party prefer
ences and work for Its consti
tuency to be effective In the fu
ture.
Skinhead \^olence
Continued From Page lA.
do have data collection laws,
clearly shows hate crime Is a
bigger problem than we ever
suspected."
Clark urged passage of a na
tional bill to require reporting
on hate crimes, and said contin
ued vigilance on the part of law
enforcement will be key to curb
ing the rise In Skinhead crime.
"All that Is necessary for the
forces of evil to win...is for
enough good men and women to
do nothing. We in the caucus
have a Democratic wing and a
Republican wing, but It takes
two -wings to fly," he said.
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