Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 21, 1996, edition 1 / Page 9
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STRICTLY BUSINESS/The Charlotte Post November 21, 1996 Black business booms in Palmetto State Continued from page 7A would not be considered small. “Most of the minority people who own their own business still have to work other jobs to keep ahead,” Thompson said. South Carolina’s 14,155 minority businesses earned a total of $546 million in 1987, the Census Bureau said. That was 2.9 percent of the state’s total sales and receipts of $18.6 bil lion that year. In 1992, South Carolina’s 21,127 minority businesses brought in $1.1 billion. That was 3.8 percent of the state’s total sales and receipts of $29.2 billion. Connie Barnes, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says the racial division in the state is reflected in the num bers. “White people spend their money with other white people,” Barnes said. “And there’s noth ing new about that. People in this state vote the same way, along racial lines.” But Thompson, who has owned his own business for 10 years, says minority businesses are not always supported by customers of their own race, except for the traditional busi nesses like funeral homes and hairdressers. “We in the minority need to look at where we’re spending our dollars, because a short term benefit of getting things cheaper does not compare with the long-term economic develop ment of building up our own communities,” he said. As much as anything, state officials need to do better in telling minority business own ers of the opportimities when companies like BMW locate in SouA Carolina, Thompson said. “We don’t need charity,” he said. “We don’t need handouts. All we need are opportunities;” Keep up with more of the world. Subscribe to The Post at 376-0496. BUSINESS BRIEFS JOBS!! JOBS!! JOBS!! The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Charlotte District office will hold an open house Dec. 4, fium 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at its new location, 129 W. Trade St., Suite 300. The public will have an oppor tunity to meet with EEOC investigators and attorneys and learn about new initiatives at the agency. EEOC will conduct brief sessions on the agency’s new Alternative Dispute Resolution program and ses sions for attorneys and Human Resources personnel regarding practicing before the EEOC. Persons interested in attend ing the open house should call 344-6744. The Enterprise Foundation kicked ofif a $1.5 million neigh borhood development fund Wednesday. The money will be used to aid six nonprofit neigh borhood organizations expand affordable housing and commu nity development efforts. The local Enterprise Foundation office is run by Steve Washington. Money was donated by the City of Charlotte ($600,000); Knight Foxmdation ($300,000); NationsBank ($150,000) and the Fannie Mae Foundation ($75,000). Other contributors were First Union Bank and Wachovia Bank. The six organizations support ed by the grant are Belmont Community Development Corp., Grier Heights Economic Foundation, Lakewood Community Development Corp., Northwest Corridor Community Development Corp., Reid Park Associates and the Wilmore Nei^borhood Association. The Enterprise Foundation is also matching at $500,000 com mitment from the City of Charlotte for pre-development loans and working to develop j)oUce and communi ty relations. • Walter Gordy, presi dent of The Tridevin Group of Charlotte, has been awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member designa tion by the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute. The designation was awarded recently during the institute’s meetings in San Francisco. CCIMs are recognized experts in commercial and investment real estate. The designation is awarded to professionals who have completed graduate level courses in financial analysis, market analysis and investment decision analysis and have ful filled professional requirements. Of 125,000 commercial real estate agents in America, 4,800 hold the CCIM designation. 1996 CHARLOTTE REGIONAL MINORITY JOB FAIR/EXPO WHEN: Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 - 10:00AM - 5:00PM WHERE: Sheraton Airport Plaza Hotel 3315 So. 1-85 (BillyGraham Parkway Charlotte, NO lOO’S OF PROFESSIONAL & ENTRY-LEVEL JOB OPPORTUNITIES: 20 to 30 Regional Employees Money Management Continued from page 7A months it will take you to break even. If you plan to stay in your home beyond that point, it probably makes sense to refinance. On the other hand, if your family is out growing your present home, or if you see a job transfer on the horizon, keeping your present mortgage might make more financial sense. Consider tax issues If you refinance the bal ance of your mortgage, the interest on the entire amount is tax-deductible. Also, you can generally deduct the interest on up to $100,000 borrowed against your home ($50,000 if mar ried filing separately). However, certain income limitations do apply. Points are another tax issue to con sider when refinancing. Unlike the points you paid to acquire your original mortgage, which were deductible in the year paid, points paid to refinance a mortgage generally must be deducted over the life of the loan. However, if you use part of the funds for home improvements to your prin cipal residence, IRS rules allow a deduction for a por tion of the points allocated to the improvements. Here’s an example: suppose this year you refinanced an exist ing mortgage with a new loan of $100,000, of which you used $75,000 to pay off the balance of the old mort gage and the remaining $25,000 for home improve ments. You pay $4,000 in points. Because you are using 25 percent of the loan proceeds for improvements, you can deduct $1,000 (25 percent of $4,000) on your 1996 tax return. The remaining $3,000 in points must be written off over the life of the loan. If you sell your house and pay off the loan, the remain ing portion of the points is deductible at that time. Keep in mind, however, that if you refinance to secure a lower interest rate, you also reduce your mortgage inter est deductions. That reduc tion may result in an increase in your taxes; nev ertheless, the bottom line should result in cost-sav ings. • SALARY RANGE: $20,000 to $60,000 RESUMES WELCOMED: Post Ofice Box 2442 Jacksonville, FL 32203-2442 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT A THREE STAR COMMUNICATION PRODUCTION MORTGAGE S E R I C E S Auctions great place to pick up bargains Continued from page 7A Auctions are also held in other cities on an irregular basis. Items at recent auctions have included cars, boats, jewelry, carpets and, according to the company that organizes the auc tions, some incredible stereo systems, VCRs and televisions. Auctions are advertised in local papers and on radio and TV sta tions. Call the U.S. Customs Service Support Division for a subscription to the agency's sales flyers. That number is (703)273 7373. FDIC/SBA Government auctions can be a bargain-himter's paradise. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC sells assets fium failed banks, rang ing fium huge apartment com plexes to china, crystal and antiques. Sales are advertised in the Wall Street Journal, in local papers and on the radio. If you're in the market for office equipment, the Small Business Administration offers every thing finm real estate to office furniture and machinery at its auctions. You C£m usually look over the merchandise at a pre view the day before the auction. So determine what you’re inter- ested in and call around to check retail prices on that item. Where do the proceeds from government auctions go? The U.S. Treasury. For more details call 202-416- 6940. Charles Ross is host of the nationally syndicated radio pro gram, ‘Your Personal Finance." Georgia cooking on TVyon St. Continued from page 8A these buildings going up around me. The restaurant GA on Tryon features southern cuisine and opened last year. The GA stands for Georgia. That’s where Bazzelle, and his wife Renee, are fix>m. Both are firom Athens, Ga. The menu features red beans and rice and shrimp po-boys, a sandwich. “All our vegetables cooked with no pork, very Httle fat,” Bazzelle said. Bazzelle came to town six years ago “with enough money for one week’s worth of rent,” he said. He got a job as a line cook with Holiday Inn and rose to execu tive chef before the hotel was sold and he and other managers were let go. Bazzelle decided to open his own restaurant and operated a catering business - GA Catering - imtil he found the location for GA on Tryon. The restaurant’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On weekends, the 9 p.m. closing is moved back to midnight. Bazzelle got involved in food service while still in high school. He took a home economics course in the 11th grade. “It was an easy course...You could eat...and there were girls there,” Bazzelle said. After high school, he took a food service management course at a community college. He worked at Domino’s Pizza for a few years, moving around the southeast as a manager, before returning to Athens, where he met his wife, Renee. He started working at a local restaurant there as a night chef before deciding to move to Charlotte. “I had wanted to come to Charlotte,” he said. “For the longest I had been saying I was going to do it.” Bazzelle said he turned down a chance to get a Domino’s fi"an- chise for about $500. “I was young and dumb or whatever,” he said. Bazzelle is not far fi:om where he started in Charlotte. He hved at Holland House on Graham Street in Fourth Ward when he came here. Many Fourth Ward residents are among his cus tomers now. “The majority of my business right now are people who five in the neighborhood, from the Tryon House, Renaissance, Fourth Ward,” Bazzelle said. “(Construction) workers haven’t been a big draw. GA on Tryon has a staff of five. Renee Bazzelle handles sales for the catering business. Bazzelle said the hardest thing about opening the busi ness was obtaining financing. “We ended up gong to the Self- Help Credit Union,” he said. “They speciahze in small busi ness loans.” Bazzelle said the biggest satis faction is being about to control his time to be with his family, which includes children ages 18, 12, 10 and 4, and being iij a position to help others. “I feed some of the homeless here,” Bazzelle said. “If a man comes in and says he is hungry, we feed him. We’ve had cus tomers donate money to that.” GA on Tryon opens at 7 a.m., closes at 2:30 p.m, then reopens at 5. C)n week nights, it closes at 9 p.m., hut is open until mid- . ; ' GRAB HOLD OF THE DREAM Home ownership is the most enduring American Dream. First Citizens Bank believes it shouldn’t be the most elusive. If you're established in your career, you’ve already proven you can turn dreams into reality. That’s why our mortgage appli cation gives you full credit for what you've achieved in the working world - whether you’re in your twenties or your sixties. We’ve designed our loan application process to be straightforward and respectful. Tb bring EQUAL HOUSING LENDER out your strengths and help put your best foot forward. And to help you secure the most affordable loan available. Drop by your nearest First Citizens today to see how we’re helping people of all ages achieve home ownership. By working together, we could turn your dreams of a home into the home of your dreams. ” First Citizens You’re Always First. r areams it
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1996, edition 1
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