NEW YORK—The candidates in the 2013 New York City mayoral race will likely disagree on many items in the upcoming election, however on June 12, they all agreed on one—the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) certification process is in need of serious improvement.
“Out of $15 billion in city contracts, 3.7 percent go to minority and women-owned businesses. That is extraordinary,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said on Tuesday. He went on to point out in 2011 the awards were $561 million, down from $714 million in 2010, a reduction of 20 percent. “We are not going forward, but backward,” he added.
Stringer was part of a panel of six possible mayoral candidates at the 2013 Mayoral Candidate Roundtable put on by City and State Newspaper, marking the first time the candidates appeared together. Manhattan Media President Tom Allon and NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson were the only panelists who have officially declared their candidacies.
