Mayor de Blasio’s administration, which came to office as a champion of minorities and the working class, has hired fewer minority contractors than the previous administration under Mike Bloomberg, according to new data.
Comptroller Scott Stringer on Wednesday slapped the city with a “D” grade for its record of awarding contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.
In an especially embarrassing note for the mayor, Stringer pointed out that contracts to minority vendors dipped from 5 percent of all contracts under Bloomberg in fiscal 2012 to 3.9 percent in fiscal 2014.
De Blasio took office on Jan. 1, so he was in office for only six months in fiscal 2014, which ended on June 30.
“I agree that the performance was unacceptable,” the mayor said.
“But I think if you’re talking about January 1st to the present, you see a new approach. We have 641 MWBE [Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise] firms that have been certified in the first nine months — that’s a lot faster pace than before.”