The Florida Sun

Black Businesses in Downtown Orlando May Suffer During NBA All-Star Weekend

By Rhetta Peoples, Florida Sun Columnist

It’s no secret many black owned businesses struggle to compete with that of white owned businesses. The factors contributing to this may be of varying degrees. However, when black businesses are blatantly denied opportunities to thrive and compete with others it should be brought to the attention of the community. That is when the press should step up and give a voice to those who don’t have one. Orlando is expected to boost the economy with A-rated events like the NBA All-Star game and the host of events surrounding the entire weekend. Just in case you haven’t heard, a meeting involving the NBA, the City of Orlando and 11 downtown black business owners ended in an upset as business owners were told the NBA and the City of Orlando will construct an 8-foot black fence blocking their businesses during NBA All-Star Weekend. Shocking? Well, this idea from the city isn’t anything new. When events at the Amway Center are over, there are typically gates out front that route people in directions away from these 11 merchants. One reporter highlighted a statement issued by the city saying it had given the merchants $120,000 in rent assistance and they believe the weekend will result in “a banner week” for them. The mention of the rent assistance really irritated me. Were they expecting the merchants and the community to be comforted by the rent assistance? I say that not to knock the city’s offer to assist but to stress the fact that there must have been a reason they offered up the assistance. According to Corey Lamb, the owner of Oopsy Scoopsy Yogurt Shop, one of the black owned businesses on Church Street, “The street was closed for two years and the city felt the compensation was that the merchants didn’t have to pay rent.” So why are they throwing the “free rent” issue up in the faces of the merchants and the community? The street was closed and no one was frequenting it so the city was in fact aware of the major challenges they faced as business owners in that space. The actions of the city and the NBA further angered me because the options the city gave were to either shut down Church Street altogether or to put up an 8-foot black fence that would extend from Division and Hughey. Hmmmm, so let me get this straight. They have to choose between A: A “shut out” of the entire street or, B: A “shut up” that extends 8 feet in the air blocking all 11 minority owned stores on Church Street. Either way, they would have to agree to sitting idly by while an estimated $100 million drops all around them in Orlando. In a town meeting in Eatonville this past weekend, Thomas C. Chatmon, Jr. Executive Director of the Downtown Development Board and the Community Redevelopment Agency said, “A lot of the minority businesses feel challenged and we are not insensitive to their issues.” Well, he said that in front of Congresswoman Corrine Brown and she mentioned that while she was in town she heard something about “a wall and the NBA and I’d like to get to the bottom of it”. And you know what...I think she and the rest of us most certainly will get to the bottom of it. Orlando should get great events like this one but they are no good to any of us if government officials are not fair to the businesses that are struggling to thrive in this area. It never would have occurred to them to block the businesses on Orange Avenue, Wall Street, or along the other side of the tracks and it shouldn’t be top of mind for them to block these 11 merchants either.

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