Small businesses are playing a big role in building Great American Ball Park.

        And a much bigger role than at Paul Brown Stadium.

        About 27 percent of the $200.8 million in ballpark contracts has been awarded to small businesses, for a total of $53.2 million. A small business is defined by Hamilton County as one with annual receipts of $11.5 million or less.

        Companies owned by minorities accounted for 11 percent of the work, or $21.5 million. Women-owned businesses got 2 percent of the work, or $4.4 million.

        The percentages are an improvement over Paul Brown Stadium construction, where 13 percent of the $272.9 million in contracts went to small businesses. Eight percent went to minority contractors and 3 percent to women contractors.

        Hamilton County, which is building the $330 million ballpark, has a program that aims to help small businesses get involved in the project. About 300 companies are registered, director Bernice Walker said.

        The county has said it is not allowed to set aside a percentage of the work for minority businesses, but it does try to help those businesses get work at the stadium.

        Hamilton County Construction Executive Mike Sieving said a database of the registered companies is shared with prime contractors who dole out smaller pieces of work to subcontractors.

        The percentages of small, minority and women-owned businesses aren't expected to change much at the ballpark. That's because all but about $15 million in contracts has been awarded for the project.

        Project Manager Arnie Rosenberg said the last contracts represent work on buildings outside of the stadium, which won't be erected until Cinergy Field is demolished.

        “There was an awful lot of confusion about what this program is,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “It's a small-business program. At the same time, we understand the diversity of this community and want to make the program responsive to that diversity.

        “I think the contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses are very representative of the capacity in the community.”

        Hamilton County Commissioner Tom Neyer said great progress has been made since Paul Brown Stadium. Everyone has learned from the first stadium, he said.

        “We have a team that has had the benefit of watching Paul Brown Stadium and a top-to-bottom commitment,” Mr. Neyer said. “When you couple commitment with experience, good things happen.”

        Not enough good things for some people.

        Jim Clingman, founder of the African American Chamber of Commerce, said more minority-owned businesses should get a piece of the action, considering the city's population is more than 40 percent black.

        “To say we have a 15-percent goal with small businesses, and that also includes white-owned businesses,” Mr. Clingman said. “My deeper concern is that we're in a city that is nearly 50 percent African-American.

        “How can you not look at how much is going to 50 percent of the population?”

        Commissioner Todd Portune would like to do just that. He said commissioners should be allowed to consider the race of a company's owner when making a decision on which contract bid is lowest and best.

        “If we want to be true to the message we sent to the public about what we want to accomplish, a whole lot more needs to be done,” said Mr. Portune, referring to the 1996 promise during the sales tax campaign that 15 percent of the stadium contracts would go to minority firms.

        “The small business program, as a whole, doesn't accurately reflect what the true goal should be — to help the disadvantaged. That is incredibly frustrating to me.”

        Edward Jackson, chairman of the African American Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors, said even minority business numbers need to be looked at more closely.

        “The inference is that all of those minority firms are African-American, and they are not,” Mr. Jackson said. “We need to look closely at that to find the true percentage of work going to African-American companies.”

        An additional $69 million is being spent on the ballpark for things such as design and project management fees, building the East Garage and various infrastructure improvements.

        With those dollars figured in, the small business program's numbers get even better:

        • 27 percent to small businesses/

        • 12 percent to minority businesses.

        • 3.4 percent to women-owned businesses.
       

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