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During Building Boom, Chair of Housing Advisory Commission Urges Equal Opportunity for Contractors

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Workers of color “often don’t get rained up to be superintendent or foreman, they get dedicated to labor on-site,” Nate McCoy, chair of the Portland Housing Advisory Commission, said. “Construction has not done its best job in marketing itself as a career pathway for all communities. We’ve coined it ‘the FBI,’ because the way to get into construction is through your father or brother-in-law. Most of our businesses on the minority- or majority-owned side have been family-owned businesses. But I’m looking at affordable housing, knowing a lot of minorities live in it. They should see folks who look like them building the projects.”

Published

7 years ago

November 7, 2019

Oakland Post

Nate McCoy was re-appointed chair of the Portland Housing Bureau Advisory Committee by the City Council on Oct. 16. An architect with a background in construction, McCoy advocates for better opportunities for minority contractors. (Photo by Saundra Sorenson)

Nate McCoy wants the city of Portland to be more inclusive of minority-owned firms.

By Saundra Sorenson, The Skanner News

When the Portland City Council voted to re-appoint Nate McCoy as chair of the Portland Housing Advisory Commission earlier this month, it was largely in recognition of his focus on equity in access to affordable housing. But the additional two-year term also draws on McCoy’s specific area of expertise: equity in who is paid to build that affordable housing stock.

McCoy serves as executive director, operations manager and spokesperson for the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC-OR), a trade association that advocates for minority contracting professionals. He told The Skanner that it can be hard for smaller, minority-owned firms to compete with larger, more established contractors, even at a time when commercial and residential development is booming. While many recognizable names in construction can boast more than a century in business, the NAMC-OR member with the greatest longevity is only 20 years old. “Mid-point” contracts, like those offered on affordable housing projects, have proved ideal for NAMC-OR members.

“I think just making sure that I’m always holding all of our programs and processes accountable, to make sure there’s always that equity, on how we’re thinking and making decisions, and I’m always that constant reminder at the Housing Bureau,” McCoy said.

The 12-member advisory commission is a public forum for housing policy in Portland, and includes community organizers, representatives from the real estate, legal, construction and banking sectors, as well as many who have worked in affordable housing. McCoy’s education in that field came early.

“I moved in seventh grade alone to three different apartment buildings, all due to price increase in rent,” McCoy, a Portland native, said. “That’s why I have a passion for housing, but also the business and workforce side. If you don’t have a good-paying job, you’re forced to be in those conditions where you can be displaced at any moment.”

A former construction coordinator for the housing bureau and for the Portland Development Commission, McCoy said he had long noticed the economic opportunities in an industry that too often operated as a “good ole boys club.”

Workers of color “often don’t get rained up to be superintendent or foreman, they get dedicated to labor on-site,” McCoy said. “Construction has not done its best job in marketing itself as a career pathway for all communities. We’ve coined it ‘the FBI,’ because the way to get into construction is through your father or brother-in-law. Most of our businesses on the minority- or majority-owned side have been family-owned businesses. But I’m looking at affordable housing, knowing a lot of minorities live in it. They should see folks who look like them building the projects.”

To that end, McCoy praised local pre-apprenticeship programs like Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. and Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC).

“They do great grasswork work of outreach in schools,” McCoy said. “Too often, it’s been the classic case of older white men telling students of color about the industry. The students have no representation. And no one wants to be in something where they feel they might be the only one. We’ve got to reflect diversity, and that means sending messengers that might look like some of the kids you’re trying to attract to the industry. We do a lot of that. I take a lot of kids to different housing projects as well as other just projects that our members are on, to make sure these kids can see professionals. Not just athletes, but professionals” in attainable careers.

Those careers offer the kind of upward mobility and salary that can lead to homeownership, which then opens up additional affordable units, McCoy added.

Getting Opportunities but Not Work

New NAMC-OR member Devin Coleman owns Aftermath Construction, a commercial and residential construction cleanup business that he established after years working as a safety manager and safety consultant for construction projects.

Coleman, who is African American, told The Skanner of his experience losing business with a large Boise-based contractor that had hired his firm in the past. Nothing had changed except for an in-person courtesy call between Coleman and the contractor’s higher-ups.

“Everything just stopped,” Coleman said. “We lost all of our business, just because they met me. And I’ve had that happen several times. When people talk to me on the phone, they hear a British first name, Irish last name, and then when we meet, they do a double-take.”

Coleman emphasized the value of employing a diverse work crew. For him, that includes the White project manager he often asks to take the lead on communication with clients.

“It’s not that everybody’s racist, but the powers that be, they’re very selective,” Coleman said. “They can give you opportunities, they can ask you for bids, but they don’t give you work. It’s in the rhetoric you hear: ‘It’s just not a good fit,’ or ‘They’re just not seasoned enough.’”

Beyond the Buzzwords

Much of McCoy’s work has focused on building strategic partnerships with larger construction firms.

“The first thing is having a shared value around what diversity, equity, and inclusion really means, not just as buzzwords,” McCoy told The Skanner. “People love to put those buzzwords on proposals, and I think it really starts with intentionality around the relationship, around retention. Are you really advancing these people or just bringing them in, and they find themselves struggling and isolated and taking themselves out of that equation?

“What we try to do at NMAC, we bring all of our members and partners together, build a relationship, and make sure no one feels uncomfortable about asking those questions: ‘How do you guys do equity and inclusiveness on your side?’ A lot of it is just being real with people.”

And that is important, because for McCoy, collaborations between NAMC-OR members and larger partner agencies are key.

“The way you cut into that is to see if people have shared values of partnering together,” he said, giving as an example the “added value” when smaller minority firms partnered with Andersen Construction in the recent Grant High School renovation. “That allows smaller firms to build their systems quicker, to train their younger junior employees and their project managers. We stress that to our (partners), we incentivize them to do that on major projects, because they’re growing other entities that will be viable in the minority contracting community.”

He argues it is in the construction industry’s best interest to be more inclusive.

“The construction industry here is booming, the amount of people they’re able to attract in is not even starting to scratch the surface of the need,” McCoy said. “And when you’re more inclusive and diverse, your bottom line increases versus decreases. (The larger contractors) don’t want to feel like they’re bringing someone along to diminish their profits. We’ve been able to show that in multicultural partnerships, that does occur in a positive way.”

Strength in Partnerships

For a case study in diverse collaboration leading to a successful affordable housing development, McCoy points to the Magnolia in the Eliot neighborhood. McCoy served as construction manager on the project, which was helmed by Innovative Housing, Inc.

“A White-led nonprofit does affordable housing, they do it well, and they do have a lot of minority goals they put and apply on their projects,” McCoy said. “I just remember really trying to incentivize this nonprofit to go high and go bold with minority inclusion. We hit a 30% goal.

They’ve gotten more projects as a result of hiring more inclusive contractors and making sure they’re challenging their projects to go further and go bigger when it comes to diversity.”

Phase two of the development is currently under construction, and amenities include a ground-floor makerspace that will be open to organizations like Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., as well as tenants themselves.

“That’s the North star for me,” he said. “Going back, I was one of those young people in affordable housing 8 project, I had nothing like that. I couldn’t walk down to that unit to my ground floor to do something crafty with my hands. I can’t name another project in the state that has that.”

He also praised the King + Parks development at the corner of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rosa Parks Way.

“Talk about inclusiveness. Here you have (Portland Community Reinvestment initiatives Inc.), a culturally specific housing provider, led by black and brown people as developers, and then they partnered with a major developer (Colas Construction). It was led and finished with a lot of minority inclusion.”

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2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring Review — Is This $136K EV Sedan Worth It?

AUTONETWORK ON BLACKPRESSUSA — Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, but it still feels elegant instead of trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Published

3 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring is the kind of luxury EV that makes people stop and ask a simple question: Is this really better than a Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS, or BMW i7? At $136,150, it has to do more than look futuristic. It has to feel special every time you get in it.

Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, yet it still feels elegant rather than trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Inside is where the Air Grand Touring really makes its case. The 34-inch Glass Cockpit Display and retractable Pilot Panel screen give the cabin a clean, modern look that still feels different from other EVs. The Tahoe Extended Leather and Lucid Black Alcantara headliner lifts the sense of occasion, and the front seats are a highlight. They are 20-way power-adjustable, heated, ventilated, and include massage. That matters because luxury buyers at this price expect comfort first.

Rear passengers are not ignored either. You get 5-zone heated rear seating, a rear center console display, and power rear and rear side window sunshades. Add in the Surreal Sound Pro system with 21 speakers, and the Air feels like a true long-distance luxury sedan.

Lucid also gives this car serious EV hardware. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, 900V+ charging architecture, and Wunderbox onboard charger are big talking points. Buyers in this segment care about range, charging speed, and everyday ease, not just raw performance. That is where the Lucid continues to stand out.

On the technology side, the Air Grand Touring includes DreamDrive Premium, with 3D Surround View Monitoring, Blind Spot Warning, Automatic Park In and Out, Automatic Emergency Braking, and a Driver Monitoring System with distracted and drowsy driver alerts. This one also has DreamDrive Pro, which adds future-capable ADAS hardware.

There are still some real-world annoyances. Based on your notes, the windshield wiper control is hard to find and use, and that matters more than people think in a high-tech car. When controls become less intuitive, even a beautiful interior can feel frustrating.

Still, the 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring succeeds where it matters most. It feels luxurious, advanced, comfortable, and thoughtfully engineered. For buyers who want an EV sedan that feels truly premium and less common than the usual choices, this Lucid makes a very strong case.

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Snoop Dogg Celebrates 10 Til’ Midnight at the Compound

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles.

Published

3 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

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Snoop Dogg celebrated the premiere of 10 Til’ Midnight at his Inglewood recording studio & multipurpose facility, The Compound, but the night felt like much more than an album release. It felt like Los Angeles. It felt like legacy. And it felt like another major move from one of the city’s greatest cultural architects as he continues to prove that he is not just dropping music — he is building moments, shaping narratives, and pushing the culture forward in real time.

What made the event so powerful was the clarity behind the vision. During a panel conversation with DJ Hed, Snoop opened up about the heart behind 10 Til’ Midnight, explaining that the project was created to help bridge older and younger generations while also speaking to the long-standing divisions between Bloods and Crips in a unique way through film. That alone gave the project a different kind of weight. This was not just about songs. This was about using creativity as a tool for connection. This was about taking a story rooted in Los Angeles and telling it in a way that could bring people together.

Snoop Congratulated By Rapper & Fellow 10 Til Midnight Cast Member G Perico (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles. The film was shot in the city, including at WePlay Studios in Inglewood, which gave the entire project an even deeper hometown feel. It was not just a West Coast story in content — it was a Los Angeles-made production from the ground up.

That matters because, in a city like this, authenticity still carries weight. Snoop understands how to make sure that what he creates does not just represent Los Angeles on the surface, but actually comes from it.

What also makes 10 Til’ Midnight significant is that it represents another major step in Snoop’s evolution as both an artist and executive. Public reporting around the project identifies it as his 22nd studio album, but the bigger story is what it represents in this season of his life. This is one of several consecutive moves he has made in his 50s that show he is still building, still expanding, and still finding new ways to reinvent what the next chapter looks like.

Snoop Dogg at the Premiere of 10 Til Midnight (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

Now, as the head of Death Row Records and the newly aligned leader of Death Row Pictures, he is taking the brand into a new dimension. That is what made this moment feel bigger than music. Snoop is not just protecting the legacy of Death Row — he is stretching it. He is expanding it beyond records and into film, visual storytelling, and larger creative worlds that can continue carrying the label’s impact forward. Public reporting has noted that this project arrives as part of that broader cinematic push.

That is a major Los Angeles move because the city has always been built on the intersection of music, film, neighborhood identity, and cultural storytelling. With 10 Til’ Midnight, Snoop is leaning all the way into that intersection.

The room at The Compound reflected that. It felt like a private premiere, but it also felt like a statement — a reminder that Snoop Dogg’s staying power has never been based only on nostalgia. It comes from his ability to remain connected, remain visionary, and remain in tune with how to move the culture without losing the essence of who he is.

That is why this premiere mattered. It was not just about celebrating another album. It was about witnessing a Los Angeles legend continue to evolve, continue to unify, and continue to use art to tell stories that hit deeper than entertainment alone.

In that sense, 10 Til’ Midnight became more than a project launch. It became another example of how Snoop Dogg is still taking Los Angeles to the next level — using music, film, and legacy together to build something bigger than a moment.

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OP-ED: Small Businesses Need Minnesota to Act on Pass-Through Tax Policy

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN RECORDER — A Twin Cities immigrant entrepreneur who built several businesses including grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods is calling on Minnesota lawmakers to extend the Pass-Through Entity tax option before it expires, warning that its loss would hit small businesses already recovering from Operation Metro Surge with higher federal tax bills.

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3 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

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A Twin Cities Small Business Owner Is Urging Minnesota to Extend a Tax Policy That Could Save Thousands of Businesses

By Daniel Hernandez | Minnesota Spokesman Recorder

I came to the United States as a teenager with a clear goal: to build something meaningful through hard work. I put in long days in construction, restaurants, and landscaping; doing whatever it took to learn, save, and eventually start my own business.

Over time, I built and ran several successful ventures, including an event photography company, a magazine, a tax and accounting firm, and now grocery stores serving neighborhoods across the Twin Cities where other retailers chose not to invest. I’ve created jobs, supported families, and committed to communities that deserve stability and opportunity.

That’s why I’m speaking out now.

Small business owners in Minneapolis and the communities we serve are recovering from serious disruptions, including the impacts of Operation Metro Surge. That event hit immigrant communities especially hard. In my own case, I lost nearly half of my 60 employees and saw revenue drop by about 85%. While I worked to provide competitive wages, health benefits, and paid time off, the real hardship fell on the people who lost their jobs and income.

Even as we rebuild, small businesses are facing another challenge. The Minnesota Legislature is considering letting an important tax policy expire: the Pass-Through Entity tax option.

Here’s what that means in plain terms.

Many small businesses, including mine, are pass-through businesses. That means the business itself doesn’t pay income tax. Instead, the owners report the income on their personal tax returns. But under current federal rules, there’s a limit on how much state tax we can deduct. That often leads to higher federal tax bills.

The Pass-Through Entity option fixes that. It allows the business to pay the state tax directly, which means the business can fully deduct those taxes on its federal return and lower the total amount of income taxed federally. The result is straightforward: small business owners pay less in federal taxes, without reducing what the state collects.

This policy is not new or controversial. Thirty-six states already offer it. It doesn’t cost Minnesota anything, it’s revenue neutral. And it benefits more than 66,000 businesses across the state.

In a state where the cost of doing business is already high, it’s hard to understand why we wouldn’t offer the same basic tax treatment as states like California and Illinois.

Small businesses have carried a heavy load in recent years, through a pandemic, rising costs and public safety disruptions. We’ve adapted, reinvested and stayed committed to our communities. What we need now are practical policies that support that work, not make it harder.

If the Minnesota House does not act soon, many businesses will face significantly higher federal tax bills. That’s money that could otherwise be used to hire workers, raise wages or reinvest in local neighborhoods.

I urge Gov. Tim Walz and members of the House Tax Committee to pass House File 3127 and extend the Pass-Through Entity election.

Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. We’ve proven our resilience. Now we need our state leaders to show the same commitment to us.

Daniel Hernandez is the owner of Colonial Market located at 2100 E. Lake St.

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