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TUESDAY, APRIL 03, 2001
Common Good Coalition drops Furlong as spokesperson, rewrites mission statement
By MAGGIE FRANK
The Buffalo lawyer hired by the Tompkins County Building Trades Council earlier this year will no longer represent the BTC or the Common Good Coalition.
According to BTC President Ed Richie, Richard Furlong stopped representing the council and the CGC formally about three weeks ago. The coalition discussed the move, and since the BTC had hired Furlong, Richie was responsible for terminating his position as spokesperson.
"We owe everything to this coalition being formed to Rich Furlong … but we've had a number of [coalition members] step up to the plate," said Jennifer Bloom '00, a member of the CGC.
Formed in January, the coalition is made up of community, labor and student groups, which have united to press for the construction of the building on the Ithaca Commons to be carried out with local and union laborers, including female and minority workers.
Cornell's real estate office will choose the private developer who will manage construction, hire the labor and own the building. The University is expected to lease approximately 70 percent of the building, which is scheduled to be finished in 2004, though there is no timeline for the choice of the developer.
"I think the coalition has realized that [Furlong] was taking such an adversarial approach," said John Majeroni, director of the University's real estate office.
Henrik N. Dullea '61, vice president for University relations, agreed. He said that during a meeting, Furlong had promised that the CGC "would shut the project down if we didn't meet his demands [by signing a pledge to use 100 percent union labor]."
"We thought that what he wanted to do was too extreme for Ithaca," said Joe McNearney '02, treasurer for the Cornell Organization for Labor Action.
Bloom pointed out that the coalition is composed of Ithacans, and that Furlong's distance from the coalition had also been a problem. She also noted that a coalition should be run by all of its members, with every member directing its agenda.
Both Bloom and McNearney acknowledged that Furlong had helped the coalition's formation and had strongly supported the CGC's cause.
"It wasn't like Richard and the coalition were on bad terms," McNearney said.
Richie said that he hoped the coalition would have direct contact with the University, rather than through a liaison like Furlong.
"We're going to try to attempt another dialogue with Cornell before we do anything further," he said.
According to Richie, Cornell would not consider signing a Project Labor Agreement, a pre-hire agreement that sets the terms, conditions and wages for a construction project.
"They [Cornell] don't want a PLA," Richie said. "Well, maybe there's another method."
Bloom emphasized that Cornell was not the only organization to which the coalition has appealed, noting that the group had contacted Tompkins County officials and city officials as well.
"We've expanded on our mission statement," she said. "Our focus is still the Cornell project, but … there are going to be projects in the future. We don't want it to be just an issue between the Common Good Coalition and Cornell. This is a community issue."
According to Bloom, Furlong has continued to support the coalition "more as a private citizen than a paid employee."
"If we have legal issues, Furlong is going to be someone who we go to for help," she said.
Furlong was not available for comment.
The CGC will hold a rally tomorrow in front of City Hall before going inside to present its views to a meeting of the Common Council at 7:30 p.m.
"By no means are we ceasing our efforts to obtain [our] goals," Richie said.
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