This year a former political consultant for the Arthur O. Eve '77 Mayoral campaign is considering tossing his hat into the ring for Mayor of the largest and most important city in the United States. Roland Rogers is a businessman in his own right who comes from a middle class entrepreneurial family. Born and reared in 1960's Buffalo it was not unusual for local black families back then to make a way for themselves. Rogers attended Bennet High School and was a backup point guard on the same team with former NBA Hall of Fame legend Bob Lanier. His overall theme of small business empowerment is a concept he plans to cross into his own run, in the form of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called The New York City Heritage Enterprise Fund.
This Former Buffalonian now appears to be set to tell us of his plans to stick it to the man and announce his run against Michael Bloomberg. The question of can a Black man leave Buffalo and become Mayor of a large city has already been answered in Washington, D.C. (Adrian Finny). New York, however, is a different story because it is the playground of the rich and it remains to be seen if even Black voters there will accept an East Side brotha from what they consider to be "country-ass Buffalo." Rogers currently resides in Harlem as a real estate investor and family man who publishes his own sports web journal (BlackAthlete Sports Network in the U.S. and Sports Journal in China):
Tell us about your history growing up in Buffalo and how did that prepare you to run for Mayor of the big city?
RR-Number one I came from a middle class background. I went to a predominately Jewish high school.
-What high school was that, I mean a lot of black high schools today were white or Jewish back in the day, there was a time when East high school was majority white back in the '50's...
RR-I went to Bennett. We had a really tough time growing up because when the influx of minorities started to move in those areas there was white flight to the suburbs. There was fear that property values would go down so they sold. I mean that is how basically my family moved in. My dad worked at Bethlehem Steel but he was always entrepreneurial. He had a little Ice Cream parlor and he transferred it into a grocery store. Then my parents, aunts, uncles and family friends got together and created the Plaidlocks Society next to YMCA E. Ferry near Lonsdale. It was a Social Club and along with the Pine Grill and the Revelot Lounge became the hub of entertainment where the O'jays (the R&B group named after WUFO DJ Eddie O'Jay) frequented. Eddie O’jay and my mom were business partners.
-I hear the Revelot was frequented by the late-'60's funk bands that would become big during the '70's like Funkadelic. When did your dad retire?
RR-My dad retired just when the steel plants started to phase out...
-He probably worked with my cousin Roy, who was more like an uncle, Roy worked at Bethlehem and owned a delicatessen next to Matti's on Fillmore, Royce Delicatessen, even before Matti's was called Matti's. Now my father worked at Chevy, I thought I was gonna work on one of those jobs push come to shove. I mean my father had helped brothers a few years older than me get in, but when I turned 17 that's when the layoffs started, but it was not to be. So you came up with people like Joe...
RR-Yes Joe Illuzzi and Bob Lanier, Michael Difiglia; who was the producer of that famous play "Chorus Line," Rick James, Gary Byrd and Tim Russert. I mean everybody sort of lived in proximity. Anyway my family owned a meat packing company called Olde Virginia Sausage (started in '68) that we used to transport pork sausage and hot dogs and smoke sausages all over the state from Rochester to Syracuse and Buffalo, and then we moved on to soda and started Jo Soul. An Italian guy asked me to be the face of this soda called "Jo Soul"...
-I remember Jo Soul, that was "Blue Boy's" competitor. So that was your face on the can?
RR-That was my caricature in a cartoon form.
-So who owned Jo Soul?
RR-My father, Leonard Rogers.
-Yeah I remember Jo Soul.
RR-Yes, with the little caricature of the little guy with the 'fro on it. After that I went to school. I was a child of the '60's. I left college and formed an advertising agency called Astro Advertising Agency. My primary mission was to do what I'm doing now, empower small businesses because at that point small businesses didn't know anything about advertisers. So I went to all the businesses along Jefferson Ave., and I started on one end and went to the other and I made commercials for them, I made print ads for them, you remember Michael Copeland and all those people?
-The dog trainers?
RR-Yes the dog and tire people, I did all that. I still have my commercial audiotapes. Then it came about that Arthur Eve was going to run for Mayor. One of my good friends Richard Watkins (who won an Emmy for a documentary on the Attica riot along with Jerry "Geraldo" Rivers) who is now in Washington DC, and I formed another agency outside of Astro called Rogers Watkins & Brown and we handled the campaign for Arthur up until he won in the Primary and that's when Arthur decided to cut us loose and deal with the Democratic Party machine who was then Leslie Faccio.
We told him don't do it, we had a strategy to catapult him to be the first black Mayor in New York (State). But of course when people think they're a shoe-in for something, they don't want to listen to you, so they went with the democratic machine and of course at that point Jimmy Griffin-peanut head we used to call him-just went to the city and the same old politics and he (Eve) lost.
-Well. Griffin was a gutter fighter, and Eve just had a hint of success and its very possible that his ego told him he won that Primary all by himself, forgetting you guys were a major reason he got as far as he did. Black leaders in Buffalo are notorious for having more ego than outlook.
RR-Well it wasn't just him, Jim Bell was one of the guys who thought that it might be better because now they thought they hit the big time. Art used this public relations agency out of Massachusetts and I said 'Jim don't let him do that,' I implored him everyday 'don't let him do it, don't let him do it.' And it fell on deaf ears.
Not to criticize Jim Bell because he was the one who gave me my first start in my business. Although he died I will forever be beholden to him, because once I got him in the fold all the other businesses rolled over. At the end I had become totally disillusioned with Buffalo and its politics, After I completed the 1st Light Rail Rapid Transit promotional film, Buffalo just lost its aura and I decided to go over to Africa. I had some friends in Sierra Leone and I was thinking 'hey why not,' and I got as far as New York, because I had run out of money and my aunt let me stay with her in Brooklyn. Well that was the start of my career in New York.
-You went to UB right?
RR-I went to UB but initially everybody was migrating out to Los Angeles so I went to Los Angeles City with the intent of transferring over to UCLA or USC after 2 years, I got disillusioned with the smog out there. So I came back and re-enrolled at UB, majoring in communications, left and started my own advertising marketing business. I had a girl from back here who kept saying 'we miss you come back, come back.' So I got back on the plane and started working for my dad again, my brother had a hardware store on Jefferson and Utica that I worked in. Basically I just did a lot of traveling, I did a lot of traveling through Canada and all across the country and the world.
-What is your education platform?
RR-My education platform is rooted in history and mathematics, because I feel as though if people can understand, kids specifically need to understand that if they are here living in New York City, they are literally standing on history. There's just a wealth of history here and they are a part of it. They could realize specifically that history repeats itself. That pioneering spirit could parallel the 83 languages spoken on the streets in 1653. Think for a moment how it would break the shackles of this vacuum that has been created in the public school system. It could literally be a blueprint for success.
-How would you reduce crime in the urban neighborhoods?
RR-I would reduce crime two ways; create an opportunity for community policing. When I was coming up there were police that were helping kids in their neighborhoods, I mean you could always walk up to a cop right, I mean there wasn't any abuse going on...
-Its important you say that because there's a lot of cops coming up now that don't believe that's possible...
RR-Well you don't believe it’s possible because it hasn't been done, it hasn't been done. There are a lot of drug trafficking, homicides, gang violence rape, robbery and domestic battery. If we had a better relationship with the police-I know a lot of people might want to say 'why do you want to align with the police?’ Well because they are a component of a total revitalization package. If we let the drug dealers and everybody else take over the streets, we have no streets.
And Bloomberg for 2009 wants to take 2000 off the force, so he knows exactly what he's doing, he wants to create this whole sense of fear 'you have to depend on me to initiate this change,' and that's why he circumvented term limits. He knows exactly what he is doing.
-Now when you say circumvent the term limits what are you talking about?
RR-Here in New York you can only serve for two terms and those terms are each four years. When Bloomberg started out he wanted to run for Mayor, then he wanted to run for Governor, as an Independent, then he wanted to run for President as a Democrat, then when all those three things sort of went by the wayside, then he turns his attention back on 'I want to run for Mayor.' Well he couldn't run for Mayor anymore because his term limits have run out. So he's going like 'wait a minute, I'm Mike Bloomberg backed by $50 billion, what are you talking about?'
So what he did was take his philanthropic dollars he normally invested all over the country for worthy causes and took that money and now he's investing it in his cronies in the City Council, the Borough Presidents and the unions to try and sway them to back his candidacy. So it has created a situation where he feels as though he's got a handle on the mayoral peak and this is the main reason why I decided to take a stand. Although I'm 61-years-old, I have a 10 month old daughter that I need to look out for whether I'm here or not. One of the things I need to definitely address is kids like her. I'm not talking necessarily about the grownups, we're all going in the next 20 or 30 years its not even going to be a problem. These kids that are growing up in this corruption, in this subterfuge and this biased press, the homeless, jobless, name it and either somebody will change it, or its really going to be a hot time over the next four years for a lot of people.
-Now who are your endorsers, who are your backers? Do you anticipate the backing of Paterson or any of the powerful African Americans in New York?
RR-I believe once I get my package out there, one of my goals is to put a full page ad into every major newspaper with some public relations muscle behind it and I'll get some endorsements. The people of the City of New York will embrace my stance and platform because they identify.
-And I have to say this because I'm a black press guy also, don't forget to put some ads in the black papers...
RR-Oh absolutely, absolutely...the City of New York is a 5-1 Democratic town, primarily comprised of immigrants.
-And I say that because a lot of black politicians and companies whatever-we got 2 black papers in Buffalo-and one or the other is always gettin' the shaft-and it's weird stuff, its bizarre stuff but they'll tell us 'oh yeah yeah we won't forget you,' and the first chance they get they'll forget us because they take the black press for granted. They'll say 'I'm black you're black you'll vote for me shut-up.' Like I say you know, everybody's gotta eat...
RR-- I concur.
-I know of course New York has got what 7 or 8 black papers, whatever, maybe more. It's a publishing mecca and I'm not even counting the white newspapers.
RR-I'm not a career politician, I'm the people’s candidate, what I want to do is clean house, not only in City Council, but if it goes all the way to the State Assembly, fine. Paterson endorsed my philanthropic project. I can send you the picture where you can see us celebrating the 350th anniversary of the City of New York in Wall Street...
Governor Paterson & Roland Rogers standing next to the podium
-I met Paterson when he first got appointed, he came to Buffalo right after he was finished being open about everything, 'yeah I smoked dope when I was 11, by the way I cheated on my wife once or twice.' Of course I'm exaggerating his fear of a scandal-hungry New York media, but he came to Buffalo as soon as he got all that out in the air. He seems to be a pretty nice guy, but the odd thing was I was the only black reporter in the room when he had the press conference, I helped the Mayor get elected, he wouldn't call on me when I raised my hand to ask the Governor a question called on everybody else, I'm the only black reporter in there...
RR-That's interesting in itself.
-Now Roland, why would you try and knock a nice guy like Bloomberg off of his seat? He's such a nice guy.
RR--Well he's a nice guy to some and he's a bad guy to others...
-You know him personally?
RR-No, but he knows who I am.
-Well how many of you are officially in the campaign?
RR-Well! I haven't announced my candidacy, I am still assessing, but it looks everyday like I am going to make that move, but aside from Bloomberg there is a Jewish congressperson who used to be a city councilman by the name of Anthony Wiener and there is another African American who is the City Comptroller, his name is Bill Thompson so there are officially three in the race at this juncture and there might be more to declare and there might be some also-rans out there who are looking to heighten their profile. But right now there are three that are committed.
Will you announce soon?
RR-Well yes, I really do and I must get off the fence. I'm pretty sure I'm going to announce but I wanted to wait until all the hoopla of the President-elect died down. I also wanted it to coincide with the Birthday of the City of New York. None of these guys know anything about right and that's why I feel like a lot of citizens might resonate to my candidacy.
-When is New York City's Birthday?
RR-It's February 2nd, it’s in Black History Month number one, but New York City's Birthday is relative to the first municipal signing of self-government in America. So the City of New York was the first city in America to receive the right to govern itself.
-I thought New York's Birthday was opening day at Yankee Stadium.
RR-Well for some but certainly not for people that can't afford tickets.
-Now you openly state that you ran in '97 and only got like 3 percent of the vote-which explains why I never heard of you-but what are you going to do during your present campaign that you feel will be incredibly different from '97?
RR-Well I have a strategy and I have a campaign team in place this time and I am looking to raise enough money where I can then connect an Internet strategy with some Wall Streeters, some grassroots people and small business people in the various boroughs.
-Now what do you expect the Wall Street people to do?
RR-Well my whole platform is centered around small business empowerment. What I want to do is to meld Wall Street with Main Street. Which is a pretty unique and novel idea considering the fact that Wall Street is in the state that its in. Small businesses are definitely suffering, but the small businesses are the lifeblood of any community whether it's in the City of New York or Skokie Illinois. What I plan to do is create what is called a commercial REIT. And I'm not sure if you are aware of what a commercial REIT is but...
-I've read something from your information on it.
RR—In a city government my goal as Mayor is to create jobs. My number one goal is to create unity, jobs and small business empowerment. The City of New York owns a lot of property and has relationships with landlords whether there's property taxes paid, loans etc. What I would do is go to these landlord or City government would go to a landlord, and say 'look all of your commercial space-that is under their apartments-if you become a part of this commercial REIT, we will take out a 75 year lease (As opposed to major corporations and banks taking hold of those urban street level businesses with residential apartments on the upper floors and raising the property values, which really gave the "community-minded citizen" no opportunity to survive).
In other words, they wouldn't have to rent that space because they would automatically be getting a certain amount of income every month, and it would also coincide with inflation and any other kind of rising economic situation that we might be going through.
Essentially, what I want to bring back into the neighborhoods of the City of New York is the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.
-What I've noticed about New York, and I'm giving this assessment from a distance of course, but what I've always noticed is that whenever black people endeavor to get their own businesses or programs to help each other, the white powers that be in New York start hounding them. That goes back to The black-owned bank, I think it was called the Freedom Bank, Holloway House I recall that; a shelter for babies born with crack addiction, the Black talk radio station WLIB going through repeated shutdowns or ouster of their most outspoken voices, and most recently the Black United Fund (BUF); a black-owned effort to help businesses and people financially. Spitzer I heard historically took great exception to the BUF. I mean they watch blacks who display hints of giving other blacks a leg-up in business or life and their mission is to shut them down completely which basically puts us back to square one. Now do you think this (REIT) will be viewed in the same vein as those other efforts?
RR-Well you see, my administration will be sympathetic, offering hope whereas a corrupt Republican and Democratic administration or the Bloomberg Administration over these last 8 years has fostered fear and visions of Tammy Hall. We can even go back to David Dinkins; the first African American Mayor of the City of New York with his partners, Congressman Charles Rangel, Percy Sutton and others. These guys had an idea that they would hold these buildings here for the developers to come along. Here we are 12, 16 years later and what they've essentially done is transform this city so anybody with a small family or a small business, can't afford to do business here or survive here. So they're either ostracized to the Bronx or Queens or Westchester or all these other little townships. Essentially what they want to do is to create a mecca for the rich.
A couple of days ago the City passed an eminent domain law in favor of Columbia University. What that does is not only displace small businesses. Projects that were subsidized by the federal government are now charging market rent and I feel everybody will eventually go back to square one based on the way this recession is going and the high corporate crimes climate like the Bernie Madoffs will essentially reap what they sow. My whole job here is too create a balance and by creating that balance with Main Street and Wall Street, once this is up and operating, we can get Wall Street to come in here and look at these businesses...
-A lot of people don't think that Wall Street wants to partner with Main Street.
RR-Yes I know but Wall Street has got nobody left to partner with, so it's either a new way or the highway.
-What do you think are the concerns of most New Yorkers?
RR-Right now? Jobs. It transcends all racial and cultural lines, it's almost like the great depression out here, people who thought their 75 thousand dollar a year jobs were essentially protected and bullet-proof, they are on the line with the same guys who are selling papers on the corner... nobody’s hiring, there's no money here. Wall Street and all these banks are getting all the money and they don't even want to tell you what they're going to do with it. So I really feel this is one of the methodologies that we can employ and get everybody looking at a sense of 'well if I put my 24 dollars in this year' and if 8.5 million people which represents the population of New York right now, if they each put in $24 that can morph into $198 trillion dollars to shell out to businesses to expand and hire. Citizens can receive dividends and bonds. We believe that in creating this fund everyday New Yorkers and small businesses can afford $24 or $2.6 million, every citizen can be an equal partner with every other in "buying back" the City once bought for a reputed $24, increasing everyone sense of ownership. What past and current government administrators may have seen as an impossible, 8.5 million enterprising and ambitious citizens may see as sound investment in themselves.
Because this is money has no borders we can take a portion of $1 trillion in the fund and invest in New Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania. This REIT can go anywhere and buy property under the auspices of it being a legal entity of the City of New York. We can go as far as China, or as far as Africa to create empowered REITS. I think this is a program that even the federal government can look at and realistically implement similar strategies, parallel strategies to help cities grow.
-Yeah like I said that's bizarre stuff but that's my advice to you and I know New York has a very outspoken black community, very tight, I've been following people like Reverend Daughtry, the New Black Panther Party and others like that. You all got people down there that would scare people here blacks and whites, would scare the crap out of people in Buffalo. But those forces are needed, they're necessary But other than that I do wish you luck, been a while since we had a black Mayor in New York City. I thought Dinkins was pretty cool but Dinkins didn't have many willing to work with him.
RR-Well no, Dinkins was a career politician, all these guys that have been political here in New York, they've been politicians long before I even got here which has been almost 30 years. So when you look at that you can understand how they've been co-opted and that they don't really want a change because change would upset their apple-cart. Like Charles Rangel wouldn't have 3 or 4 rental apartments and he's only supposed to have one you know. When you look at all these crooked deals that these politicians have including the Apollo Theater, it just goes on and on and on. You kind of say 'look enough is enough. c'mon guys, you are tired, go away.'
-Yeah that's it, often times with career politicians, you get circular politics; the same thing being done over and over again and they'll look at you and say 'that's the way things are.' Well you're the one that can change it.
RR-Well I'm going to be... not like that presidential candidate who said he's a maverick, but essentially that's what I'm going to be, a maverick. I'm not going to go along with the prescribed way of doing things. I'm going to do it the right way, I don't want any money, I can live off my salary, I'm happy with my wife and daughter and I don't need to be a crook. I'm here, I have been here for the people. My whole mantra nowadays is Unleashing the Power of People. That's my campaign slogan.
-Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Challenger, contact him at pointblankdta@yahoo.com
