Politicians and community groups tell Bank of America they want $200-billion in loans, grants and other projects.
By JEFF HARRINGTON
Published February 17, 2004
ORLANDO - It was a public hearing neither the Federal Reserve nor Bank of America wanted to happen.
More than 150 minority and low-income activists filled Orlando City Council chambers Monday afternoon to push for Bank of America to pledge $200-billion to Florida in community development loans, grants and other projects as part of the Charlotte megabank's merger with FleetBoston Financial.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, who chaired the three-hour session, was undaunted by the fact that the merger will have little direct impact in Florida, where Fleet's operation consists of just two branches. Nor by the fact the Federal Reserve, which refused to hold a hearing on the merger in Florida, had closed the comment period on the merger a month ago.
"It's not over till it's over," Brown said. "Bank of America is the largest bank in the state of Florida. We want to be at the table. I don't want to get the notice in the mail that this is the deal and we've been left out."
To the dozens of community groups that banded together for the hearing, the hearing appeared less about Fleet than about pent-up frustration. Some believe Florida got short shrift in community commitments over the past 15 years as Bank of America and its predecessors gobbled up bank after bank in Florida, capped by the 1997 acquisition of Barnett Banks, then Florida's largest bank.
As California and other states held public hearings during mergers, Florida was largely silent.
"Thank you. It's about time we have convened for this opportunity," said John Henderson, an Orlando consultant seeking funds for a large jobs and redevelopment project.
To secure approval of the Fleet deal, Bank of America earlier pledged a total of $750-billion in community development funds over the next 10 years nationwide. Other than a $100-billion commitment to the New England region, however, the bank said it won't be tied to state-by-state pledges.
Bank spokeswoman Amanda Malcom said her institution has spent $25.3-billion on community development in Florida the past five years, funds tied to a $350-billion national promise made in 1998 when Bank of America was formed through the merger with of NationsBank and BankAmerica. "We're very proud of our record in Florida," she said.
Denise Freedman, the bank's senior vice president and market manager for community development in Florida, said making a state-specific pledge would remove the flexibility the bank needs to consider projects in different areas.
"I'd like to say the $25-billion speaks for itself," she said in an interview, citing several low-income projects for which the bank was a partner, including the redevelopment of the dilapidated Greenwood Apartments in Clearwater.
Indeed, several community speakers Monday spoke at length about low-income housing and commercial growth spurred through partnerships with Bank of America. But even the bank's staunchest defenders said it has not been enough.
"The largest bank in Florida is not stepping up to the plate to do its part," said Willie Logan, a former state representative and U.S. Senate candidate who now represents the Opa-Locka Community Development Corp.
Logan said he was insulted that Bank of America sent neither its Florida president, Tim Laney, nor a representative from its Charlotte headquarters to the hearing. The bank sent four representatives, including the head of community development lending for the state.
Malcolm said the bank was there largely to listen and that it remained open to a dialogue with all the groups regardless of what the Federal Reserve does.
Brown said Bank of America officials asked her last week to hold off on the hearing and she refused. Told about the expired comment period on the Fleet merger, Brown and a couple other politicians at the hearing said they would take the bank to court if necessary.
"I want to to see Bank of America pledge a firm amount to the state of Florida, and have a plan how these funds will be used. Period," Brown said.
Al Pina, a representative of a Latino development company expanding into Florida, helped bring the activist groups together as the newly formed Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition. Monday's hearing, he said, was but the first, overdue step in giving those activists a voice.
Cutbacks in federal community development block grants have hit development organizations hard, and Pina sees the growing banks as key to solving the funding shortage.
"It doesn't stop here. This is one of many mergers," he said. "Economic rights are a civil right and we take this very seriously, those of us who wage war to get rid of poverty."
