Darel Carey Reportedly Goes Off; Challenges Phil Tagami - Comments Stupid

As to where I was during all this? The MLB All Star Game, happily. Oakland business leaders in near-brawl at City Hall By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated: 07/12/2007 12:58:35 PM PDT OAKLAND — Two men known to blow off steam at city meetings from time to time nearly came to physical blows outside City Hall Tuesday afternoon, although the only casualty appears to be Councilmember Larry Reid's bad back, wrenched while trying to keep the peace.The near dust-up happened in the middle of Tuesday's Community and Economic Development Committee meeting. The room was packed because comedy film mogul Keenen Ivory Wayans was in the gallery.It wasn't exactly Oakland's shining moment; then again, it could provide fodder for Wayans' next movie. Darrel Carey, president of the East Bay Small BusinessCouncil, criticized Rotunda developer Phil Tagami's efforts to award contracts on the Fox Theater restoration to small, minority-owned businesses. Carey, who was paid by Tagami to do outreach to those very businesses, admitted he had previously spoken glowingly of the project, before doing an about-face and saying Tagami put them "through hell," stretching out the last word as 'hay-ell."Tagami, co-owner of California Capital Group and project manager for the Fox Theater restoration, bristled at Carey's remarks, calling his story "fiction." He told the committee he had exceeded his own goal of hiring 50 percent local businesses and 20 percent small local businesses for the Fox project, and that he had even raised millions of dollars for a program to help small contractors who weren't yet qualified or lacked licenses and insurance. But the real fireworks started when Reid publicly thanked Carey for being a watchdog to make sure developers were hiring small minority businesses on their projects. "That's a shakedown!" Tagami yelled, annoyed that Reid's comments somehow validated Carey's point."You've been (shaking down) the city for years," Carey shot back from across the room. SOURCE OF THIS POINT