Opinion ID: 654597
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Race and Ethnicity

Text: 41 Because strict scrutiny applies to the Ordinance's racial and ethnic preferences, we may only uphold them if they are narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest. Wygant, 476 U.S. at 274, 106 S.Ct. at 1847. In Croson, the Supreme Court made clear that combatting racial discrimination is a compelling government interest. 488 U.S. at 492, 509, 109 S.Ct. at 721, 730. It also held a city can enact such a preference to remedy past or present discrimination where it has actively discriminated in its award of contracts or has been a  'passive participant' in a system of racial exclusion practiced by elements of the local construction industry. Id. at 492, 109 S.Ct. at 721. 42 But in view of the Court's concern about race-based classifications, Croson requires the City to identif[y] the discrimination with the particularity required by the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. In striking down the Richmond ordinance requiring prime construction contractors to subcontract 30 percent of the dollar amount of each contract to minority businesses, the Court emphasized the City's failure to show specific evidence of past discrimination in the Richmond construction industry. 488 U.S. at 498, 109 S.Ct. at 723. It found evidence of prior national discrimination geographically overbroad because the probative value of these findings for demonstrating the existence of discrimination in Richmond is extremely limited. Id. at 504, 109 S.Ct. at 727. The Court was similarly unimpressed with data showing the percentage of prime contracts awarded to minority businesses (.67%) was disproportionately low given the percentage of Richmond's population that were minorities (50%), and that very few minorities were members of local construction trade associations. 488 U.S. at 499, 109 S.Ct. at 724. In the Court's view, the relevant statistical pool was not the minority population but the number of qualified minority contractors. It stressed the city did not know the number of qualified minority businesses in the area and had offered no evidence of the percentage of contract dollars minorities received as subcontractors. Id. at 502, 109 S.Ct. at 726. 43 Ruling the Philadelphia Ordinance's racial preference failed to overcome strict scrutiny, the district court concluded the Ordinance possesses four of the five characteristics fatal to the constitutionality of the Richmond Plan, 735 F.Supp. at 1298. As there, the district court reasoned, the City relied on national statistics, a comparison between prime contract awards and the percentage of minorities in Philadelphia's population, the Ordinance's declaration it was remedial, and conclusory testimony of witnesses regarding discrimination in the Philadelphia construction industry. Id. at 1295-98. 10 44
45 The City and UMEA contend the district court understated the evidence of prior discrimination available to the Philadelphia City Council when it enacted the 1982 ordinance. The City Council Finance Committee received testimony from at least fourteen minority contractors who recounted personal experiences with racial discrimination. In certain instances, these contractors lost out despite being low bidders. This anecdotal evidence significantly outweighs that presented in Croson, where the Richmond City Council heard no direct evidence of race discrimination on the part of the city in letting contracts or any evidence that the city's prime contractors had discriminated against minority-owned subcontractors. 488 U.S. at 480, 109 S.Ct. at 715. 46 Although the district court acknowledged the minority contractors' testimony was relevant under Croson, it discounted this evidence because other evidence of the type deemed impermissible by the Supreme Court ... unsupported general testimony, impermissible statistics and information on the national set-aside program, ... overwhelmingly formed the basis for the enactment of the set-aside ... and therefore taint[ed] the minds of city councilmembers. 735 F.Supp. at 1296. 47 The district court's approach appears inconsistent with the accepted proposition that at the summary judgment stage the [trial] judge's function is not himself to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Moreover, the court offered only a few factual examples of this impermissible evidence but did not attempt to quantify or otherwise explain why the impermissible evidence was dominant and why Council members necessarily attached more weight to this evidence than to the permissible evidence. 48 Yet given Croson's emphasis on statistical evidence, even had the district court credited the City's anecdotal evidence, we do not believe this amount of anecdotal evidence is sufficient to satisfy strict scrutiny. SeeCoral Constr., 941 F.2d at 919 (anecdotal evidence ... rarely, if ever, can ... show a systemic pattern of discrimination necessary for the adoption of an affirmative action plan.). Although anecdotal evidence alone may, in an exceptional case, be so dominant or pervasive that it passes muster under Croson, it is insufficient here. But because the combination of anecdotal and statistical evidence is potent, Coral Constr., 941 F.2d at 919, we turn to the statistical evidence proffered in support of the Ordinance. 49
50 There are two categories of statistical evidence here, evidence undisputedly considered by City Council before it enacted the Ordinance in 1982 (the pre-enactment evidence), and evidence developed by the City on remand (the post-enactment evidence). 51
52 The principal pre-enactment statistical evidence appears in the 1982 Report of the City Council Finance Committee and recites that minority contractors were awarded only .09 percent of City contract dollars during the preceding three years, 1979 through 1981, although businesses owned by Blacks and Hispanics accounted for 6.4 percent of all businesses licensed to operate in Philadelphia. 11 These statistics do not satisfy Croson because they do not indicate what proportion of the 6.4 percent of minority-owned businesses were available or qualified to perform City construction contracts. Under Croson, available minority-owned businesses comprise the relevant statistical pool. 488 U.S. at 501, 109 S.Ct. at 726. 12 Therefore, the data in the Finance Committee Report do not provide a sufficient evidentiary basis for the Ordinance. 53
54 The post-enactment evidence consists of a study conducted by economic consultant Andrew Brimmer to demonstrate the disproportionately low share of public and private construction contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses in Philadelphia. Brimmer's study provides the relevant statistical pool needed to satisfy Croson--the percentage of minority businesses engaged in the Philadelphia construction industry. 13 55 As a threshold matter, we are not certain the Brimmer study is post-enactment evidence. The study uses statistics for the three years immediately preceding enactment of the Ordinance. As the Contractors concede, the data used by Brimmer respecting MBE participation as prime contractors to the City prior to 1982 was before City Council when it enacted Sec. 17-500. Brimmer's simple mathematical conclusions respecting that data obviously were apparent to City Council at that time. Contractors Br. at 28. But because we cannot be certain the Brimmer study constituted pre-enactment evidence, we consider whether it was admissible as post-enactment evidence. The district court considered the evidence, but believed it insufficient to change the result. Accordingly, it did not comment on its pre- or post-enactment character. 56 Several courts have held post-enactment evidence is admissible in determining whether an Ordinance satisfies Croson. Coral Constr., 941 F.2d at 921; Harrison & Burrowes Bridge Constr. v. Cuomo, 981 F.2d 50, 60 (2d Cir.1992); Concrete Works of Colorado, Inc. v. City and County of Denver, 823 F.Supp. 821, 836-37 (D.Colo.1993). As the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained in Coral Constr., were post-enactment evidence inadmissible, a municipality having [some] evidence would face the dilemma of deciding whether to wait the months necessary for further development of the record, risking constitutional culpability [to Blacks] due to its inaction, or to act and to risk liability [to Whites] for acting prematurely but otherwise justifiably. 941 F.2d at 921; see alsoWygant, 476 U.S. at 291, 106 S.Ct. at 1856 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (public employers are trapped between the competing hazards of liability to minorities if affirmative action is not taken to remedy apparent employment discrimination and liability to nonminorities if affirmative action is taken). 57 Consideration of post-enactment evidence is especially appropriate here, where the principal relief sought and the only relief granted by the district court, was an injunction. Because injunctions are prospective only, it makes sense to consider all available evidence before the district court, including the post-enactment evidence, which the district court did. Although we recognize the risk of insincerity associated with post-enactment evidence, we believe that risk is minimal here because the Brimmer study consists essentially of an evaluation and re-ordering of pre-enactment evidence--contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses in the three years preceding the Ordinance. For these reasons, we hold the Brimmer affidavit and study were admissible evidence. 58
59 We now consider whether the statistical evidence, when combined with the anecdotal evidence, was sufficient to enable the racial preference in the Ordinance to survive summary judgment. The district court believed it was not, stating in its opinion on remand that the City's additional discovery has not produced any evidence which would cause the court to reconsider its prior ruling. 60 At least three Courts of Appeals have considered the type and amount of statistical data needed to support a municipal race-based contract preference program after Croson. Associated Gen. Contractors of California v. Coalition for Economic Equity, 950 F.2d 1401 (9th Cir.1991) (upholding program), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1670, 118 L.Ed.2d 390 (1992); Cone Corp. v. Hillsborough County, Fla., 908 F.2d 908 (11th Cir.) (reversing summary judgment for contractors challenging program), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 983, 111 S.Ct. 516, 112 L.Ed.2d 528 (1990); O'Donnell Constr. Co. v. District of Columbia, 963 F.2d 420 (D.C.Cir.1992) (striking down program). 61 In both Cone and AGC of California, where the courts refused to strike down the ordinances, the city and county presented the type of statistics Croson indicated were most probative--data showing minority contractors received a disproportionately low share of contracts given their representation in the total contractor population. Cone, 908 F.2d at 915, AGC, 950 F.2d at 1414; see alsoConcrete Works, 823 F.Supp. 821 (granting summary judgment to city based largely on statistics showing disparity between available minority businesses and contracts awarded to minority businesses). 62 In O'Donnell, by contrast, the data were conflicting. The District of Columbia presented statistics that minority-owned contractors were capable of performing 34 percent of the District's construction work, 963 F.2d at 426, but received only 3.4 percent of the total construction contracts. But other evidence showed minorities received 32.4 percent of repairs and improvement contracts, 32.2 percent of architectural contracts, and 24.5 percent of materials management contracts, data the court believed cast doubt on the notion that the 3.4 percent figure resulted from agency discrimination. 963 F.2d at 426; see alsoAssociated Gen. Contractors of Connecticut v. New Haven, 791 F.Supp. 941, 946 (D.Conn.1992) (striking down minority contractor program where minority and women-owned businesses received a share of contracts in proportion to the numbers of firms in existence). 63 In determining whether the statistical evidence was adequate here, we look to its critical component--the disparity index. The index consists of the percentage of minority contractor participation in City contracts divided by the percentage of minority contractor availability or composition in the population of Philadelphia area construction firms. This equation yields a percentage figure which is then multiplied by 100 to generate a number between 0 and 100, with 100 consisting of full participation by minority contractors given the amount of the total contracting population they comprise. 64 Other courts considering equal protection challenges to similar ordinances have relied on disparity indices in determining whether Croson's evidentiary burden is satisfied. Cone Corp., 908 F.2d at 916; AGC of California, 950 F.2d at 1414; Concrete Works, 823 F.Supp. at 834; see alsoStuart v. Roche, 951 F.2d 446, 451 (1st Cir.1991) (employing similar statistical data to uphold affirmative action promotion program in Boston Police Department), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1948, 118 L.Ed.2d 553 (1992). Disparity indices are highly probative evidence of discrimination because they ensure that the relevant statistical pool of minority contractors is being considered. 65 The Brimmer study reports a disparity index for City of Philadelphia construction contracts during the years 1979 through 1981 of 4 out of a possible 100. This index is significantly worse than that in other cases where ordinances have withstood constitutional attack. SeeCone Corp., 908 F.2d at 916 (10.78 disparity index); AGC of California, 950 F.2d at 1414 (22.4 disparity index); Concrete Works, 823 F.Supp. at 834 (disparity index significantly less than 100); see alsoStuart, 951 F.2d at 451 (disparity index of 10 in police promotion program); compareO'Donnell, 963 F.2d at 426 (striking down ordinance given disparity indices of approximately 100 in two categories). 14 Therefore, we find the disparity index probative of discrimination in City contracting in the Philadelphia construction industry prior to enactment of the Ordinance. 66 The Contractors contend the Brimmer study is methodologically flawed because it considered only prime contractors and because it failed to consider the qualifications of the minority businesses or their interest in performing City contracts. In short, the Contractors maintain the Brimmer study does not indicate why there is a disparity between available minority contractors and their participation in contracting. The Contractors contend that these objections, without more, entitle them to summary judgment, arguing that under the strict scrutiny standard they do not bear the burden of proof and therefore need not offer a neutral explanation for the disparity to prevail. 67 The Contractors misconceive the allocation of the burden of proof in affirmative action cases. The Supreme Court has indicated that [t]he ultimate burden remains with [plaintiffs] to demonstrate the unconstitutionality of an affirmative action program. Johnson v. Transport. Agency, Santa Clara County, 480 U.S. 616, 626, 107 S.Ct. 1442, 1449, 94 L.Ed.2d 615 (1987) (quoting Wygant, 476 U.S. at 277-78, 106 S.Ct. at 1848-49). Thus, the Contractors, not the City, bear the burden of proof here. 68 The Johnson Court also explained how the burden of proof operates in an affirmative action case, stating that a challenge by a white employee to an employer's voluntary affirmative action program under Title VII:fits readily within the analytical framework set forth in McDonnell Douglas [Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973).] ... Once a plaintiff establishes a prima facie case that race or sex has been taken into account ... the burden shifts to the employer to articulate a nondiscriminatory rationale for its decision. The existence of an affirmative action plan provides such a rationale. If such a plan is articulated as the basis for the employer's decision, the burden shifts to plaintiff to prove that [this] justification is pretextual and the plan is invalid. As a practical matter, of course, an employer will generally seek to avoid a charge of pretext by presenting evidence in support of its plan. That does not mean, however, ... that reliance on an affirmative action plan is to be treated as an affirmative defense requiring the employer to carry the burden of proving the validity of the plan. The burden of proving its invalidity remains on the plaintiff. 480 U.S. at 626-27, 107 S.Ct. at 1448-49. 69 Although Johnson was a Title VII case involving a public employer's affirmative action hiring program, Croson indicated the same approach would apply in a constitutional case involving an affirmative action contracting program. There, the Court stated: 70 Where there is a significant statistical disparity between the number of qualified minority contractors willing and able to perform a particular service and the number of contractors actually engaged by the locality or the locality's prime contractors, an inference of discriminatory exclusion could arise. See Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. at 398, 106 S.Ct. [3000] at 3008 [92 L.Ed.2d 315]; Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. at 337-339, 97 S.Ct. [1843] at 1856 [52 L.Ed.2d 396].... Moreover, evidence of a pattern of individual discriminatory acts can, if supported by appropriate statistical proof, lend support to a local government's determination that broader remedial relief is justified. See Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 338, 97 S.Ct. at 1856, 488 U.S. at 509 [109 S.Ct. at 730]. 71 This language demonstrates that where a city defends an affirmative action ordinance as a remedy for past discrimination, issues of proof are handled as they are in other cases involving a pattern or practice of discrimination. Croson's reference to an inference of discriminatory exclusion based on statistics, as well as its citation to Bazemore and Teamsters, both Title VII pattern cases, supports this interpretation. Additionally, in Johnson, a Title VII case, the Court explicitly looked to the constitutional standard, stating the plaintiff bears the burden in such a case, and we see no basis for a different rule regarding a plan's alleged violation of Title VII. 480 U.S. at 626, 107 S.Ct. at 1448. We, too, have indicated statistical proof of discrimination is handled similarly under Title VII and equal protection principles. Newark Branch, NAACP v. Town of Harrison, N.J., 940 F.2d 792, 807 (3d Cir.1991). 72 Courts of Appeals considering challenges to affirmative action plans under Title VII have indicated that where the plan's proponent adduces evidence supporting an inference of discrimination, the plaintiff must rebut that inference to prevail. Thus, upholding a consent decree establishing an affirmative action program for the Omaha, Nebraska Police Department, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit directed a verdict for the city where a white police officer did not present evidence to rebut the City's showing that the plan was remedial and a response to a racial imbalance, based on the disproportionately small percentage of blacks hired by the department. Donaghy v. City of Omaha, 933 F.2d 1448, 1460 (8th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 938, 117 L.Ed.2d 109 (1992); see alsoStuart, 951 F.2d at 451; Howard v. McLucas, 871 F.2d 1000, 1007 (11th Cir.1989) (both upholding similar consent decrees against reverse discrimination challenges), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1002, 110 S.Ct. 560, 107 L.Ed.2d 555 (1989). 73 The Supreme Court has also offered guidance on the quantum of evidence needed to rebut statistical proof of discrimination. In Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385, 106 S.Ct. 3000, 92 L.Ed.2d 315 (1986), it suggested the approach taken by the Contractors here does not suffice. Reversing a verdict for defendants in a Title VII case, the court expressed disapproval with defendants strategy at trial, noting they declare[d] simply that many factors go into making up an individual employee's salary [but] made no attempt ... statistical or otherwise--to demonstrate that when these factors were properly organized and accounted for there was no significant disparity between the salaries of blacks and whites. 478 U.S. at 403 n. 14, 106 S.Ct. at 3010 n. 14. 74 As the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has observed, [i]mplicit in the Bazemore holding is the principle that a mere conjecture or assertion ... that some missing factor would explain the existing disparities ... generally cannot defeat the inference of discrimination created by ... statistics. Palmer v. Shultz, 815 F.2d 84, 101 (D.C.Cir.1987); see alsoCatlett v. Missouri Highway & Transport. Comm'n, 828 F.2d 1260, 1266 (8th Cir.1987) (relying on Palmer and Bazemore to uphold judgment in sex discrimination case), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 1021, 108 S.Ct. 1574, 99 L.Ed.2d 889 (1988); Concrete Works, 823 F.Supp. at 839-40 (relying on these decisions to uphold Denver minority contracting preference ordinance). 75 Under these holdings, the City's statistical evidence has created an inference of discrimination which the Contractors would have to rebut at trial either by proving a neutral explanation for the disparity, showing the statistics are flawed, ... demonstrating that the disparities shown by the statistics are not significant or actionable, ... or presenting contrasting statistical data. Coral Constr., 941 F.2d at 921. A fortiori, this evidence is sufficient for the City to withstand summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 only requires them to establish a genuine issue of fact for trial. 15 Indeed, as the Ninth Circuit concluded in Coral 76 Constr., the Contractors' objections to the study are properly presented to the trier of fact. 941 F.2d at 921 (reversing summary judgment to enable contractors to attack statistics). Accordingly, we believe the City's statistical evidence established a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the award of City of Philadelphia construction contracts. 77 Consistent with strict scrutiny, we must examine the data for each minority group contained in the Ordinance. The Ordinance applies to businesses owned by persons who are Black, Hispanic, Asian-American, or Native American. Sec. 17-501(1)(a)-(d). The Census data on which the Brimmer study relies demonstrates that in 1982, the year the Ordinance was enacted, there were construction firms owned in Philadelphia by Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans, but not Native Americans. 16 Therefore, neither the City nor prime contractors could have discriminated against construction companies owned by Native Americans at the time of the Ordinance and we affirm summary judgment as to them. 78 The Census Report indicates there were 12 construction firms owned by Hispanic persons, 6 firms owned by Asian-American persons, 3 firms owned by persons of Pacific Islands descent, and 1 other minority-owned firm. 17 The Brimmer study calculates Hispanic firms represented .15% of the available firms and Asian-American, Pacific-Islander, and other minorities represented .12% of the available firms, and that these firms received no City contracts during the years 1979 through 1981. We do not believe these numbers are large enough to create a triable issue of discrimination. The mere fact that .27 percent of City construction firms--the percentage of all of these groups combined--received no contracts does not rise to the significant statistical disparity Croson requires. 488 U.S. at 509, 109 S.Ct. at 730. 79 Nor does it appear that there was any anecdotal evidence of discrimination against construction businesses owned by people of Hispanic or Asian-American descent. The district court found there is no evidence whatsoever in the legislative history of the Philadelphia Ordinance that an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut or Native Hawaiian has ever been discriminated against in the procurement of city contracts, 735 F.Supp. at 1299, and neither the City's nor UMEA's briefs call our attention to any witnesses who were members of these groups or who were Hispanic. 80 We recognize that the small number of Philadelphia-area construction businesses owned by Hispanic or Asian-American persons does not eliminate the possibility of discrimination against these firms. The small number itself may reflect barriers to entry caused in part by discrimination. But plausible hypotheses are not enough to satisfy strict scrutiny, even at the summary judgment stage. Because these groups appear in different subsections of Sec. 17-501 of the Ordinance, Secs. 17-501(b)-(d), in accordance with our earlier discussion of standing, we sever these subsections of the Ordinance. SeeAmerican Subcontractors Ass'n, v. City of Atlanta, 376 S.E.2d at 666 n. 7 (upholding severance of set-aside ordinance as to racial groups other than Blacks because there was no evidence of discrimination against these groups). Nothing in our decision prevents the City from re-enacting a preference for construction firms owned by Hispanic, Asian-American, or Native American persons based on more concrete evidence of discrimination. In sum, we believe the City and UMEA adduced enough evidence of racial discrimination against Blacks in the award of City construction contracts to withstand summary judgment on the compelling government interest prong of the Croson test.
81 We next decide whether the Ordinance's racial preference was narrowly tailored to the compelling government interest of eradicating racial discrimination in the award of City construction contracts. Croson held this inquiry turns on four factors: (1) whether the city has first considered and found ineffective race-neutral measures, such as enhanced access to capital and relaxation of bonding requirements, (2) the basis offered for the percentage selected, (3) whether the program provides for waivers of the preference or other means of affording individualized treatment to contractors, and (4) whether the Ordinance applies only to minority businesses who operate in the geographic jurisdiction covered by the Ordinance. 488 U.S. at 507-08, 109 S.Ct. at 729-30. 82 Holding the Ordinance was not narrowly tailored, the district court believed the Ordinance failed to satisfy most of these criteria. It stated City Council had not considered race-neutral measures, stressed the testimony of a City Council member that the 15 percent number was arbitrarily chosen, and inferred that testimony regarding front minority businesses reflected there were not enough legitimate minority enterprises to meet the percentage requirement and therefore that it was too high. 735 F.Supp. at 1298-99. 83 On appeal, the City contends it enacted the Ordinance only after race-neutral alternatives proved insufficient to improve minority participation in City contracting. It relies on the affidavits of City Council President Joseph Coleman and former Philadelphia Urban Coalition General Counsel Oscar Gaskins who testified regarding the race-neutral precursors of the Ordinance--the Philadelphia Plan, which set goals for employment of minorities on public construction sites, and the Urban Coalition's programs, which included such race-neutral measures as a revolving loan fund, a technical assistance and training program, and bonding assistance efforts. We believe the information in these affidavits sufficiently establishes the City's prior consideration of race-neutral programs to withstand summary judgment. 18 SeeConcrete Works, 823 F.Supp. at 841 (relying on similar approaches to conclude program was narrowly tailored). 84 Unlike the Richmond Ordinance, the Philadelphia Ordinance provides for several types of waivers of the fifteen percent goal. It exempts individual contracts or classes of contracts from the Ordinance where there are an insufficient number of available minority-owned businesses to ensure adequate competition and an expectation of reasonable prices on bids or proposals, Sec. 17-505(1), (2), and allows a prime contractor to request a waiver of the fifteen percent requirement where the contractor shows he has been unable after a good faith effort to comply with the goals for DBE participation, Sec. 17-505(3). Furthermore, as the district court noted, the Ordinance eliminates from the program successful minority businesses--those who have won $5 million in city contracts. Also unlike the Richmond program, the City's program is geographically targeted to Philadelphia businesses, as waivers and exemptions are permitted where there exist an insufficient number of MBEs within the Philadelphia Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sec. 17-505(1), (2). 85 Other courts have found these targeting mechanisms significant in concluding programs are narrowly tailored. SeeCone Corp., 908 F.2d at 917; Associated Gen. Contractors of Cal. v. City and County of San Francisco, 748 F.Supp. 1443, 1454 (N.D.Cal.1990), aff'd, 950 F.2d 1401 (9th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1670, 118 L.Ed.2d 390 (1992); compareCroson, 488 U.S. at 508, 109 S.Ct. at 729 (Richmond's waiver system ... makes no inquiry into whether or not the particular MBE seeking a preference has suffered from the effects of past discrimination by the city or prime contractors). 86 A closer question is presented by the Ordinance's fifteen percent goal. The City's data demonstrated that, prior to the Ordinance, only 2.4 percent of available construction contractors were minority-owned. We do not believe the goal must correspond precisely to the percentage of available contractors. Indeed, Croson does not impose this requirement, as the Court stated only that Richmond's 30 percent goal inappropriately assumed minorities [would] choose a particular trade in lockstep proportion to their representation in the local population. 488 U.S. at 507, 109 S.Ct. at 729. Furthermore, imposing a fifteen percent goal for each contract may reflect the need to account for those contractors who receive a waiver because insufficient minority businesses are available, and the contracts exempted from the program. And given the strength of the Ordinance's showing with respect to other Croson factors, we conclude the City has created a dispute of fact on whether the minority preference in the Ordinance is narrowly tailored. 87 For these reasons, we will reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment to the extent it invalidated application of the construction contract provisions to businesses owned by Black persons.