ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION OF TIMOTHY PERSON

BEFORE THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

In the Matter o f:

ALLSTATES TRANSWORLD VAN LINES, INC., Docket No. MC-14009
Common Carrier Application

I.

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF COLORED PEOPLE IN SUPPORT OF THE APPLICATION OF
ALLSTATES TRANSWORLD VAN LINES, INC.

:

My name is MARGARET BUSH WILSON. My address is 4054 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri. I am Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancment of Colored People (hereinafter "NAACP"), located at 1790 Broadway, New York, New York. I serve on the following. other boards, committees and foundations: the NAACP Special Contribution Fund (the tax exempt arm of NAACP), the Monsanto Company, the Mutual Real Estate Investment Trust (M-Reit), the Police Foundation, the American National Red Cross, the United Way of America, the boards of trustees of St. Augustine's College, Raleigh and Webster College and Washington University in St. Louis and the General Advisory Committee to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. I am engaged in the private practice of law in St. Louis as a senior partner in the firm of Wilson, Smith and Smith with experience in real estate and housing, municipal law, civil rights law and corporate and probate matters. II. The NAACP is the largest and oldest civil rights organization in the nation with some 1700 branches in fifty states and approximately 450,000 members. The NAACP's purpose and goal

is to insure the political, educational, social and economic equality of miniority group citizens and to eliminate race prejudice among citizens of the United States. During its sixtynine year history, the NAACP has pursued its goals in the cours, the Congress, other legislative bodies and in communities around this nation. For years it has had a department of labor which has focussed on jobs and employment opportunities for minorities. Recently, the NAACP has created a department of economic development to provide technical assistance and support to minority businesses and encourage more minority business development.. The NAACP, as a rule, does not conduct job training programs,but vigorously supports such programs in the public and private sectors which are especially beneficial to minority group members. III. The NAACP supports the application of Allstates Transworld Van Lines for several reasons:

-residents of the inner city in urban areas, largely black persons, our constitutents, need better transportation service

-blacks and other minorities need increased opportunities as entrepreneurs and employees of newly vitalized companies -severe unemployment problems among blacks, especially young blacks, can be eased by the growth of this company and others with similar goals

-there is an urgent need for business ventures in the inner cities of our urban areas which are labor intensive and provide on-the-job training

-it is the public policy of this nation to e ncourage

minority business development

IV. There is a demonstrated need for Improved Household Goods
Moving Service.

As a resident of the city of St. Louis for over thirty years, my experience is concentrated there. However, in my work with the NAACP, I have become familiar with problems of minorities and their communities across the country.

Black, urban neighborhoods are ill-served in many respects grocery stores are expensive and few, safe and habitable housing is scarce, mass transit systems are designed to serve suburban commuters rather than inner city residents, lending institutions are reluctant to provide financial support to inner city residents and there has been an exodu s of business to the suburbs.

In St. Louis, there has been a dramatic flight of household goods companies from the central city since the 1960's. With Mr. Person's help, I have constructed two maps showing first, the present location of predominantly black neighborhoods in St. Louis, and second, the movement out of the city of van lines representing major carriers. Attachment 1. The maps show that only two out of nineteen companies continue to remain in the city.

The effect of this flight by agents of major van lines on service to the city is clear fi one looks at the census data.1/ Almost half of St. Louis' population lives in a low income neighborhood. 2/ In the low income areas, blacks accounted for 71%

1/ "Low Income Neighborhoods in Large Cities:1970:St. Louis, Missouri". U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census, PC (S1)98, June, 1974, p. ii, iii.

2//Low income neighborhhods are those with more than 2 0% of the population below the poverty level.

of the population. This confirms what is obvious in our northeastern and midwest cities: that low income urban neighborhhoods are predominantly black. However, the census report showed further that blacks who were above the poverty level were more likely to live in low income, black neighborhoods than were whites who were whites who were below the poverty level 3/ Non-service or reluctant service to poor, black communities disserves more than poor blacks who, it may be argued, cannot afford service anyway; it hinders the mobility of black people who are not poor, too.

That there is little service by major van lines in black neighborhooods has been recognized by the carriers. United Van Lines, which is domiciled in my home city of St. Louis, said in 1969 that carriers "practically embargoed" areas inhabited by blacks in St. Louis. 4/

:

This situation is one of serious concern to me as a St. Louis resident residing in the inner city and to the NAACP, Frankly, it comes as a surprise that the big carriers are pro testing Allstates' application, given their unwillingness to serve black areas and their well-known inability to meet the general demand for moving services. There is an overall need for household goods services, but there is an even greater need for such service in black, urban communities.

37 75% of the non-poor blacks lived in low income neighborhoods, compared to only 20% of the non-poor whites.

4/ Reply of United Van Lines, Inc. to Applicant's Petition for Reconsideration Herein, Timothy David Person d/b/a Allstates Transworld Van Lines, I.C.C. Docket MC 133745, dated Se p. 22/69

V. Other benefits seen by NAACP

The need for service to inner city residents is not the only reason NAACP supports the Allstates Transworld Van Lines application. Our goals include a broad range of interests, several of which can be addressed by Allstates Transworld Van Lines.

The sparse and very limited number of sound busineses in black communities contributes to many other problems of these areas. The lack of a substantial tax base hampers any attempts to improve the situation. NAACP interest in the Allstates project is based in part on the broad, nation-wide opportunity presented. Unlike most business development ventures, which involve a single company, the Allstates project involves dozens of small businesses, many located in the inner city. Given access to interstate markets and given the management assistance of Allstates, each individual trucking company which serves as an agent will be able to grow and undoubtedly prosper. Each agent will be able to serve his entire community, not just those seeking local moves. Each member of the Allstates team will be able to draw on the Allstates capacity for assistance, and to contribute his own excess capacity to the carrier's system.

Sound, viable businesses mean a return of capital to the inner city and an increase in the number of steady jobs.

One of the greatest problems addressed by the NAACP is

the high rate of unemployment facing blacks and especially