By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

One of the largest delegations of DC 37 members attended the 31st annual Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus this year in Albany Feb. 14 through 16.

"The four-day event gave me a chance to dialogue with legislators about the projected budget and connect with newly elected City Council members about issues regarding Local 372 members," said District Council 37 President Veronica Montgomery Costa.

The conference, which brings together New Yorkers from Brooklyn to Buffalo and Oswego to Oyster Bay, gives attendees a chance to rub shoulders with Black and Latino state legislators and City Council members.

The weekend always includes workshops on issues that are pertinent to people of color.

This year, much of the focus was on rebuilding lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center attack, rekindling economic growth upstate with biotechnology and the New York City Council's $1 billion proposal to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to use federal welfare dollars to improve the local economy.

Seminars and forums on housing and other social issues were well attended by DC 37 members, who questioned expert panelists and legislators on public sector participation in rebuilding New York City in the coming months.

At an awards luncheon honoring the heroes of Sept. 11, Ms. Montgomery Costa received the A. Phillip Randolph Award, which is presented to rising leaders in the labor movement. At the Sunday evening dinner reception, Local 2021 President Leonard Allen received the Humanitarian Award from the caucus founders.

New York's new majority
The biggest surprise came as Republican Gov. George E. Pataki addressed the largely Democratic audience of more than 1,000 at the dinner. "I should have been here before," the governor said as he called for a "focus on policy not politics." He listed future goals that included reforming the Rockefeller drug laws, bringing environmental justice to minority communities by cleaning up polluted "brownfields" and rebuilding the entire city, not just downtown New York.

It was the first time in his eight years in office that Gov. Pataki appeared before the caucus, a point that was not missed by legislators and state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, a guest speaker. "Tonight we had some new friends who haven't been with us in the past," said Mr. McCall, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for New York State governor. "But let's always remember the distinction between our new friends and our true friends." He blasted the governor for "building first-class prisons and second-class schools."

Harvard professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates gave an interactive demonstration of Microsoft Encarta Africana, a comprehensive multimedia encyclopedia focusing on the history, geography and culture of the African Diaspora.

More than 5,000 African Americans and Latinos attended the caucus, which began 31 years ago with less than 100 attendees. "The new majority in New York consists of people of color," said Political Action Committee Chair Donald Afflick. "At this caucus, let's use our participation to advance inclusion for all."