New Haven Independent

Welcome City

by Paul Bass | October 3, 2005 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Blanca Paez (right) translates the mayor's remarks at a Monday press conference in City Hall. The city of Danbury has made it official policy to try to drive Latino immigrants out of town. New Haven made a very different kind of official statement Monday: That the city welcomes everyone here and wants to help Latino immigrants find their way through the system more easily.

It wasn’t a new message. New Haven has made a point of not having the police harass Latino immigrants. Officials meet with activist groups concerned about hurdles Latino immigrants face in dealing with banks, crooks, cops and employers. (Click here for related story.)

Mayor John DeStefano and other city officials used a press conference in the City Hall atrium Monday to declare that welcome formally—and to announce a host of measures they’ve taken in response to problems Spanish-speakers face in dealing with government. They announced a new initiative called “Hablamos Espanol.” It includes a host of Spanish-language versions of city documents, from applications for handicapped-accessible parking spaces and marriage certificates to what DeStefano wryly called “the most popular form in city government—how to appeal a parking ticket.” DeStefano also said the city’s working on a form of official i.d. immigrants could obtain if they choose.

Police Chief Cisco Ortiz spoke of how the number of Hispanic officers on the force has grown from 12 in 1990 to around 70 today. That number includes four supervisors.

“My job is to keep everyone safe,” Ortiz said.

An estimated 21 percent of the city population is Latino, according to a City Hall press release. The Latino population grew by more than 53 percent in the 1990s.

Share this story

Share |

Comments

Posted by: j Guillen | October 4, 2005 7:07 PM

Who does DeStefano think he is kidding? All of a sudden he cares about Hispanics when he has done nothing in his years as Mayor to support this community. Now that he's running for Governor he needs to find a way to get Hispanic support for his governor's race. He's at war with the Hispanic politicos and has no track record to show other Hispanics around the state that would even suggest he gives a shit about the community.

Posted by: Jim F. in New Haven | October 6, 2005 9:57 AM

Kudos to New Haven for making City Hall more user-friendly for Spanish-speaking residents.

I love ya', Paul, but there's a difference between "immigrants" and persons living in this country illegally. I'm all for speeding up the process that would make these folks legal citizens - but giving them New Haven IDs? What will that do? Why would a bank or any other organization take these City IDs as legal documents? A video store wouldn't even use it to sign someone up for a rental account! (No one mentioned how the cash-short City of New Haven would pay for this new ID system, which, as a taxpayer, I'd be interested in.)

The City should turn its attention to pressuring the Feds into speeding up the citizenship process, not create some card that won't be useful outside of City Hall.

Plus, I would think a city couldn't sanction something that would, most likely, break the law. We can't pick and choose what laws we want to follow, no matter the so-called good intentions.

Welcome City

Comments

Sorry, Comments are closed for this entry

Sections

Neighborhood News

Special Sections

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

NHI Store

News Feed