New Haven Independent

ID Card $$$ Approved

by Melinda Tuhus | October 8, 2008 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

New Haven’s immigrant-friendly ID card — which this woman said has led newcomers to learn English faster — got a delayed OK for its second year of funding.

The Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee unanimously voted Tuesday night to approve the city’s acceptance of $150,000 in grants from three private foundation to run the second year of the ID card program. The cards offer residents to access to libraries and other city services and can serve as a second form of ID to open bank accounts. The resolution called for the board to accept $75,000 from Atlantic Philanthropies, $50,000 from the Four Freedoms Funds and $25,000 from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

The resolution now goes to the full Board of Aldermen for approval.

The program costs $210,000 a year to run. The rest of the budget for the coming year is derived from $60,000 in sales from the cards. The city has issued 6,858 cards to date.

The Finance Committee delayed a vote on approving the money at a meeting last month when no one from City Hall’s Community Services Administration showed up at a quiet meeting to testify. That gave opponents a month to organize a few members to show up at Monday night’s meeting to blast the program.

Close to 200 people showed up to support the ID card during Tuesday night’s standing-room only meeting. A few dozen testified, almost all in favor. Hannah Greaves (pictured at the top of this story), who runs education programs at Junta for Progressive Action, was one of them.

Greaves said once Latino residents obtain the ID cards, more of them have started using the Fair Haven branch library.

“Many of them, even though our building is right across the street from the library, had never been to the library because they didn’t know they were allowed to go,” she told the Finance Committee. “So, once the ID cards came out, more and more people — Latinos of whatever status — started feeling more welcome and like they could participate in the library.

“And as someone who’s in charge of English as a Second Language and GED, I can tell you how valuable that is, that they can go and use resources in the library and get more civically involved through the library’s programs.”

Greaves added that a new rule requires students in New Haven adult education classes to be residents of the city in order to get free tuition to the classes. The ID card has made that an easier task. She claimed that without the card, asking potential students to produce identification might have made them suspicious or fearful, and some would have abandoned the program.

bishiop%20and%20new%20guy.jpg Bishop Peter Rosazza (on the left in the picture) testified that the issuance of the cards for all the city’s residents “falls under the umbrella of the common good.”

“No longer do they have to fear break-ins, beatings and robberies,” he said, because the card allows residents to use the debit feature and not carry large amounts of cash. “Furthermore, the ID helps immigrants, and especially the undocumented, to appreciate their own dignity as they struggle in a country that has not generally been welcoming to newcomers.” He added that such integration would allow immigrants to contribute to their new community as well.

A handful of opponents of the ID card — members of Community Watchdog, a group opposed to illegal immigration — also came to the hearing.

Alan Felder (pictured), a New Haven member of the largely suburban group, explained his position while waiting for a chance to testify.

“We have African-Americans as America’s underclass, still today,” he said. “How can you allow or accept another country’s underclass to compete with your underclass that’s already here?”

A member of Community Watchdog was arrested as he sat in the chamber on an unrelated warrant out of Milford. He had allegedly sent harassing emails to Community Services Administrator Kica Matos, the city’s point person for the ID card program.

kica%20ID%20funding.jpg Matos (pictured), explained that she had assembled the requisite funding to pay two clerks and a supervisor to run the program.

She laid out her goals for the coming year: “to engage in aggressive outreach to different neighborhoods; to implement a mechanism to measure the effectiveness and impact of the card in the community at large; and to implement technology that will allow the card to serve as a virtual bank account.”

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Comments

Posted by: Correct your numbers | October 8, 2008 10:03 AM

There were about 200 supporters of the card present. It took a couple of hours for all of the supporters of the card to speak before 4 people, 3 of whom were not from New Haven, spoke against the card.

Writing "Some two dozen people also showed up to support the ID card" gives the wrong impression. That's about how many people spoke in favor of the card, not how many people showed up. There was about a dozen union members alone there to support the card, about 50 people from St.Rose de Lima church, and more than a hundred unaffiliated concerned citizens.

How about this gets edited to reflect what actually happened. The anti-card folks could not muster up any support despite using this website and others to try to get people out. The pro-card folks were in the overwhelming majority and if you count New Haven residents it was something like 200 to 1.

Please edit this to reflect reality.

Posted by: Alphonse Credenza | October 8, 2008 11:58 AM

Money for illegal immigrants.

None for residents who need the jobs -- remember they were laid off?

SHAME ON NEW HAVEN

Posted by: NLG | October 8, 2008 1:03 PM

Thanks for clarifying, CorrectYourNumbers... I was having a hard time believing that only a few dozen showed up from the looks of the pictures.

I give New Haveners credit for being brave enough to be at the forefront of the immigration issue. I see both sides of the larger picture. However, I think it's valid to say that issuing an identification card is truly separate from "supporting" illegal immigration. The card does not legalize the presence of undocumented workers, it does not make it easier for undocumented people to enter the country, it does not get them a job or afford them government benefits of any kind, except to use community resources like public schools and libraries (which are determined by residency, and NOT by immigration status, anyway).

Clearly, for this reason I disagree with Mr. Felder. While its true that we have varying struggling socioeconomic groups in New Haven (and they certainly are not all African American), I do not see the immediate link between issuing an id card and limiting economic opportunities for all. Rather, what NHers have done, is allow people to contribute to our community, which is a benefit to all of us.

The card does, however, serve a community need. Undocumented workers have been target for crime and abuse because of their exposure and lack of recognition within the wider community. In effect, that makes us ALL more vulnerable. As a community, we are all affected by what happens in every element of society. We need to stop pretending that making it easier for people to open a bank account, work with law enforcement, pay taxes, rent an apartment and do all the normal things that we all take for granted, to be a bad thing.

Posted by: FairHavenRes | October 8, 2008 1:18 PM

What about one of the members of Community Watchdog project who got arrested right in the chambers during the hearing? He was a particular nasty man on the Sat Family Day event and was making hurtful comments to people last night. Why nothing about this person, who apparently did something illegal for the police to put handcuffs on him right there? The CWP leaders inspire people to hate and may inspire others to commit crimes against people. Why was this arrest of one of the CWP ignored by the press?

The reporting in this article is not up to the NHI usual standards.

Posted by: at the meeting | October 8, 2008 3:34 PM

The CWP member was arrested on an outstanding warrant from elsewhere in CT on a charge unrelated to his being a jerk and a bigot. That is probably why it was not included in the story.

Posted by: melinda tuhus | October 8, 2008 10:28 PM

Some errors and omissions occurred as a result of an editing snafu. I have corrected the story.

Posted by: pradaprincess | October 9, 2008 8:05 AM

Now maybe Bishop Peter Rosazza might want to work on dragging his church out of the dark ages of misogyny and homophobia. Interesting that a high ranking official of a known hate group, the catholic church, can be so blind to some glaring social inequities when it doesn't suit the otherwise hateful agenda of the organization of which he is a member.

Posted by: Alan Felder | October 9, 2008 8:10 AM

Do nothing for Blacks Board of Alderman, then again every since the removal of the Federal Troops the government has done very little for African Americans. What a Good Job by those (Head House Slaves),they need to listen to T. Willard Fair, (Exective Director of the Miami Urban League), Ted Hayes from (Choose Black America), Terry Anderson from(The Terry Anderson Show).

Posted by: DONNA | October 9, 2008 3:59 PM

SHAME ON THE MAYOR FOR LETTING THIS HAPPEN...
WHAT IS HE UP TO NOW MAKING THEM VOTE FOR HIM..HE IS A SICK PUPPY....

Posted by: eric_sleeth | October 10, 2008 1:28 AM

Haven't the wizards at the helm of NHI (Harvey K.) instructed Melinda that it is totally uncouth to comment on her own story? That's snafu, yo.

ID Card $$$ Approved

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