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http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4716733.html
Latinos feeling unwelcome in Montgomery, Minn.
Robert Franklin, Star Tribune
April 12, 2004MONTY0412
MONTGOMERY, MINN. -- The Nunez family's latest move was across the railroad tracks, down the street and into a $450-a-month apartment above a downtown laundromat. Parents, grandmother and four children occupy the two-bedroom flat, with a decor that runs to newer woodwork, pictures of sailboats and a metalwork of the Last Supper.
The family has lived in Montgomery for a decade, Virginia Nunez said, but will make ano
her move -- after school lets out -- to Texas.
"There never were as many problems as now," Nunez said recently. "This was a place where things felt fine, where things were good."
<b
>
But things haven't felt so fine lately for many of Montgomery's 275 o
r so Latino residents, nearly 10 percent of the LeSueur County community's population. The city tightened a downtown curfew and loitering ordinance a couple of years ago. It is considering an occupancy ordinance to limit per-bedroom residential numbers.
And it is buying three apartment buildings, displacing nearly 100 people, all Latinos except for one family, without paying relocation assistance.
Those actions all are aimed at alleviating overcrowding -- "too many people doing too many things in too small a space" -- and that constitutes the city's sixth-most pressing problem, said City Administrator Michael Martin.
An activist City Council already has tackled other major problem
s -- a food plant's odor, sewage treatment, water quality, water pressure and job creation, he said.
To some of the Latino families, however, "it feels like discrimination,"
in
the
words of An
tonio Cruz Sr., head of a displaced family of four.
In addition, one person was stabbed last fall in a fight
involving Latino and non-Latino groups. There has been some trouble in schools, and a teacher was disciplined for a "why don't you go back to Mexico?" remark. Some Latinos complain that police are more obtrusive than helpful.
Across much of southern Minnesota, Latinos are a fast-growing population, and they have received a mixed welcome as their numbers have grown and their presence has turned from seasonal laborers to permanent residents.
Civic leaders in Austin and Faribault have worked to welcome Latino families, said Kathryn Gilje, co-director of Centro Campesino, a 1,000-member organization of farm workers and rural Latinos in southern Minnesota. But
Steele County has seen the rise of an anti-immigration group, Gilje said.
Latinos tend to have larger families. Often they are multi-generational. They put each other up, Gilje
said.
"Y
ou offer your floor
, you offer your home. People feel that's part of their responsibility. In a tight housing market, that leads to overcrowding.
That leads to a clash of cultural values. There isn't anywhere for these folks to go ... and the work is here."
Almost everywhere, there is a shortage of affordable housing for families whose breadwinners may earn as little as $7 an hour in food processing and other industries.
A changing city
In Montgomery, about 50 miles south of Minneapolis, former summer workers have become year-round residents, and the Seneca Foods plant still attracts several hundred seasonal workers each summer.
The federal Rural Development agency rejected a plan for 29 low-income housing units because of wetland problems and nearby anhydrous ammon
ia storage, said Jenny Larson, community development director for Three Rivers Community Action in Zumbrota.
Since then, she said, "we haven't been able to f
ind anythi
ng else in
and around Montgomery."
;
Meanwhile, the city has identified about 14 downtown buildings that are not conforming to city zoning, because dwelling units instead of business
es occupy the first floor. The city opted to buy two of them, plus a non-conforming five-unit building in a residential area where the Nunez family lived, for a total of up to $760,000 because the owners were anxious to sell, Martin said.
The city will decide later how the two downtown buildings will be redeveloped for commercial use, although Montgomery already has vacant storefronts.
In revitalizing downtown, Martin said, "our challenge is to become a city where people live, not just sleep."
The city bought the buildings on the condition that they would be vacant by June 1, when it takes ownership
, so it is offering relocation referrals but not money. Most tenants have moved, Martin said. "It seems to be going reasonably smoothly."
However
, Michael Hage
dorn, a legal
services lawyer for tenants, has to
ld Montgomery officials that, because the tenants are out as a direct result of city negotiations, state law calls for the city to pay rent increases of up to $5,250 ov
er a 42-month period, as well as moving expenses.
In addition, the tenants may have a discrimination claim under a federal court decision from New Jersey, he said.
Hagedorn's letter has been referred to a lawyer for the city.
Indeed, some rents will be higher. Irene Arcos said she, her two sisters and their families are moving from three adjacent downtown apartments to a former duplex in nearby New Prague. The six adults and 13 children will have five bedrooms and two kitchens. But Arcos, who earned $9.25 an hour last summer for field and factory work for Montgomery's Seneca Foods
, said her rent will increase from $350 a month to $517.
At least nine families have relocated out of town, Ray Farwell, Montgomery-Lo
nsdale school supe
rintendent, said
last week. But most have opted to remain at
least for the rest of the year in the school system, which could lose $4,600 per student at a time when it faces a $1 million deficit between this year and next.
Th
e integration of Hispanics into an old Czech-Bohemian community hasn't always been smooth, Farwell said, but the schools have worked hard to help through staff training, translators for parents, special programs and attempts to integrate extracurricular activities.
Virginia Nunez said that while there were "a lot of problems" in school -- including an Anglo student who wanted to do a project about "Mexicans invading our town" -- now "it seems to be quieting down."
Hagedorn, a lawyer for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul, said, "I
think you've got the full spectrum of attitudes" in Montgomery, and some people are very supportive of Latino residents.
Ma
rtin, the city adminis
trator, agrees. &quo
t;Every culture has got its boneheads," he sai
d. "We've got excellent people in both cultures. ... There's not as much sharing as people would like. But there's not class warfare."
Robert Franklin is at rfranklin@startribune.com.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4716733.html
Latinos feeling unwelcome in Montgomery, Minn.
Robert Franklin, Star Tribune
April 12, 2004MONTY0412
MONTGOMERY, MINN. -- The Nunez family's latest move was across the railroad tracks, down the street and into a $450-a-month apartment above a downtown laundromat. Parents, grandmother and four children occupy the two-bedroom flat, with a decor that runs to newer woodwork, pictures of sailboats and a metalwork of the Last Supper.
The family has lived in Montgomery for a decade, Virginia Nunez said, but will make ano
her move -- after school lets out -- to Texas.
"There never were as many problems as now," Nunez said recently. "This was a place where things felt fine, where things were good."
<b
>
But things haven't felt so fine lately for many of Montgomery's 275 o
r so Latino residents, nearly 10 percent of the LeSueur County community's population. The city tightened a downtown curfew and loitering ordinance a couple of years ago. It is considering an occupancy ordinance to limit per-bedroom residential numbers.
And it is buying three apartment buildings, displacing nearly 100 people, all Latinos except for one family, without paying relocation assistance.
Those actions all are aimed at alleviating overcrowding -- "too many people doing too many things in too small a space" -- and that constitutes the city's sixth-most pressing problem, said City Administrator Michael Martin.
An activist City Council already has tackled other major problem
s -- a food plant's odor, sewage treatment, water quality, water pressure and job creation, he said.
To some of the Latino families, however, "it feels like discrimination,"
in
the
words of An
tonio Cruz Sr., head of a displaced family of four.
In addition, one person was stabbed last fall in a fight
involving Latino and non-Latino groups. There has been some trouble in schools, and a teacher was disciplined for a "why don't you go back to Mexico?" remark. Some Latinos complain that police are more obtrusive than helpful.
Across much of southern Minnesota, Latinos are a fast-growing population, and they have received a mixed welcome as their numbers have grown and their presence has turned from seasonal laborers to permanent residents.
Civic leaders in Austin and Faribault have worked to welcome Latino families, said Kathryn Gilje, co-director of Centro Campesino, a 1,000-member organization of farm workers and rural Latinos in southern Minnesota. But
Steele County has seen the rise of an anti-immigration group, Gilje said.
Latinos tend to have larger families. Often they are multi-generational. They put each other up, Gilje
said.
"Y
ou offer your floor
, you offer your home. People feel that's part of their responsibility. In a tight housing market, that leads to overcrowding.
That leads to a clash of cultural values. There isn't anywhere for these folks to go ... and the work is here."
Almost everywhere, there is a shortage of affordable housing for families whose breadwinners may earn as little as $7 an hour in food processing and other industries.
A changing city
In Montgomery, about 50 miles south of Minneapolis, former summer workers have become year-round residents, and the Seneca Foods plant still attracts several hundred seasonal workers each summer.
The federal Rural Development agency rejected a plan for 29 low-income housing units because of wetland problems and nearby anhydrous ammon
ia storage, said Jenny Larson, community development director for Three Rivers Community Action in Zumbrota.
Since then, she said, "we haven't been able to f
ind anythi
ng else in
and around Montgomery."
;
Meanwhile, the city has identified about 14 downtown buildings that are not conforming to city zoning, because dwelling units instead of business
es occupy the first floor. The city opted to buy two of them, plus a non-conforming five-unit building in a residential area where the Nunez family lived, for a total of up to $760,000 because the owners were anxious to sell, Martin said.
The city will decide later how the two downtown buildings will be redeveloped for commercial use, although Montgomery already has vacant storefronts.
In revitalizing downtown, Martin said, "our challenge is to become a city where people live, not just sleep."
The city bought the buildings on the condition that they would be vacant by June 1, when it takes ownership
, so it is offering relocation referrals but not money. Most tenants have moved, Martin said. "It seems to be going reasonably smoothly."
However
, Michael Hage
dorn, a legal
services lawyer for tenants, has to
ld Montgomery officials that, because the tenants are out as a direct result of city negotiations, state law calls for the city to pay rent increases of up to $5,250 ov
er a 42-month period, as well as moving expenses.
In addition, the tenants may have a discrimination claim under a federal court decision from New Jersey, he said.
Hagedorn's letter has been referred to a lawyer for the city.
Indeed, some rents will be higher. Irene Arcos said she, her two sisters and their families are moving from three adjacent downtown apartments to a former duplex in nearby New Prague. The six adults and 13 children will have five bedrooms and two kitchens. But Arcos, who earned $9.25 an hour last summer for field and factory work for Montgomery's Seneca Foods
, said her rent will increase from $350 a month to $517.
At least nine families have relocated out of town, Ray Farwell, Montgomery-Lo
nsdale school supe
rintendent, said
last week. But most have opted to remain at
least for the rest of the year in the school system, which could lose $4,600 per student at a time when it faces a $1 million deficit between this year and next.
Th
e integration of Hispanics into an old Czech-Bohemian community hasn't always been smooth, Farwell said, but the schools have worked hard to help through staff training, translators for parents, special programs and attempts to integrate extracurricular activities.
Virginia Nunez said that while there were "a lot of problems" in school -- including an Anglo student who wanted to do a project about "Mexicans invading our town" -- now "it seems to be quieting down."
Hagedorn, a lawyer for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul, said, "I
think you've got the full spectrum of attitudes" in Montgomery, and some people are very supportive of Latino residents.
Ma
rtin, the city adminis
trator, agrees. &quo
t;Every culture has got its boneheads," he sai
d. "We've got excellent people in both cultures. ... There's not as much sharing as people would like. But there's not class warfare."
Robert Franklin is at rfranklin@startribune.com.
