http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... 8369.story

Greenport mayor wants to hold census of undocumented immigrants in village to better serve them
BY ERIK GERMAN
STAFF WRITER

January 17, 2006

In an unprecedented move, Greenport Mayor David Kapell announced plans yesterday to take a census of village residents, including undocumented immigrants, to better serve what he calls a forgotten constituency.

Immigrant advocates there applauded the proposed count, while others questioned its legality. But Kapell says he can't ignore the epiphany he experienced on Christmas Eve.

That night, Kapell saw dozens of Latino families at a Spanish-language Mass at St. Agnes Catholic Church on Front Street. Kapell said he realized that most of the 500 or so worshipers failed to show up on the 2000 U.S. census, which puts the village's population at 2,048.

"The church was filled to capacity with folding chairs set up into the aisles and with people standing along the walls all the way around the church, and all of them were Latino," Kapell said. The crowded church crystallized a worry the mayor said has nagged him ever since Latino workers began to arrive in the community five years ago.

"We have a profoundly important new constituency in our village," Kapell said.

Kapell said he doesn't know whether village workers or volunteers will go door-to-door for the count, but he said a straw poll of village trustees last week indicated full support for the plan. One board member said census information could be used to assess the village's housing needs. "It may help us in planning what services we need to offer, how much housing we need to provide," said Benjamin Burns.

Burns also said planning for emergencies like hurricanes depends on accurate estimates. "How do we evacuate them? All of that starts with how many," Burns said.

The census, which Kapell expects to be completed by May and paid for with private funds he hopes to raise, is probably the first of its kind on Long Island. "I don't know of any municipality that's ever taken it upon themselves to do that," said Seth Foreman, deputy director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board.

Approximately 19,000 undocumented immigrants are estimated to live on Long Island, Foreman said, but they may be too transient to be accurately counted. "I give the mayor credit; I just don't know how effective he's going to be getting a handle on them," he said.

Some experts said the mayor's proposed census won't weather legal scrutiny. "Any allocation of village funds based on a census conducted by the village could be easily challenged in court," said Francis McQuade, a Long Beach immigration attorney.

County Executive Steve Levy said that while he respected Kapell's willingness to risk untested policies, "I'd say there's only so much money in the pot. When money for housing and other services goes to those who are illegally here, there's less left for legal residents."

Nevertheless, one Greenport resident said the census will help the village accept its new population. "They're out here and they're out here for good," said Linda Ortiz, who runs the village's after-school program, where 30 out of 50 children are Hispanic. "You can't just push them under the rug."