Agenda fires up speakers

Immigrant talk heated on eve of key meeting

BY JAMES GELUSO, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jgeluso@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 10:45 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 10:51 PM

Opponents of Bakersfield City Councilman David Couch's immigration-related resolutions dropped off about 850 postcards Tuesday, the culmination of what they said was a three-week campaign to gather signatures.

Before dropping them off, a series of seven speakers made statements outside City Hall. The pronouncements ranged from highlighting the contributions of immigrants to promising to march in the streets if Hispanics don't get more political representation.

Couch's proposals -- to make English the official language of Bakersfield and to affirm that Bakersfield is not a sanctuary city -- are slated to be discussed at tonight's City Council meeting, along with a competing proposal by Councilwoman Sue Benham to recommend that the federal government enforce its laws.

"We do need immigration reform, but not at the city level," said Richard Chavez, the brother of labor organizer Cesar Chavez.

"Immigrants are willing to study English and they do learn English," said Sister Francisca Olvera, who works in a farmworker ministry.

But it was when CSUB professor Gonzalo Santos took the microphone that the news conference left the usual talking points.

It was as Santos was promising "militant action" that Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, on his way out of City Hall, stopped to listen for about a minute, then moved on, his face betraying no emotion.

Santos said Hispanics have systematically been denied representation by the city power structure, most recently by the city not annexing urban areas on the east side of town. The result, he said, has been no Hispanic mayor, City Council member, police chief or department head.

But Principal Planner Marc Gauthier said Santos is just plain wrong. The reason those areas are not in the city is that residents have voted not to be annexed, he said.

"We've spent a great deal of time and money trying to get this in," Gauthier said.

When it was pointed out that the largest city department in terms of budget is run by a Hispanic, Public Works Director Raul Rojas, the speakers were dismissive. Jess Nieto said if Rojas' position isn't "tokenism," then at least Hispanics are underrepresented in city government.

City Manager Alan Tandy disagreed with the idea that Rojas is a token, and said 29 percent of the city's work force is Hispanic.

"We may not be 100 percent of the way there, but we're making an effort," he said.

Raquel Vizcarra, a member of the group, said it was due to the task force's work that Couch dropped one of his three resolutions.

"Then they just weren't listening," Couch said.

He said his plan to ask for a report on city services that can be withheld from illegal immigrants was never meant to be a resolution, despite characterization as such in the media.

http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/245356.html