Thread: Day laborers (illegals) erect 'Levyville'

Day laborers erect 'Levyville'

BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER

August 12, 2005

About 20 Mexican immigrants set up a "tent city" Thursday next to a Farmingville house shuttered by Brookhaven Town officials because it was overcrowded, and an activist gave them supplies for a sign calling their community "Levyville," in reference to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

The tenants of 196 Berkshire Dr., most of them day laborers but including four youngsters ages 10 to 17, said they spent Wednesday night sleeping in four tents on the property or on a concrete slab next to the house.

A Latino activist, the Rev. Allan Ramirez, gave the immigrants sheets and spray paint for the "Levyville" sign. "It is the county that is responsible when there is homelessness in the community," he said.

The house was ordered shut by a court order sought by Brookhaven Town officials. According to court papers, town inspectors determined the house was home to 14 to 42 tenants on different days, and had various violations including blocked doors, exposed electrical wires and no smoke detectors. The town has moved to close seven houses containing as many as 240 tenants since late June.

A county official said Suffolk played no role in the shuttering of the house, the latest in a crackdown on illegally overcrowded housing in Brookhaven Town.

"I think the criticism is misplaced on this," said Levy spokesman Ed Dumas. "It was a 100 percent Brookhaven action without coordination with the county."

Brookhaven Councilman Jim Tullo said town officials are enforcing local housing and safety codes and said the town does not offer emergency shelter for the homeless.

"It's our charge to make sure that we can enforce our housing code to protect not only the occupants of these homes but also surrounding residents and protect the integrity and quality of life of the residents," he said. He added, "It's not the town's responsibility to provide a place for them to live."

Dumas said only legal residents are entitled to more than one night in county-financed homeless shelters, and officials are looking to nonprofit organizations, churches and community groups to help. Activists say shelters for undocumented workers are nearly nonexistent in Suffolk.

The erection of the tent city set off a media frenzy Thursday, with TV crews swarming the property as the former tenants of the house told of spending a night sleeping outside. A man who would identify himself only as Ignacio said he was the father of the four youngsters.

"I feel terrible," he said in Spanish. "I'll sleep in a tree, but my children?" He said he and his wife had been separated from two of their children, ages 10 and 15, for the past three years, and that they just arrived in Farmingville two weeks ago.

"They threw us out worse than animals," his wife, who did not want to be named, said in Spanish. "They don't have any heart. It's not human."

Thursday's scene provoked anger among some neighbors such as Michele Braun, 36. "This is disgusting. It's a mess," she said. "I think they need to leave. They're bringing down my property value."

But Angela Borruso, 29, who gave bags of food to the tenants, said, "They're human and they're just trying to make a better life for themselves."

Laws?

We don't got to obey no stinkin' laws!

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

Laws?

We don't got to obey no stinkin' laws!

Exactly! These people are dangerous in many ways - but most of all to the future of our country because of their "steenkin' attitudes!"

Their unbridled sense of entitlement is beyond understanding and its -

A Latino activist, the Rev. Allan Ramirez, gave the immigrants sheets and spray paint for the "Levyville" sign.

Wow, what great guy you are, Al.

Hey, why don't you let them all move in with you?

If they want "better lives" then why don't they build their OWN better countries instead of attaching themselves like parasites to MINE!

Activists say shelters for undocumented workers are nearly nonexistent in Suffolk.


Yeah, I know. DEMANDS DEMANDS DEMANDS!

"We're Hispanic, so you need to learn Spanish! We're hungry, so you need to give us more food stamps! We've worked 11 weeks, so you need to pay us unemployment! We have children, so you need to educate them! We don't have health insurance, so you need to take care of us at your emergency rooms! What? You don't WANT TO? RACIST!"

I'M SO SICK OF THIS BULLSH*T!

The reason that there are no shelters for undocumented criminals is that THEY AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!

"I feel terrible," he said in Spanish. "I'll sleep in a tree, but my children?" He said he and his wife had been separated from two of their children, ages 10 and 15, for the past three years, and that they just arrived in Farmingville two weeks ago.

Then go back to Mexico or wherever you are from.

[/quote]About 20 Mexican immigrants

AND SINCE WHEN ARE THEY IMMIGRANTS!

I'M SO MAD I CAN'T EVEN QUOTE RIGHT!

Let me break out my violin! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!