Thread: Citing Cobb's policies, Latino leader quits board

Citing Cobb's policies, Latino leader quits board

A fissure in Cobb County's relations with its Hispanic community has widened in recent days amid sparring between Cobb and Hispanic leaders.

The head of an organization that represents Latino politicians statewide quit the Cobb County Hispanic/Latino Initiative, saying the county has shown a "consistent lack of open, honest and transparent dialog" on issues affecting the Hispanic community.

Commission Chairman Sam Olens responded that advocates for the Hispanic community are making the county's actions a "racial'' issue by implying that new rules are targeted at Hispanics.

One new ordinance limits the number of adults who can live in a house.

"It's not an Hispanic issue," Olens said of the ordinance. "It's a people issue. We're going to cite a boarding house whether the people are white, black or Hispanic," he said.

Jerry Gonzalez, head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, resigned from the Cobb Latino Initiative after the County Commission passed the housing ordinance last week.

Gonzalez said he was dismayed that the Latino advisory group met July 23, the day before the vote, and neither of the two county commissioners present — Olens and Annette Kesting— mentioned the pending vote. Nor did they discuss another ordinance — due for a vote at the same time but delayed — that would prohibit day laborers from gathering on public property or in parking lots to solicit work.

Both ordinances target the Latino community in Cobb, Gonzalez said.

Cobb has 68,830 Hispanic residents, about 10.5 percent of the county population, according to 2005 census estimates.

"I will no longer serve in a faux advisory role to government officials intent on using the Cobb Latino Initiative as insulation from their apparent and real anti-immigrant policies," Gonzalez wrote in his resignation letter July 25.

The Cobb Hispanic/Latino Initiative is a group of business, nonprofit and community leaders that meets monthly to discuss issues important to the Latino community in Cobb.

Olens started the group in 2004 along with Georgia Power regional manager David Connell, who was then incoming chairman of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.

The two started the group because of the great growth in the Hispanic community in Cobb, Connell said.

"It was very important to start identifying people in the Hispanic community who had an interest in the community remaining strong and viable." Connell said. The group started with six or seven people and now has 70 members, he said. It's not a lobbying group and doesn't take positions on issues, Connell said.

Gonzalez' resignation comes at a time when Cobb has started to enforce several initiatives that affect illegal immigrants, many of them from Latin America.

In late June, Cobb's jail started to check the legal status of every foreign inmate and has started deportation proceedings against those here illegally. In January, Cobb began to enforce a rule requiring contractors on county projects to run new hires through a federal database to make sure they are legal workers.

The new housing ordinance and the proposed day labor ordinance were the last straw for Gonzalez.

"Here we have another ordinance that clearly impacts Latinos, and we're learning about it the day it's being considered before the commission," he said. "They were doing everything in their power to make sure the issue did not come up before they voted on it."

Olens said he gave Gonzalez a heads-up about the housing ordinance April 30 at a previous meeting of the initiative. Olens tried to send the group a draft of the ordinance June 30, but the e-mail got stuck in a spam filter, according to an e-mail from the county's spokesman.

Cobb conducted its first of two hearings on the housing ordinance July 10. No one showed up to speak against it.

"When Elise Shore [with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund] started coming forward, making it a racial issue, I think some of them [with the Cobb Latino Initiative] got nervous," Olens said.

In an e-mail to members of the advisory group, Olens wrote, "I am tired of MALDEF's threats and comments on discrimination — Cobb County will continue to protect neighborhoods and discourage boarding homes no matter who lives in them."

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... ab_newstab

In an e-mail to members of the advisory group, Olens wrote, "I am tired of MALDEF's threats and comments on discrimination — Cobb County will continue to protect neighborhoods and discourage boarding homes no matter who lives in them."

Bravo!! Councilman Olens might be a candidate for our heroes list.

Many are cheering Cobb County's stance. And saying adios to Jerry Gonzalez. Call Cobb County administrators and thank them!

I am a resident of South Florida but I sent him an e-mail and thanked and commended him for his stance. He actually sent an e-mail back thanking me.