Thread: Hispanics fuel half of Forsyth's growth

Hispanics fuel half of Forsyth's growth


By BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: July 10, 2011
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Behind the bakery's glass cabinet doors sit rows of Mexican-style pastries and breads: besos , chilindrinas and puerquitos .
Behind the register, 18-year-old Evette Morales fiddles with her cellphone.
Into the store walk Carmen Rojas and Noemi Ruiz, their car keys in hand and their pocketbooks tucked under their arms as they shop for the bread they'll break that night with their family at dinner.
"How much is this?" Rojas asks in Spanish, eyeing a cakelike pastry. In Spanish, Morales tells her $4, but she could have just as easily said it in English.
As the women shop, Morales' father, Tomas, makes bigotes, a type of bread, in the back of Panaderia Arroyo, a bakery he opened a few months ago in southern Winston-Salem between Waughtown and Sprague streets.
This snapshot of the routine at the bakery on a recent weekday afternoon offers a glimpse into the lives of Hispanics in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County — captured as raw data in the 2010 census.
As Hispanics, they are a small minority in Forsyth County.
In the 2010 census, Hispanic residents made up just 11.9 percent, or about 42,000 of the county's 351,000 residents.
Still, this small segment of the population fueled half of the county's growth.
Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population doubled, increasing by more than 22,000, from about 20,000 to about 42,000, according to the Census Bureau. At the same time, the county's overall population increased by about 45,000 residents, from about 306,000 to about 351,000.
Rojas is one of those residents.
"I came here, well, nine years now, for the same reason we all do: for a better life, to get a job," Rojas said in Spanish. "Being here, you can help your family. You can walk the streets without fearing being kidnapped or robbed."
Without the influx of Hispanics, the county's population would have increased 7.3 percent during the 10-year period. With the influx, the county's population increased nearly 14.6 percent.
"That's pretty standard," said researcher Jim Johnson Jr., a UNC business school professor and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center.
"Most of your growth is due to migration, and most of the migration is Hispanic. Because the migrants are younger, their fertility rates are higher," Johnson said.
Clearly, there are extreme differences of opinion on whether the increase has been a boon or a burden to Forsyth County. Forsyth County Sheriff Bill Schatzman, a Republican, said Hispanics have been "invited" for years by providing them with jobs and seasonal work.
"The more and more they heard about it, the more they came, and the more they decided to stay," he said. "There's always good and always bad when you're dealing with human beings. But that dramatic increase in one segment of the population would not have occurred if there was not a need for them."
He said that as an American citizen and taxpayer, he wishes the federal government would fix the immigration issues.
"I wish they would modernize our laws on how folks come to this country," Schatzman said. "The system that was created decades ago is not really functioning well at all."
In a 2006 study by UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, which tried to assess the statewide economic impact of Hispanics, some data show that the influx of Hispanics may be a boon.
For example, the tax and purchasing contributions of Hispanics were worth $504 million in Winston-Salem in 2004, according to the study.
Morales, the bakery owner, is contributing to that purse. With money he saved from several years of working in construction, he and his wife, Marta, who moved from California years ago, opened the bakery in April, he said.
"Here, things are more easygoing. It's cheaper here, and it's more peaceful," Morales said.
In the same UNC study, however, some information could be used to show that the influx has been a burden.
For example, nearly half of the 801,000 Hispanics in North Carolina are not authorized to be in the U.S., according to statistics from the UNC study and the latest census. The UNC study also said Hispanics contribute about $756 million in tax revenue but cost the state budget $817 million, or $102 per resident, for a net loss of $61 million.
Critics of heavy immigration have said Hispanics overburden hospitals and schools and take jobs away from citizens who are unemployed.
Rafael Barbosa, who was born in California and has lived and worked in Winston-Salem since 2006, said this in response to those who say that Forsyth County is hurt by the influx of Hispanics: "With all due respect, I say they are wrong."
"The simple fact is that all these people in the Latino communities have to eat, dress, pay rent and utilities," he said. "They have to find jobs, and jobs create revenue for the state and city."
He said more Hispanics are coming into the area from California, Arizona and Oregon.
"They are leaving those states and are moving toward the East Coast," said Barbosa, who owns California Landscaping. "They are hearing that the living is good in Winston-Salem."
Hispanics are the economy of the city, Barbosa said.
"To those who say, 'Let's get rid of them,' I say that if that happened, this city will suffer, big time," he said. "We are out there in the sun, working hard for money we can get."
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/ju ... r-1194152/

"The simple fact is that all these people in the Latino communities have to eat, dress, pay rent and utilities," he said. "They have to find jobs, and jobs create revenue for the state and city."

THE FACT IS THEY EXPECT US TO PAY. How many are collecting WIC? How many are collecting Food stamps? They pay SALES TAX and nothing else, all the while collecting all the taxpayer's benefits they can.

They want to hold the bakery owner up as some kind of shining example. He saved enough money to open the bakery by working construction. SINCE WHEN is construction a job Americans won't do? In the past 10 years it's become the job Americans can't afford to do because WE have to abide by the rules. You know, pesky things like building permits, workman's comp insurance etc.

Lets go look at the Social Services office or the hospital's ER at any given time.

In the 2010 census, Hispanic residents made up just 11.9 percent, or about 42,000 of the county's 351,000 residents.

I'll bet at all times most of the people you will encounter in those 2 places alone will be a minimum of 90% Hispanic. Let's look at the crime statistics since this invasion has taken place... ah, you won't find those 'cause the powers that be want to "shield" you from those facts!

Originally Posted by chairman

For example, nearly half of the 801,000 Hispanics in North Carolina are not authorized to be in the U.S., according to statistics from the UNC study and the latest census. The UNC study also said Hispanics contribute about $756 million in tax revenue but cost the state budget $817 million, or $102 per resident, for a net loss of $61 million.
Critics of heavy immigration have said Hispanics overburden hospitals and schools and take jobs away from citizens who are unemployed.
Rafael Barbosa, who was born in California and has lived and worked in Winston-Salem since 2006, said this in response to those who say that Forsyth County is hurt by the influx of Hispanics: "With all due respect, I say they are wrong."
"The simple fact is that all these people in the Latino communities have to eat, dress, pay rent and utilities," he said. "They have to find jobs, and jobs create revenue for the state and city."
He said more Hispanics are coming into the area from California, Arizona and Oregon.
"They are leaving those states and are moving toward the East Coast," said Barbosa, who owns California Landscaping. "They are hearing that the living is good in Winston-Salem."
Hispanics are the economy of the city, Barbosa said.
"To those who say, 'Let's get rid of them,' I say that if that happened, this city will suffer, big time," he said. "We are out there in the sun, working hard for money we can get."

And how many of those 400,000 illegals that we know about have jobs that unemployed North Carolinians could be doing? This makes me mad as fire.