Thread: Mayor decries Spanish billboard

Originally Posted by lsmith1338

Maybe they are in spanish because they are the ones spreading it. When I take the MBTA I use a kleenex or something and do not touch anything too many germs and god only knows what diseases.

the MBTA is the worst. I like the winter because I can arm myself from germs with a scarf and mittens while riding into work.

Yes that is why I love winter too Pandabear. Gloves and scarves are washable We have had whole threads on this site dedicated to just this subject.

There's a large population of Spanish people in Bogota and [neighboring town] Ridgefield Park," said Bogota resident Leslie Merse as she stood in the parking lot of Classic Laundrette, a few hundred feet from the billboard. "Why shouldn't they have a Spanish billboard?"

Because you're in friggin AMERICA!!!!!

http://www.northjersey.com

Bogota wants Spanish ad taken down
Saturday, July 8, 2006

By BRIAN ABERBACK
STAFF WRITER


The Bogota Borough Council plans to formally request that McDonald's remove a Spanish-language billboard on River Road that it and the mayor find offensive.

Mayor Steve Lonegan said the ad is divisive because it assumes that Hispanics in his diverse, middle-class suburb cannot speak English and sends a message that immigrants do not need to learn the language.

The advertisement for McDonald's new line of iced coffee reads: "Un frente helado se aproxima. Nuevo cafe helado." English translation: "A cold front is coming. A new iced coffee."

Lonegan wants McDonald's to remove the billboard and put an English version in its place. The company on Friday declined the request.

"There are two things that bind us in this community," Lonegan said, "our American flag and our English language. Now there's a segment that's no longer going to be part of that."

Lonegan said the billboard, and non-English advertisements in any language, would eventually split the borough.

"They're segregating part of the community," he said of McDonald's. "Hispanics are very welcome in Bogota. But when we're going to have separate billboards in separate languages; that creates division."

Many in the borough and other communities said it is Lonegan who is stirring up bad feelings.

"I'm embarrassed for the people of Bogota," said borough resident Tito Jackson. "Last time I checked, this was America, It's made up of all different people."

Carlos Valarezo of Edison said he found Lonegan's actions "appalling."

"Language ... comes in many flavors and with many colors," Valarezo wrote in an e-mail.

Some people defended the mayor.

Carmen Morales said companies that use Spanish-language billboards are "pandering" to Latinos and illegal immigrants who do not speak English.

"This is the reason why a lot of Hispanics refuse to assimilate," said Morales, a member of You Don't Speak for Me, an organization of Hispanic-Americans who speak out against illegal immigration.

"The more they pander, we're going to lose our language," said Morales, a Woodbridge resident whose parents came to America from Puerto Rico.

Lonegan asked the billboard company, CBS Outdoor, to take down the ad on Thursday. The billboard, near the corner of Elm Avenue by a railroad underpass, went up Wednesday as part of a marketing campaign that includes similar billboards in Hackensack, Newark and Irvington.

Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said he had not received any complaints about Spanish-language billboards.

CBS Outdoor's refusal to remove the billboard prompted the Bogota Council vote Thursday night to draft a letter requesting that McDonald's take action.

Council members George Shalhoub, Melissa Schnipp, Patricia Kearns and Patrick McHale voted to ask McDonald's to remove the sign. Joe Noto and George Silos cast dissenting votes. In Bogota, the mayor votes only to break ties.

Silos said McDonald's is simply marketing to a demographic.

"I think most people that speak Spanish in Bogota and neighboring towns can speak English as well," he said.

A McDonald's spokeswoman said Friday that the company would not remove the billboard. The fast-food giant has "an obligation to our customers, employees, franchisees and shareholders to reach our customers as effectively as possible," read a statement.

Twenty-one percent of Bogota's 8,249 residents are of Hispanic origin, according to the 2000 census. That's up 10 percent from 1990. Bogota has the fifth-largest percentage of Hispanics per total population in Bergen County, according to the 2000 census.

Similar issues have brought similar responses across the country, said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization.

"This speaks to how a lot of communities are dealing with increases in their Latino population," said.

"There are people who are anxious about seeing signs in Spanish but this is really about a company communicating with a specific group of people and doesn't reflect how well Latinos speak English or want to speak English."

Navarrete said La Raza has encouraged some businesses that advertise mainly in Spanish to increase their use of English.

"Overall, what we're interested in is integrating people into the American society," Navarrete said. "There's no one in the Latino community who disputes that learning English is important."

Lonegan said his next step is to call for a boycott of McDonald's, though he acknowledges it probably won't make much of an impact.

"They make a lot of money," Lonegan said. "They won't notice."

E-mail: aberback@northjersey.com

By the numbers

Bogota in 2000

Total population: 8,249

White: 6,246 75.7%

Hispanic: 1,759 21.3%

Asian: 639 7.7%

Black: 473 5.7%

Bogota in 1990

Total population: 7,824

White: 6,972 89%

Hispanic: 789 10%

Asian: 385 4.9%

Black: 209 2.6 %

Bergen County towns with largest percentage of Hispanics per total population

Fairview: 37 percent of 13,255

Hackensack: 25.9 percent of 42,677

Ridgefield Park: 22.2 percent of 12,873

Englewood: 21.7 percent of 26,203

Bogota: 21.3 percent of 8,249

Source: 2000 census

Note: Figures may add up to more than 100 percent because Hispanic is an ethnic category that can be counted in more than one racial group.

Good for the Bogota Borough Council.

"It has nothing to do with demanding that English be secondary," said Nibot, president of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Organization.

"It's a marketing strategy. I don't think there's any harm in that."

Sure there is you money grubbing SOB! It is the kind of thing that "Balkanizes" a country. You do great harm .

"There are people who are anxious about seeing signs in Spanish but this is really about a company communicating with a specific group of people and doesn't reflect how well Latinos speak English or want to speak English."

Uh huh. What about communicating with Americans? Americans speak English!

"Latinos want to learn English," said Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, an umbrella group of most of the state's Hispanic organizations. "That's the way they are going to move ahead in this country.

Wait a minute. I keep hearing how most illegals have been in this country for years and established roots etc. If the preceding is true they don't seem to be in any hurry to learn English?

"The reality is we live in a society that's multilingual, and that's an asset for the country," Perez said.

Nothing wrong with being bi-lingual, tri-lingual. However being a "multilingual" country is neither an asset or desirable. It does nothing but divide and alienate.

"We have to celebrate our diversity instead of fighting it."

We don't have to do any such thing. Multiculturalism is bad for America. That is part of why this whole mess is front and center right now!

I support Mayor Lonegan!
mayor@bogotaonline.org

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I voted for Lonegan in our NJ primary and was extremely disappointed {but not surprised} the Kean won.

well there is a Spanish billboard up here in Cincinnati. Not one word in English. It was for AmericanFamily Insurance. So if you have that insurance. I would get some other coverage.

Coors Beer has placed an all Spanish billboard on I-94 west in San Diego, CA. It's disgusting.

Originally Posted by americangirl

Coors Beer has placed an all Spanish billboard on I-94 west in San Diego, CA. It's disgusting.

LaRaza contributor