Thread: NJ - Don't expect sound-byte solutions in Freehold

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Don't expect sound-byte solutions in Freehold

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/4/07

Three-and-a-half months ago, a councilman in Freehold posted some regrettable remarks on an infrequently visited Web site. He had just read an article in a conservative urban-policy magazine, and his thoughts on the story got away from him, veered off course and took on a life of their own.

Three-and-a-half months later, the leaders of a large segment of the local population reacted to what he had posted. They were highly offended. They called this newspaper and alerted other media outlets as well.

So the councilman was all over the news, in New Jersey, in New York, who knows where else. He made it through at least half a news cycle.

Marc LeVine was portrayed as an ignorant bumpkin with some curious thoughts on Hispanics in general and Dominicans in particular.

Out loud and online, he spoke in sweeping terms of promiscuous behavior, and of "a society in which these people often expect to subsidize their mistakes in growing large families that they cannot afford to support on their own."

In a news release issued Wednesday, Frank Argote-Freyre wrote that "Councilman LeVine's racial theories are quite advanced for the 17th century."

Argote-Freyre lives in Freehold. He is the director of the Monmouth County chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey.

The people from the alliance wanted an apology, and they wanted LeVine to resign. They got the apology, but the resignation is not forthcoming.

LeVine maintains that he didn't mean it the way it came out, and that he is not "the second coming of David Duke." He is no racist, he says, and to prove it, he has a lengthy resume that he will gladly recite upon request.

Ten years ago, he worked at the Asbury Park Press, in human resources. During that time, he helped write the diversity plan for the paper. Argote-Freyre also worked at the Press as a reporter.

He is now in the staffing industry, and has his own human-resources consulting firm. He also teaches Latin American history at Kean University.

LeVine and Argote-Freyre are at odds. This may have been inevitable.

The Hispanic population of Freehold practically doubled between 1990 and 2000, going from 14 percent to 28 percent. In 2005, the census bureau estimated that Hispanics accounted for 35 percent of the population of the town.

Freehold is not a big place. Something had to give. Those who represent the local establishment and those who represent the newcomers were bound to clash at some point. That's as American as pizza pie and the Toyota Corolla.

Illegal immigration is a serious national issue, everyone agrees. The federal government needs to fix this, no quarrel there. In the meantime, what do they do in a place like Freehold?

As a public official, Marc LeVine isn't supposed to be saying the kind of things he said. He himself may not be a racist, but there's no shortage of knuckle-dragging geniuses out there, and they need no encouragement.

They already see all brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking people as a threat to their way of life. And they make no distinction between the Hispanics who are here legally and those who are here illegally. That's how bigotry works.

Now that black Americans have established some boundaries and are pretty much off limits to racists, at least in public settings, Hispanics provide an alternative, a convenient outlet for the rage of those who love to hate.

"They need to feel superior to somebody," says Argote-Freyre. "They pick somebody on the low end of the economic scale. They're easy targets."

This is inherently unfair, of course. It is equally unfair for outsiders to pass judgment on towns like Freehold, where low-income housing exists, where there is a downtown area, a built-in invitation for problems.

Long-time residents of such towns should not be dismissed as racists simply because they are looking out for their own interests. As Argote-Freyre puts it: "It's very easy for people in Rumson and Fair Haven and Marlboro to be high-minded."

In those towns, they don't have low-income housing and overcrowded schools and grown men standing on street corners early in the morning, waiting for someone to come by and offer them work.

In Freehold, you have these complex issues. The situation doesn't lend itself to the sound-byte treatment we seem to favor in our great rush to get to the next breathless celebrity sighting, and the next, and the next.

In Freehold, you have media skirmishes such as L'affaire LeVine leading up to real confrontations such as landlords renting to undocumented tenants.

Meanwhile, the town keeps growing and changing.

"This is the American story," says Argote-Freyre. "It's about change. They're having a real difficult time dealing with this here, I think. There is a cultural adjustment issue at the root of the whole thing.

"They think of Freehold as Bruce Springsteen's town. But Bruce moved out in the 1970s. You walk down Main Street today, you don't hear Springsteen. You're more likely to hear reggaeton and salsa music and mariachi bands."

LeVine disagrees. He doesn't believe it's a cultural issue at all. He sees it as a legal issue, pure and simple. "We've been dealing with the fallout effects of illegal immigration," he says.

The problem is, some people are still incapable of distinguishing between illegal and legal immigrants, and those people need no encouragement.

Still, this is a two-way street. Somehow, the leaders on both sides will have to find a way to drop all the old perceptions and racial judgments as they go about their daily give-and-take. Otherwise, neither side will get what it wants.

Bill Handleman is an Asbury Park Press columnist. E-mail: handle@app.com

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 40348/1032

Wednesday letters to the Press

Code compliance is panel's goal

I am driven to enlighten Freehold residents regarding the recent presentation to the Borough Council by the Rental Property Advisory Committee. ("Illegals would be barred as tenants under proposed law," Feb. 8.) Yearlong efforts of outreach and research went into crafting this presentation so it would be viable, effective and respectful in these challenging times.

Unfortunately, one member breached ethics and contacted the press to vilify one of 15 recommendations before the meeting. This blights the entire proposal to enact universal rental property code compliance.

In Freehold and throughout our nation, the greed associated with illegal immigration has transformed many of our historic homes into de facto boarding houses. Many of these homes are overcrowded, unsafe for tenants and in violation of property codes. Decay has greatly diminished the quality of life. Freehold residents have insisted the town get tougher with noncompliant landlords and inconsiderate tenants.

The manifestations of a federally unchecked flow of the underground economy incurred by illegal immigration need to be remedied locally.

While it is unclear how many of the committee's 15 recommendations may be implemented, it is clear the entire town is behind this effort.

Marc LeVine

RENTAL PROPERTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE


FREEHOLD

Look who wants Latinos to live is squaller and overcrowded conditions because the rent is to expensive. They shouldn't be living there if they can't afford it.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 20342/1032

Housing laws discriminatory


It never ceases to amaze me how obsessed Mayor Michael Wilson and the Borough Council are regarding the Latino population in Freehold. First, they tried to starve out and harass the day laborers and their families by closing the muster zone, to fine them hundreds of dollars, jail them and report them to the immigration authorities.

These tactics failed after a federal court ordered them to cease. Now they are trying to enact housing ordinances that likely are unconstitutional. ("Illegals would be barred as tenants under proposed law," Feb. 8.)

They want to deputize city workers, sanitation workers and anyone else to spy on the Latinos to prove overcrowding. No one wants overcrowding, but sometimes there is no choice when apartments in Freehold go for $2,000 per month.

What is hardest for me to swallow is a proposed ordinance that says an apartment or home cannot be leased to anyone who doesn't have the proper documentation to be here. It's discriminatory.

In the mid-20th century, black Americans suffered from severe discriminatory practices. Now it seems it's the Latinos' turn. Wilson and the council should be voted out next election and replaced with people who will treat people fairly and justly.

Tom Baldwin

FREEHOLD