Thread: Pancho, go home

Pancho, go home

April 5, 2007

BY ESTHER CEPEDA
If at all possible, conjure in your mind some festive mariachi music as you read this. (Can you hear the guy doing the yell over the wail of the trumpets?)

Northwest suburban Carpentersville has a new gripe with the Mexican side of town. This time, it's with a Pancho Villa-type mural.

As you may have heard, a couple of Carpentersville trustees have tried to enact ordinances aimed at curbing the influx of illegal immigrants. In October, they tried to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants, but 3,000 angry Mexicans came by bus to protest outside village hall. The trustees are still trying to introduce an "English-only" ordinance for village documents.

Now, there's the mural.

It was painted on the side of a dingy east-side building at Hazard Road and Illinois 25 -- John F. Kennedy Drive -- after the ordinance flap.

At Tuesday's village board meeting, President Bill Sarto said that if building code inspectors don't put pressure on the building's owner to scrub it, he would paint over the mural himself.

I called him up.

"I've been against the divisive ordinances, but this is a violation of code and all people -- Anglos and Hispanics -- need to follow the codes," Sarto said. He said "no mural" rules have been in place for years, and there are no others in town.

"We had a bowling alley paint over a mural of bowling pins even though that was appropriate to the business," he said.

The last thing a burgeoning Hispanic community needs as it tries to get its moorings in a town not-too-keen on being an outpost of Tijuana is another "issue."

Never mind that the owner of the store -- according to Sarto -- is already in violation of village codes because he's selling food out of the site, along with a selection of Western wear.

Never mind that the mural looks tacky -- a velvet-Elvis-type painting of a mustachioed guy in a big sombrero with a Mexican flag -- that's OK, we can take a little tacky.

The point is, lots of Carpentersville residents are all worked up about Mexicans they say are law-breakers who don't want to learn the language and assimilate.

Why make everyone's life more difficult?

Hispanics should definitely continue to stand up for their rights, but everyone knows that when in Rome, we do as the Romans do, and we need to pick and choose our battles.

This is the one to back down on.


Just ax me!
Police Supt. Phil Cline's seat is still warm -- his butt's still in it -- and already interested parties are atwitter.
Not over who will best serve to scatter the latest cloud of misconduct settling over the department because of the video of the off-duty officer beating the bartender -- but over what color he'll be.

My Sun-Times colleague Michael Sneed has heard Hispanic Deputy Chicago Police Supt. Hiram Grau's name floated. She also reported Wednesday that Da Mayor is hoping for an African American.

Back in October 2003, Cline became the first white police superintendent in 20 years -- taking over from Terry Hillard, an African American who had taken over from Matt Rodriguez, the city's only Hispanic chief.

Will race or ethnicity make a difference to the Hispanic community? Not a bit, as I see it. As for the scandal Cline is resigning over, well, compared to what a lot of us call home, an occasional bar-room beating doesn't make the Chicago Police too scary. If you're brown-skinned, you feel nervous whenever a police car rolls up, that's a fact. To put it in perspective, if you're from Mexico or some other Latin American countries, police there seemed far scarier than muggers.

Either way, hold on tight. We're in for some serious haggling about whether Cline's successor will be African American, Caucasian or Hispanic. It will be tiresome and divisive.


Chocolate, vanilla or dulce de leche?
Last week, Newt Gingrich told the National Federation of Republican Women that Spanish is the "language of living in a ghetto" -- insulting Hispanics, the country of Spain and ghetto dwellers all over the world in one fell swoop.
Despite having no ghetto street-cred myself -- I was born and raised in Wrigleyville -- I do speak Spanish. I'm also half Mexican and half Ecuadorian and uniquely qualified to answer questions about the largest minority group in our city.

Burning questions like "What is with that white watery drink at my Mexican restaurant?" "Is that damned illegal woman in the church ever going to leave and why hasn't she and all you other people learned to speak English yet?" "Why do Mexican soccer players wear jerseys that say 'BIMBO' on them?"

Just e-mail me whatever you want to know, and I'll give you the "quatro-uno-uno." That's 4-1-1 to you.









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http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/328 ... 05.article

Can't this city even enforce health ordinances on the serving of the food?

Here's what happens when you don't have an ordinance. I have a picture or two of our growing red/white/green buildings. Some other buildings have garish murals. This writer's style is very aggravating, just what is her point one might ask... poor us?? or poor them??

Those places look like fire traps to me.







Neils
8:56 pm
04/06/2007

Those aren't as bad as the big bright orange mexican restrauant that was just put up on a main corner right off the highway, and we are a very clean euorpean looking town. We have 3 Mexican restrauants nice brick green trim clean looks like the rest of town, I seen that a few weeks ago and told my daughter HERE IT COMES!! I must call the city to see if there is an ordinance if not we need one, because they are coming !!!And ji have a feeling they are not going to be legal!!

Orange building? Nice! There is one in my town painted pink! Kind of a pepto bismally color. I will never understand ANY business owner painting their building these hideous colors, it does not make their business, especially a pepto bismal pink restaurant appealing (makes you wonder what the food will do to you?).

I am all for some kind of ordinances in cities where there is some controls over things such as murals or maybe cleanliness, or if a city has a tourist industry that adheres to a cetain look, it is what makes a community stay nice and appealing, not only to its reseidents, but also to visitors (which mean money for the whole community).

Originally Posted by neilsthepoet

Those places look like fire traps to me.

Neils
8:56 pm
04/06/2007

Well, to me, they look like roach and rat traps. I can't understand why they want to paint everything gaudy. All those bright pink, yellow, and orange colors they use, in my opinion, makes it look raunchy and cheap.

We have a former Waffle House which is painted "pepto bismol" pink with some green, red, and yellow added. Just the sight of the place makes your stomach queasy!