Hunting Season (30 page)

The Justice Department has not yet issued the final results of its investigation of the Suffolk County Police Department, but on September 13, 2011, it did release some preliminary observations and recommendations, which were highly critical of the police department.
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Among other things, the twenty-eight-page letter pointed to a lack of follow-up after bias crime reports as well as inconsistent reporting and tracking of hate crimes. It also criticized the department for inquiring about immigration status during investigations, and mentioned language barriers as possible obstacles to building relationships with members of the Hispanic community. In addition, the letter pointed to signs that preceded Lucero’s murder and that the police chose to obviate. “The tendency to brush off attacks as ‘just kids being kids’ fails to recognize the severity of criminal conduct in which minors may engage,” the Justice Department stated, adding that “bias-driven behavior, even if it does not rise to the level of a hate crime, can be significant, and it should be addressed. Unchecked, it can develop
into serious hate crimes, as evidenced by the events preceding the death of Marcelo Lucero.”
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When the letter was released, some changes had already taken place in Suffolk County. Lola Quesada, the police officer so often standing by the side of the Lucero family, was promoted to special assistant to the police commissioner for minority affairs, a new position. As such, she shed her uniform and became a full-time community relations officer to the Latino community. Among other things, she teaches what she calls “street survival Spanish” at the police academy for new recruits. The report lauded her work as well as the fact that police officers are encouraged to learn Spanish and to interact even more with the Latino community.
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In 2011, Quesada was promoted to the rank of detective in the Hate Crimes Unit.

There were some other positive signs in Suffolk County. Mayor Pontieri, who has never visited his parents’ native Calabria and rarely leaves Patchogue, traveled to Gualaceo in the summer of 2010 at the invitation of Marco Tapia, Gualaceo’s youthful mayor. The four-day visit was informal and generated a lot of publicity for the mayor, who told reporters he was making a “goodwill” trip. The Lucero family, still reeling from Pontieri’s decision to invite Steve Levy to the memorial a year after Lucero’s death, refused to meet with him. But Pontieri met with local officials, danced with Gualaceñas, and gave a brief speech in which he said that he didn’t want to focus on the past but to acknowledge it and move on. As always, he established a connection by dwelling on his immigrant roots: “When the ambassador for Ecuador visited Patchogue, after the tragedy of Marcelo Lucero, I showed him a picture of my grandfather and the men who worked for him. . . . They were strong young men with shovels who were building the roads of Patchogue. Not much has changed from now and then. We still have strong men with shovels building roads, except then they were from Italy. Today many are from Ecuador!”
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He got thunderous applause for that. Skillfully, as he has learned to do, Pontieri skirted the immigration debate by repeating
his mantra that such talk was above his pay level. His job is to make sure that Patchogue is safe and prosperous for all its residents, no matter their immigration status or nationality. That kind of forward-looking, safe talk has served him well. Pontieri has traveled to several cities in the United States spreading a message of tolerance and integration, he has written about his experiences in Patchogue, and he was the indisputable star of a one-hour PBS documentary titled
Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness,
about the Lucero case, which was released in the fall of 2011.

Pontieri and Quesada were not the only ones to earn accolades or promotions or both after the Lucero case. Megan O’Donnell, the prosecutor, was promoted to deputy bureau chief, and in early 2013 she left the district attorney’s office for a job at the Suffolk County Attorney’s Office, handling civil matters for the county in federal court. The Patchogue-Medford Library received the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the hands of First Lady Michelle Obama during a White House ceremony on December 17, 2010. The medal is the highest honor conferred to museums and libraries for outstanding community service; in this case, it honored the library’s ongoing work with immigrants.
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Three months later, Gilda Ramos received the Paralibrarian of the Year Award, given by
Library Journal.
She, along with Jean Kaleda, is widely believed to have spearheaded the community outreach efforts that earned the library national recognition. The library has become the indispensable institution for Ecuadorians in Suffolk County, an incredible turn of events that speaks volumes of Kaleda’s tenacity and warmth. She too has visited Gualaceo. She spent ten days traveling through Azuay in March 2011. When I asked why, she replied, “Because they are my patrons! I have to know where they come from.” But of course, it is more than that.

Nationally, immigrants too are getting some kind of delayed recognition and acceptance. A generation ago, California voters approved a ballot initiative to keep undocumented immigrants
away from public hospitals and schools, but now “more California residents than ever before say that immigrants are a benefit to the state,” the
New York Times
reported in February 2013.
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In Arizona, where Mexican ethnic studies were once banned, a federal judge has ordered that courses that reflect the history, experience, and culture of Mexican Americans can be taught in the classrooms.
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A study released in October 2011 by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization in New York, found that immigrants, no matter their legal status, are important contributors to the economy on Long Island and are a relatively affluent group, with a median income for a family with at least one immigrant adult of $98,000, compared with $110,000 for families headed by US-born adults. The report stated that in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, two of the country’s fifty most affluent counties, immigrants represent about 16 percent of the population and add about 17 percent of value to the economy through their work.
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In an interview with the
New York Times
about the study, Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, contended that the study had been done by a “left-leaning” group that had not drawn a distinction between documented and undocumented immigrants. “No one is denying that legal immigration contributes to our culture and our economy,” the
Times
quoted Levy as saying. “It looks like selective data was put into this study omitting the drain on services that come about from the illegal population.”
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Once again, Levy was wrong. While economists agree that the cheaper labor of undocumented immigrants helps lower the wages of adult US workers without a high school diploma, they also agree that the net impact for everyone else is positive. Immigrants—documented or not—benefit the economy and contribute about $15 billion a year to Social Security through payroll taxes. They can be a drain on services in areas where they congregate in great numbers. However, the dollars they bring to local economies outweigh the costs of the services they receive.
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Perhaps nothing has had a bigger impact on Suffolk County than a major restructuring in the political front. Jack Eddington, bruised from the accusations of racism lobbed his way, retired from politics, saying he was tired of the partisanship, the bickering, and the whole game of politics.

Levy “abruptly ended his bid for a third term in March 2011 in a deal to end a 16-month criminal investigation of his political fund-raising,” the
New York Times
reported. Levy, who had amassed a campaign war chest of $4.1 million, agreed to turn over the money to the Suffolk district attorney’s office. In return, Thomas J. Spota, the district attorney, closed the investigation, which he said had begun in the summer of 2009. Spota said little about the investigation, but he indicated that there was no evidence that Levy, who up to then had enjoyed an impeccable reputation on matters of finance and ethics, had personally benefited from his campaign funds.

Ironically, some of that returned and unclaimed money—$17,500—ended up in the hands of the Workplace Project, an immigrant rights organization, after the Reverend Allan Ramírez, now retired, asked Spota for a portion of Levy’s funds.
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In January 2012, Steve Bellone became the new county executive in Suffolk County. Bellone wasted no time in delineating the differences between him and his predecessor during his inaugural speech. “For those who are willing to work hard and are looking for a better life, regardless of where you came from—we want you in Suffolk County,” he said.

He told a story about his Irish immigrant grandparents and the tiny apartment in Manhattan’s Washington Heights they once shared with his mother, aunts, and uncles. He said he had gone back there recently with his mother, in her first visit to the old neighborhood in nearly fifty years, and they were welcomed by a Dominican family. “We are stronger together,” he added.

According to a
New York Times
editorial, “[A] good share of his [Bellone’s] speech was devoted to the importance of immigration, a tacit attempt to reverse Suffolk’s reputation as a place riven by
anti-immigrant sentiments and violence.”
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In his first few months in office, Bellone appointed Luis Valenzuela, for years an important immigrant rights activist on Long Island and a pillar of strength during the tumultuous months after Lucero’s murder, as a member of Suffolk County’s Human Rights Commission. He was confirmed unanimously by the legislature. Bellone reached out to the community in other ways. He was grand marshal of Brentwood’s Puerto Rican Day Parade, and on November 14, 2012, he signed an executive order requiring county agencies to translate essential public documents and forms into six languages besides English—including Spanish, of course—and to provide translation services for residents who don’t speak English.
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Undaunted, Levy continues to wave the anti-immigrant flag, even from the sidelines. When asked about Bellone’s appointment of Valenzuela, he said that Valenzuela was an “articulate gentleman. But he is as far left as they come in the illegal immigration lobby. Steve [Bellone] said my opposition to illegal immigration was divisive, but in his quest to be liked by everyone he is capitulating to those who want to surrender on the issue.”
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Bellone declined to comment on Levy’s portrayal of his policies.

It is impossible to gauge how non-Hispanic residents feel about immigration now. Feelings of racism and discrimination can’t be legislated away, but actions can. People in Patchogue may still despise or fear their Hispanic neighbors; they just don’t talk about it or seem to be acting on it. Other words, other phrases, have been substituted for harsher comments about immigrants. Expressed concerns about public housing, drunkenness, and overcrowded houses continue to be used in not-so-subtle reference to the larger issue of immigration.

In May 2012, Pontieri held a live online chat with residents, facilitated by
Patchogue Patch,
a local web publication. Some of the questions reflect a lingering anxiety regarding Hispanics. They
are transcribed here as they were written:

Comment from S & L:
Mr. Mayor, regarding overcrowded rentals in the Village of Patchogue, why are they allowed to do this?

Paul Pontieri:
They are not allowed. We have very strict housing codes that are enforced, but like most things it is imperative that residents who live near these overcrowded homes advise the Village that they are so. What I will guarantee to you [is] that if you feel there is a home within your neighborhood that you can identify by address that we will investigate it, give out violations as needed, and close if we must.

Comment from Luke:
Why is there a bodega next to an elementary school on Bay Avenue? This is on the Village side. There are MANY vagrants/drug addicts/criminals that linger around there EVERY MORNING! what is being done about this?

Paul Pontieri:
Luke, I appreciate the comments, I will contact the Suffolk County PD and work with them to move them away from the school.

Comment from Tino:
Mr. Mayor, Thank you for this honor of a “live chat” I have a question, about how many of the many rentals in patchogue would you say rent to “section 8?” being someone who rents in the village, i’m not against it, but i’m also not a fan of section 8 living next door and across the street

Paul Pontieri:
Tino, I don’t know the number of it, but Section 8 vouchers have been frozen by the federal government and whatever is in the Village now, it will never get any greater than it is.

The Patchogue-Medford Library too has received a number of messages from patrons who can’t understand why librarians are reaching out to Hispanic immigrants. One such letter, dated
September 7, 2010, calls undocumented immigrants “criminals.” “Over the past several years I have noticed that the
Patchogue-Medford Newsletter
is partially printed in Spanish. I am wondering why since we live in the United States of America not in Mexico or some place south of the border,” the patron wrote, adding, “Have you looked at Main Street in Patchogue? I don’t know whether I am in America or in some third world Mexican village.”