Saturday, September 22, 2007

Welcome to Riverside. Now get out.

Last year Riverside passed a controversial law that was geared to keep out illegal immigrants.

It was passed in a hurry, and focused on fining landlords who rented apartments to illegal aliens and on employers who hired them.

However, the law was never really enforced, and it was recently rescinded. The Riverside Council decided they did not have the funds to deal with the civil rights law suits that the town might be hit with.

The immigrants--- Brazilians----have mostly left. And are not likely to come back. Would you?

From www.phillyburbs.com: "The cost to continue fighting this would have been astronomical and we need a new town hall and new streets," said Deputy Mayor Lorraine Hatcher. "The writing was on the wall: It's a federal issue."

Well, duh. That was what opponents to the law said more than a year ago.

Now the town has lost part of its population that rented apartments and shopped in stores. The result? Empty storefronts. Empty apartments.

Many Brazilians are not coming back.

"I wouldn't come back either," said Luis Ordonez, a U.S. citizen from Ecuador who owns the River Dance Music Store on Scott Street. "Do you want to live in a place where you are not welcome?"

1 comment:

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