The Biondi Apology Tour continued with a meeting yesterday with representatives of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey. He will apologize to the full Assembly and promised to work against racism and for social causes as a result of the meeting. Rev. Jesse Jackson has said he'd like to meet with Biondi.
A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post ran an article on how some cities are adopting a don't-ask policy on immigration status. Residents can access city services, including calling the police, without fear of immigration status questions or problems. The small central Jersey borough of Hightstown was a frame for this story:
In the aftermath of a series of raids in 2004, the town council in this historic borough of 5,300 -- transformed in recent years by an influx of at least 1,300 Latin Americans -- unanimously approved a sort of immigrant bill of rights.
Joining a growing list of cities enacting a no-questions-asked policy on immigration status, Hightstown now allows its undocumented residents to officially interact with local police and access city services without fear of being reported to federal authorities.
It has opened new lines of communication here, officials say. One illegal immigrant at the complex where the raids were staged called on the police recently to help place a family member in alcohol rehabilitation; others have reported domestic abuse, extortion, theft and other crimes. Some are calling the town's pro-immigrant mayor for advice on City Hall weddings and landlord troubles. Hightstown has added services aimed at immigrants, including free bilingual computer classes last month. Noting the shift, one Spanish-language newspaper recently dubbed Hightstown the "Paradise Town" of New Jersey.
Many at Blue Jersey have been critical of Riverside and Morristown for their harsh approach towards illegal immigrants. But is there really an alternative? Today's Washington Post has a story Looking the Other Way on Immigrants: Some Cities Buck Federal Policies. It's mainly about Hightstown, New Jersey. It's now considered a sanctuary city, where police officials have been instructed not to ask about immigration status. The result: Crimes are reported, and the town is flourishing:
Hightstown Mayor Robert Patten, who hails from the core German-Irish stock in this heavily Democratic town, sees things differently. The town square, once peppered with empty storefronts, is brimming with new Latin American restaurants and remittance centers. Last year, the town closed the streets for an Ecuadorian festival that brought together hundreds of residents
"Most of us know this town would have a heck of a time trying to run itself these days without the immigrants," said Patten, a Republican. "They're working at the grocery stores, the fast-food places, they're opening businesses and keeping this town alive and young. We're just being practical by telling them, 'Look, we want you in our community, and we want you to feel like you belong.' "
That's how the property tax problem was described last night by a resident of East Windsor Township. In the pouring rain a few hundred people came out to talk to and hear from the 12th LD's elected representation: State Senator Ellen Karcher, Assemblyman Michael Panter and Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck in a School Funding Forum hosted by the East Windsor Regional School District. The district consists of E. Windsor and Hightstown Borough; along with more than 50% of the districts statewide, they voted down their budget this year. (All comments in quotes are from residents at the forum.)
It was with disappointment that I learned that the Hightstown-East Windsor school budget was defeated again this year. Working through this process last year was one of the most challenging and frustrating experiences in my tenure on Borough Council. I was disappointed in myself, that I ultimately voted along with everyone else to support the proposed cuts. Although it would have been at best a token gesture to be the lone dissenting voice, I promised myself that night that I would not be making that mistake again.
Here we are.
Why will I not be supporting any cuts and why will I be aggressively encouraging all of my counterparts to do the same? With all due respect to the comitted voters who came out last Tuesday to make their voices heard, the extent of challenges in our community, state, and nation transcend that of yet another increase in our school taxes. We have allowed ourselves to get into a situation where we live with a punitive and regressive tax system, where local property owners make up for misguided income tax cuts, and generally fiscal irresponsibility, at the State and Federal level.
