May 3, 2004
Hispanic-only housing grants
Remember that pesky budget crisis in Baltimore that spurred Mayor Martin O'Malley to propose increasing taxes for using our telephones and heating our homes?
Well apparently things aren't so bad, because the city has plenty of money to give Hispanics (regardless of income) to buy homes.
The Baltimore Sun reports (May 3, 2004) that 15 grants of $3,000 each are set aside for Latinos, regardless of income (what?!), to buy houses here.
If you want to understand the hilarious lack of accountability among liberals, read this article. We have the mayor's "Hispanic liaison", Jose O. Ruiz (salary not given), with this rationale for parting with taxpayer dollars:
"We're behind," Ruiz said. "Let's catch up. They haven't been able to take advantage of those programs. They've been living here. They're entitled to it but they never applied because nobody has ever reached out to them."
This is typical identity politics, note the flinging around of terms such as "they're entitled to it" and let's "reach out." If you are living in a Democratic parish, well hey, there must be some money you qualify for as a victim of something. Perish the thought of returning the money to the taxpayer, or (gasp) keeping police and recycling programs that the mayor claims are threatened by our budget crisis.
Glaring omission from this article: Are applicants legal immigrants?
And somebody cannot count. This assertion:
Less than 6 percent of Baltimore's population is foreign-born, about half the national figure. Census figures show the number of immigrants in Baltimore has been flat, at about 30,000, since 1970. In surrounding suburbs, the number has jumped fivefold, to 117,000, since then.
... cannot possibly be correct. In my 17 years in Upper Fells Point, we have gone from a handful of Hispanic residents (our Peruvian neighbors two blocks up) to hundreds and thousands of Latins. Hmmm, wonder if most of these new arrivals are uncounted and illegal?
Finally, we learn:
What Baltimore is trying to remedy is a half-century-old immigration pattern. The city that was once a magnet to the foreign-born has become a place they avoid, settling instead in other areas with more jobs, better schools and better public transportation.
Guess it would be too difficult to actually create a climate encouraging "more jobs, better schools and better public transportation." In the meantime, let's just create another cap-in-hand constituency and an identity-pimp liaison job.
- posted by jbelliveau at 11:57 AM in
