Annotations for People: Ferrer-fernando 1950-

In Puerto Rico, Governor Pedro Rosselló has officially kicked off the campaign for the November vote on the island's political status. While the New York, Latino politicians have begun their own campaign to hold a vote in which New York Puerto Ricans could have a say in the future of their homeland. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco has more.

In November Puerto Ricans on the island will be choosing to endorse independence, continued commonwealth status, or a petition to Congress for statehood. But there are another 2.6 million Puerto Ricans on the mainland, who were born on the island or whose parents were. Many of them are in New York where Puerto Ricans are now the largest ethnic group. Organizers of the New York vote say the voices of Puerto Ricans on the mainland would significantly influence how Congress responds to the island's decision, although their votes would not be counted in the plebiscite. The vote in New York is scheduled for October 7th, 8th, and 9th. Organizers including Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and city councilman Jose Rivera say they're talking to leaders in Florida, Illinois and New Jersey to urge them to have similar votes. Some Puerto Ricans on the island, however, including pro statehood governor, Pedro Rosselló oppose the so-called parallel plebiscite, but many Puerto Rican New Yorkers feel close ties to the island and they hope to play a role in what's regarded as a pivotal moment in their homelands' history. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York,

The thousands of people who presented themselves at the polling places to vote with crumbled up birth certificates that they had to search for, made an extraordinary effort to be voters. And this is historic. This vote has an unmistakable moral and political weight that will be felt far beyond the borders of New York City.

All the polls are saying that the community has not yet made up its mind. Two weeks ago went one way. This week is going another way. It's still a volatile situation. We are here to increase the volatility of the situation and say, "If you want our votes, you got to give something up,” because it is long past the time when our community was sleeping and our votes could be taken for granted. As far as we are concerned, this is a candidate accountability demonstration.

In the aftermath of the defeat of New York City's first Black mayor incumbent, David Dinkins, Latino leaders in that city are beginning to assess the significance of Mayor-elect Rudolph Giuliani's election for their communities. As the transition period proceeds, both critics and supporters of Republican Giuliani are keeping a watchful eye as to how he might address Latino concerns. From New York, Mario Murillo reports.

New York City Mayor-elect Rudy Giuliani will take office in January, facing the same problems David Dinkins confronted in his four years as mayor, a massive budget deficit, high unemployment, an education system in crisis, and a crime problem that won't go away. Giuliani will also be facing an uneasy Latino electorate which overwhelming voted in favor of his Democratic opponent.

He's going to have to really demonstrate despite the fact that he has a good number of Latinos around him as part of his campaign that he's going to have to work hard at reaching our community.

Angelo Falcon is President of the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, a nonpartisan think take that explores issues affecting the Latino community. According to its statistics, Giuliani won the election, attracting only 27% of the Latino vote, down from the 33% he received in 1989. Falcon says Giuliani must avoid making some of the same mistakes of his predecessors when dealing with the Latino community.

One of the problems that Dinkins had, and I think any mayor is going to have, is that particularly dealing with Latino issues is that a lot of people don't understand the level of poverty and the level of problems. When I tell people that the poverty rate in the Puerto Rican community is higher than that in the African American community, a lot of people don't believe it.

Latino leaders are looking at three areas and measuring Giuliani's response to their concerns, his appointments, how he handles the police department, and his economic development agenda. One of the people making sure Giuliani doesn't overlook these concerns is Sada Vidal, Co-Chair of Dominicans for Giuliani and a member of the Meyaro Transition Team. Vidal says Giuliani got off to a good start by first asking every political appointment of Dinkins to step down.

The second is that his transition team will be reflective of New York City. We're included in that, and we know that he will include us. He's already doing so. By using our voice and our strengths, we know that we'll be able to build a government that will respond to the needs of our community.

But critics of Giuliani are concerned about what they call "business as usual" in the transition process.

One of our problems is that every time there's an election, we have sectors of our community that swear that the messiah has come, and are quick to denounce anything except accomodation-ism.

National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights spokesperson, Richie Perez, points to certain Latino members of the Giuliani transition team as evidence of a Conservative agenda being followed by the Mayor-elect.

These are people whose views are relative to the Right of Center, who have opposed a number of initiatives supported by the entire community and education. For example, HIV/AIDs curriculum in the public schools.

Another issue of concern is how Giuliani will deal with criminal justice and the police department. Some observers fear a Giuliani Administration would be insensitive to the issue of biased crimes against Latinos. Others express concern about how the former prosecutor would deal with police brutality, especially against the Latino and African American communities. Richie Perez recalled one moment during the campaign which he says may be an indication of things to come under a Guilani Administration.

We were asking him to respond to the firebombing of a home in Howard Beach, where he has a lot of constituents, where he got a lot of votes. We wanted him to go out there and speak on racial healing and harmony to his constituents. There's a major contradiction with being a candidate campaigning on safety and crime issues, and not speaking on biased crime and the safety of people to be free from buying a home in an area and getting bombed because they're Puerto Rican.

Yet supporters of Giuliani say he's been unfairly characterized as insensitive. They believe Giuliani will make the streets of New York safe by applying a strong law and order approach to crime across the board. Apaulinal Trinidal of Dominicans for Giuliani says that for him, this was the most important thing in the election.

I've been active in the community for many years, and I saw the condition of life in New York City, particularly in my neighborhood in Washington Heights, deteriorate and it was shocking to me, up to the point where my son was afraid to walk in the streets. When the pardon is confronted with our reality and you have a government that the only thing they'll find is excuses, and don't want to accept responsibility for the conditions which exist in our barrio, I say, this is enough.

So far, there have been mixed signals from the Guilani team. Immediately after his election night victory, he met with leaders of the Latino community, including Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, the highest Latino elected official in New York City. At the same time, he failed to initially make contact with representatives Jose Serano and Nidia Velasquez, Puerto Rican Congress members with a strong base in the community. Nevertheless, it's just a matter of time before we can see if the forecast, both supportive and critical of Giuliani, come true. For Latino USA, I'm Mario Murillo in New York.