-Caveat Lector- Los Angeles Times - April 20, 2001 OAKLAND SET TO REQUIRE BILINGUAL HIRES MOVE WOULD HELP ASIANS, LATINOS By Maria L. La Ganga OAKLAND -- City government is poised to become the first in California to require that many departments hire new workers who speak Spanish or Chinese in an effort to provide services to a fast-growing population of immigrants not proficient in English. Buoyed by census figures showing that 35 percent of this East Bay city's residents are Asian or Latino, the Oakland City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to make all departments that have contact with the public hire bilingual employees. "Some people may think, `Why do this for immigrants?"' said Ignacio De La Fuente, City Council president and co-author of the proposal. "They pay taxes. They don't take advantage of services." The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to vote in May on a similar ordinance. No other city in California--the most diverse state in the continental United States--has taken such a strong measure, according to advocates for limited-English speakers. State and federal laws require bilingual access to government services, but critics of these laws charge that they are unspecific and lack enforcement provisions. The critics also note that until recently, immigrants, minorities and non-English speakers have been politically powerless, and their needs have been ignored. Change is coming "particularly because of the growing Asian-American and Latino populations that cause policymakers to examine this issue," says Ted Wang, policy director for a statewide civil rights organization called Chinese for Affirmative Action. "And the growth of the limited- English population has been dramatic." In the Bay Area, there has been little opposition voiced to date about the proposals, which would require the cities to add bilingual staff whenever a group of limited-English speakers that shares a language reaches a certain threshold. But the Oakland measure has caused a flurry of opinion pieces and letters to the editor in local newspapers. "Oakland is about to go bilingual, with two `official languages.' But neither of them is English. Something is very wrong with this picture," argued one writer in the San Francisco Chronicle. Mauro Mujica, chairman of a group called U.S. English, says immigrants are "uninvited guests" and need to learn English. Hiring some bilingual government workers would be fine, he said, but "to institutionalize it is a bad precedent." But proponents say the issue is access to government. Stories abound of residents wronged--of small-business owners paying hefty fines for breaking city rules they don't understand, of children translating for parents at city-run hospitals and clinics, of domestic violence victims forced to rely on their abusers to make police understand the beatings they just endured. Oakland's ordinance would require that, in departments that have contact with the public, the city fill vacancies with bilingual workers for every language spoken by 10,000 or more residents with limited English. The 2000 census figures on language proficiency have yet to be released. But, using 1990 numbers, Oakland officials believe the first hires should be bilingual in Spanish, Cantonese or Mandarin. Vietnamese-speaking workers could eventually be added. Twenty-five of the city's 65 departments are expected to be affected, with public health and safety departments and business-related services hiring bilingual workers first. Such departments would include police and fire services, business licenses, garbage services, building permit processing and senior centers. City officials emphasize that no one would be fired or transferred because of the ordinance and only one new position--a compliance officer--is expected to be authorized. The ordinance would also require that certain vital documents be translated into Spanish and Chinese. De La Fuente said the city's goal eventually is to hire certified translators and set up its own translation office. ------- CPTWC (Center to Preserve Traditional Western Culture) Tucson, AZ. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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