Dans Papers - May 25, 2007 - Hats Off To A Nice Try In Southampton

Mayor Mark Epley's decision to create a hiring place for all the Latinos who congregate by the 7-Eleven in Southampton Village has been a disaster. And it's a shame.

As we all know, about 20% of the population on the East End is now Latino. Much of this population consists of immigrants and many of the immigrants are here illegally. In any case, Latinos -- legal and illegal -- congregate peacefully in a large group almost every day on the sidewalk in front of the 7-Eleven on North Sea Road looking for a day's work. Contractors come by in cars and pick them up and they do gardening, pool maintenance, brick work, yard work -- whatever it is they are asked to do. Much of what they make gets sent back to their families south of the border.

Workers congregate not only by the 7-Eleven in Southampton, which is a three-block walk from the railroad station, but elsewhere in Southampton, East Hampton, Hampton Bays and practically all other towns on Long Island and elsewhere too. They do this in summer and in winter. Here on eastern Long Island you can see them standing there in the mornings, even on bitterly cold days. It does not seem right.

And it did not seem right to the Mayor. After much thought and consultation with various churches, who offered to help out and visits to several other communities around the country that have come up with solutions of one sort or another, he decided to do take action.

His plan was simple. Adjacent to the 7-Eleven, across a little dead end called Aldrich Lane, there is an eleven-acre open field that the Village owns jointly with the Town of Southampton. Restrictions have been placed on the use of this field. It is to be used as a park only and only park activities would be acceptable there. No permanent structures were to be built on it. Also, there was a management agreement which gave Southampton Village the right to decide what sort of stuff should go in this park -- children's playground, ball field, tennis court, etc.

Mayor Epley's heart really was in the right place when he announced his plan. He would partner with the churches and they would get landscape companies to donate evergreen trees planted close together to create a windbreak on a two-acre corner of the park. They would put in benches and a gravel horseshoe driveway from Aldrich Lane and this corner of the park would become a place where people could be picked up and dropped off. Church volunteers would oversee this property. And the Latinos would be directed to go there, rather than congregate anywhere else in the Village. The Village would spend only minimal money on the project. And so, over the period of a week in March, all of the above, except for the benches and the portable bathrooms, was done.

The results are these. Mayor Epley's home was picketed. Demonstrators yelled at the church volunteers. Neighbors -- there are two houses across from the park -- filed a lawsuit. The Town of Southampton joined up with the neighbors in this lawsuit and the whole project was ordered sealed off with yellow crime tape so nobody can use it while a judge decides what should be done next.

And so the Latinos still stand in front of the 7-Eleven next door, not soliciting, just standing there and the cars drive up and the workers get in and everybody drives off. It is not a particularly safe situation to slow down and stop, as there is no shoulder of the road there and so the cars have to stop in a lane or pull into Aldrich Lane. So, things are back to the way they were, with a half-finished project at the park.

Many people believe that Mayor Epley embarked on this project for these people out of the goodness of his heart. And that is at least partially true. What most people don't know is that the Mayor is a conservative and he did this also as a relief for his constituency. He figured that, if he established this one place where the Latinos could congregate to be picked up for a day's work, he could put up signs around town directing them to that place and get them to leave off soliciting work in other parts of town, thereby satisfying the needs of the local residents.

In almost every way except one, this would have solved all the problems all at one time. Unfortunately, that one way it didn't work was legally. And as those opposing him were willing to hire lawyers, the lawyers are having a field day. The neighbors' lawsuit claims that a pickup and drop off point is outside the definition of "park." Of course, having people picked up and dropped off there is a perfectly fine park activity - the horseshoe road was already in place as a dirt road - but not apparently if it is for Latinos, some of whom are here illegally. The Mayor, in reply, points out that this is discrimination, according to the Constitution.

The Town voted unanimously to support the two neighbors against the Village and took it even further. Joining in, they claim that since the pickup and drop off point was outside the definition of "park," then that violates the part of the deal where the Village gets to be in charge of what goes on in the park. The Mayor says that the horseshoe drive was already there and planting shrubs and putting in port-o-potties and benches is exactly how a park is constructed.

Advocates for the Latino community say that directing them to solicit for work ONLY at this location and nowhere else in the village will never be upheld by the courts. And the Mayor says, well, okay, we won't actually put up signs directing people there -- we'll just let it be known that's where that goes on.

The local people in the village who do not support this project say, though it may be true that the Mayor is not building anything permanent that is outside the realm of "park," he is spending village funds to do things there nevertheless -- plant what was donated, police the area and have the highway department bring over the gravel, for example. The Mayor says, that may be true, but you'd have to do most of those things anyway, as long as the people are there.

The latest twist is that the Village Board is now studying a proposal that would make it illegal to solicit work on all public rights of way, specifically the 10-foot-wide area between curbs and sidewalks and commerical parking lots. Village lawyers say that would hold up in court. But I doubt it. It might hold up in the lower courts and buy the Village a couple of years, but sooner or later, the upper courts will throw that out. People can stand on the sidewalk, the grass or the curb and as long as they just look out and don't say anything, there is nothing anybody can do.

And so, through all this mess, a judge has issued a temporary injunction and the Mayor says he will comply with it. The job is now half done. And the workers are back at the 7-Eleven.

Left behind, on two acres of this eleven-acre park, are the Mayor's good intentions. Personally, I salute him for having the courage to take this on. And I only wish that everybody could have seen the merit of all this.

At the present time, the Latino community is responding to what is surely some very bigoted -- or at least self-serving -- behavior, by organizing a weekend soccer league.

The two neighbors next to the park will be treated to everything that is supposed to go on in the park, the ooohs and aaahs and cheers and boos of thousands of people egging their friends on, but in Spanish. Perhaps the non-Latino community will respond by creating their own team to join the fray. Surely there are a bunch of non-Latinos who play a good game of soccer who could get together and whip some Latino butts.

Or maybe we ought to go the Gestapo route. Get some cops down there to check papers.