Annotations for Subject-headings: Mayors

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

A report by the US Civil Rights Commission says Latinos in the nation's capital suffered discrimination in social services, jobs, and from the police. Pedro Avilés is the executive director of the DC Civil Rights Task Force.

What the US Civil Rights Commission does is that it substantiates what we've been saying. Now we have a report from a federal agency that is basically saying the District of Columbia government is guilty of mistreating Latinos.

The Civil Rights Commission says conditions which led to three days of riots two years ago in Washington's Mount Pleasant District also exist in other US cities. The report recommends DC Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly begin outreach to the Latino community. You're listening to Latino USA.

In Los Angeles, the Latino community suffered heavily and has still not recovered from the effects of the disturbances of April of last year. Latinos are half of those who live in the areas most affected by the disturbances. A third of those who lost their lives in the violence were Latino. Hispanic men made up more than half of those arrested and 40% of the businesses damaged in the riots were Latino owned. Reporter Alberto Aguilar recently visited one of the hardest hit Latino neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. He prepared this report.

[Faint voice in the background]

Very little has changed in Pico-Union, west of downtown Los Angeles in the last year, since hundreds of small and large businesses were looted. Here at the swap meet, the radio may be playing happy rhythms, but to the residents of the mostly Latino neighborhood, the road to recovery has been anything but happy.

Nosotros perdimos todos los negocios que teníamos. Teníamos tres negocios en la Union y todo fue perdido…[transition to English dub] We lost all our business. We have three little shops here and everything was lost, and we haven't really been able to recover anything.

María Elena Mejia sold children's clothes at the swap meet. The single mother of two teenage girls lost her life savings when the old theater, that housed dozens of swap meet stalls, was set on fire.

Lo que a nosotros nos ayudaron de parte del gobierno de la ciudad solamente fueron tres meses de renta. Lo que nos quedó a nosotros de eso solo fueron como… [transition to English dub] What the city government helped out with was three months’ rent, and after that, all we had left of our investment of five years was something like 14 or 10 dollars. I don't even remember now. We suffered so much because you know, being without work in this country is hard, and we were left without work and without anything… [transition to original audio] trabajo, porque nos habíamos quedado sin trabajo y sin nada.

This was a gift by a student, but it's called The Day that Los Angeles Cried, and you have an angel trying to turn off the fires and slow down the riots and above the Angel…

Mike Hernandez is a member of the city council. His district includes Pico-Union, the area hardest hit by the riots of '92.

Pico and Alvarado, for example… it’s one corner where we had the four corners demolished by fire. And so, in terms of intensity, it was the hardest hit area in the city.

What has happened since then? And a lot of people are now saying that perhaps the City does not have the leadership to bring the city of Los Angeles to where most people want it to go?

I think if you talk about community leaders, if you talk about the organization leadership, they very much want to bring the city together and start improving. If you talk about the political leadership, I think the political leadership hasn't displayed that well. They're out of touch with what's really going on in the city. See, the city of Los Angeles is not just the buildings. A lot of the buildings destroyed were empty. What the city of Los Angeles is, it's people from all over the world, and what we got away from is building people.

The building involves encouraging people to become citizens. Hernandez estimates this process can take as long as 10 to 15 years. He also says the City has to improve the educational level of city residents.

Over the age of 25, we have 2.1 million people. 900,000 cannot claim a high school diploma, and of the 900,000; 600,000 cannot claim a ninth-grade education. So that's 150% of the entire student body of the LA Unified School District. So, we have a tremendous amount of building of people to do.

[Transitional sounds]

Those who work with the residents of Pico-Union agree with Hernandez about the work that remains undone.

We're seeing families with multitude of problems… economic, social, relationship problems…

Sandra Cuevas works with battered Central American women in South Central Los Angeles. She has seen a decrease in the social services available to people in the area's hardest hit by the destruction. Despite all the publicized good intentions, little action and little resources are being allocated to the solution of the root causes of poverty and unemployment.

There seems to have been a lot of lip service. Little committees forming coalitions, but when you look at Rebuild LA, you have people that are coming from outside the community, very removed from the reality of Los Angeles and particularly of South Central and Pico-Union, that have excluded Latinos, by and large.

Cuevas is not the only Angelino critical of Mayor Tom Bradley's effort to bring back the city from massive destruction. His Rebuild LA has been described as a misguided effort to create job opportunities according to county supervisor Gloria Molina.

Very frankly, I don't want to be critical. I think they're doing their own thing, but I think that the mayor missed the boat in the beginning. I think he could have called many of us together to sort things out because it isn't just in South Central, it's throughout the community. And it isn't just a corporate effort and isn't about giving. It's about putting together a lot of institutions that have been unjust to minority segments of our community. And it isn't going to happen by a corporation coming together and putting together programs. It's about making the system much more responsive to the needs of people in this community.

I’m a member of the board, but it's hard among 80 people. A lot of those are corporate people and I’m… I guess, the only immigrant, it's really hard sometimes.

Carlos Vaquerano is one of a handful of Latinos on Rebuild LA's board.

We need to not only to rebuild LA physically, but to rebuild the soul of the city, the soul of people here. We need to make changes in terms of our morality, political changes, because that's one of the main issues in the city. Not only the city, but in the country.

[Transitional sounds]

Police helicopters assist uniformed officers on the ground in the search for gang members in the Pico-Union district. Longtime resident, Raúl González has been in this blue-collar neighborhood for 20 years.

It's kind of scary going out lately. Plus what you hear on the news and people… after the rioters start getting guns and bigger guns and you know what's going to happen in the street. Now you have to carry your own gun for protection… and you have to be careful lately…you know. And it's terrible, it is terrible because we are not supposed to be like this.

Um…but if everybody's armed and everybody's afraid…um…. what are you going to do?

Well, you know…to tell you the truth, if you're carrying a weapon, you have to know how to use it and when to take it out.

In Los Angeles, I'm Alberto Aguilar, reporting for Latino USA.

[Transitional Music]

May I present Gloria Romero: She played a vital role in the police reform movement in Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King beating. The title of her talk is Todavia Ando Sangrando: A Chicana's Perspective on the Fires This Time…Gloria.

[Clapping sounds]

April 29th, 1992, less than three hours after the verdicts were released, I stood at the intersection of Adams and Hobart in South Central LA. In reality, I stood at much more than the intersection of Adams and Hobart. I stood at but one of many intersections of race, class, and gender in America. Breathing in all I saw, even as light dimmed on America, the reaction in my guts at the intersection of life in America in the shadow of lies of an afterlife as light faded out on America, felt like the full velocity of the bricks hurled through the pane of that liquor store, which on an hourly basis, markets pain to Black and brown men and women in south central LA. Addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, a 50% dropout rate, incarceration, but a chance to win the lotto.

We stood at the intersection on April 29th in an America that has bled for too long, from too many unjust verdicts that Simi Valley merely symbolized, any one of which could have sparked fires at any intersection in America. And I believe a riot takes place on a day-to-day basis in LA, but nobody notices. Todavia ando sangrando, even as our trial continues.

It's been two years since disturbances broke out in Washington DC's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, where most of the city's Latino population lives. At the time, Latino leaders blamed the violent outburst on neglect by the local city government of Hispanic residents. In the past 10 years, Washington DC's Latino community, mostly Central American, has grown rapidly. Since the violence of two years ago, the DC government has taken action to address community concerns, but Latino leaders say there's still much more to be done. From Washington, William Troop prepared this report.

[Transitional music]

A music vendor sets up shop at the corner of Mount Pleasant and Lamont Street, the heart of Washington's Latino community. He's one of at least a dozen Latino merchants doing business near Parque de las Palomas, a small triangular park at the end of a city bus line.

[Transitional music]

[Helicopter sounds]

Just two years ago, the worst riots the nation's capital had seen in over 20 years started right here. On May 4th, 1991, Daniel Gómez, a Salvadoran immigrant, was stopped by an African American police officer for drinking in public. There are differing accounts about what happened next. Police say Gómez launched at the rookie officer who shot him in self-defense, but many Latinos heard a different version, one that said Gómez was shot after being harassed and handcuffed by the officer. Gómez was seriously wounded and as news of the incident spread, outrage poured from the community.

…sangre fría frente a demasiados latinos. Eso no lo llevan todos porque en realidad esta es una comunidad latina. ¿Me entienden? y la discriminación ha ido tan lejos de que si alguien…

During the riots, these men looted a 7-Eleven store because they were angry at police for mistreating Latinos. The looting and burning in Mount Pleasant lasted three days. To calm people down, DC Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly arrived on the scene and promised to address Latino concerns as soon as the violence ended. It was a victory of sorts. Latino leaders had long complained that city officials ignored charges of discrimination and police brutality. The riots changed that.

To a certain degree, we had the best disturbance that we could have ever had. Although you had the destruction of public property, you had the destruction of private property, you had some injuries, nobody was killed. And overnight…Latinos were an issue in Washington DC.

Juan Milanés was a law student at the time. Today, he is legal counsel for the Latino Civil Rights Task Force, an organization created after the disturbances in Mount Pleasant.

Prior to May 5th, 1991, the Latino population of Washington DC, although it was 10% of the population, was unrecognized…just invisible…just a bunch of people who get on the bus in the evening to go clean buildings, but you know... There are just a few people here and there. Most of them are illegal anyway. Suddenly, we're there and there was now this group of people that were demanding that they be there.

A few months after the riots, the Latino Civil Rights Task Force issued a blueprint for action, detailing 200 specific steps the city could take to address Latino concerns. Task Force executive director Pedro Aviles says the city has not done enough to stop discrimination and police insensitivity.

The problems have not been solved yet. The police brutality cases, they continue. Certainly, the fact that we've been complaining, and we've been shaking the tree kind of thing…it's brought about little change, but I would say that it's a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

What has been done has been done slowly according to task force officials. One example, the city hired bilingual 911 operators a year and a half after the task force recommended it and only after a Latina who had been raped had to wait two hours for assistance in Spanish. Carmen Ramírez, director of the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, says the city has taken significant steps to address community concerns.

The recommendations, in many instances, are not recommendations that can just be met by one concrete action, although some of them are, but rather, it's a matter of putting into place policies and in many instances, mechanisms by which problems can continue to be addressed.

To do that, the city has created bilingual positions in almost all departments of DC government. Ramírez adds that DC's police department has hired more bilingual personnel and sent hundreds of police officers to Spanish classes and sensitivity training. But last year, Latino leaders complained they were excluded from developing the initial sensitivity training program and they say there are still plenty of police brutality cases. In January, the US Commission on Civil Rights agreed when it issued its report on the Mount Pleasant disturbances. Commission Chair Arthur Fletcher called the plight of Latinos in DC appalling.

Many Latinos in the third district have been subjected to arbitrary harassments, unwarranted arrests, and even physical abuse by DC police officers.

The commission also found that the District of Columbia still shuts off Latinos from basic services because it lacks bilingual personnel. Many DC Latinos feel that in a city dominated by African Americans, it's often hard to get a fair distribution of resources. BB Otero is chair of the Latino Civil Rights Task Force.

There is a prevalent feeling among the African American community, not just the leadership but the community at large that says, “we've struggled hard to get where we are, to have control of some resources in the city to begin to play a powerful role in the community.” And its um…“if we open it up to someone else, we may be giving something up.”

They still wanted them to be citizens of their own country and not registered to vote in the United States and still have the same measure of power and the same measure of participation as somebody who was a citizen. That, in my view, is a naive expectation and certainly is not something that the civil rights movement ever talked about.

African American council member Frank Smith represents Ward 1, the area where most DC Latinos live. He says, the struggle for civil rights is about citizenship and voting.

I think that the Hispanic community has got to work harder at getting their people registered to vote. If they want to win elections, they're going to have to get people registered to vote and get them out to the ballot boxes on election day in order to win. Nobody's going to roll over and give up one of these seats.

Civic activity comes once you have gained some sense of security of where you are or where you live. You still have a community that doesn't have that sense of security.

Over half of Washington's estimated 60,000 Latinos are undocumented, many of whom have fled war and unrest in El Salvador and most recently, Guatemala. BB Otero who ran unsuccessfully for a school board seat last fall says she's hopeful a Latino political base will develop as time goes by and as the community matures.

If they can survive the struggle that it is to be able to fight the odds basically and build that political base, then we will see, I think by '96, some other candidates in other areas beyond myself.

[Transitional music]

Change, however slow some may consider it, seems to be happening at Parque de las Palomas, where the disturbances erupted two years ago. There are now more Latino officers walking the beat. Merchant José Valdezar says, even those stopped for drinking in public are now treated with respect by police.

First, they say hello to you, and I start to speak and they explain to you what's going on. Sometime, the person who own any store around here say, you know, they don't like drunk people around here. You know, that's why they say no. Just keep walking and everything will be okay.

[Transitional music]

Daniel Gómez, whose shooting sparked the disturbances in Mount Pleasant two years ago, recovered from his wounds and was later acquitted of assaulting the police officer who shot him. For Latino USA. I'm William Troop reporting from Washington DC.

Preparations are underway in Los Angeles for the June 8 mayoral runoff election. Chinese American councilmember Michael Woo is vying with millionaire Richard Riordan to succeed Tom Bradley as the city's top official. Only eight percent of registered Latinos voted in the April 20 primary election, and analysts say the candidates will have to work hard to inspire greater Latino participation in the upcoming mayoral race. From Los Angeles, Alberto Aguilar prepared this report.

Latino community could have turned out up to 70,000 voters very easily had candidates invested intelligently into the Latino community, but they chose not to.

Southwest Voter Registration Executive Director Richard Martínez said in Los Angeles that none of the front-runners captured the imagination of the Latino leadership nor the Latino voter.

The Latino community could not see itself in their issues. It's like looking in the mirror and seeing somebody different. So, I think the Latino community sent a message to the elected officials. "We are not for sale just because it's you. You have to show us that you care and you know us, or else, we're not going to give you our votes."

Latinos make up 10% of the city's registered voters. Their absence in this election may signal trouble for a city that is desperately trying to live with its own diversity. In Los Angeles, this is Alberto Aguilar reporting for Latino USA.

In New York City, Mayor David Dinkins is calling for amnesty for Puerto Rican political prisoners. Mandalit del Barco reports.

Today, there are more than 45 Puerto Ricans in federal prisons across the country, some of them in jail for 10 years or more because of their work to free Puerto Rico from its U.S. ties. Three years ago, New York City mayor David Dinkins called three of the most famous Puerto Rican Independentistas assassins. Recently, however, he announced a support for freeing more than 21 political prisoners. Dinkins agreed with an amnesty resolution approved last fall by the New York City Council, and he said he's even written to President Clinton on behalf of the prisoners, asking for freedom as a humanitarian gesture. In November, the city council called on the United Nations to declare a general amnesty for the Puerto Ricans now in jail. Their status is a continuing issue for the Senate and Congress as hearings on a Puerto Rican plebiscite continue. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

From Austin, Texas. You're listening to Latino USA. Los Angeles, California, has elected its first Republican mayor in over 30 years. While most of the city's political establishment had supported the defeated candidate, Chinese American city council member Michael Woo, some analysts predict Latinos may stand to benefit politically under the new mayor Richard Riordan. Alberto Aguilar has this report.

Latinos took a keen interest in the mayoral campaign, with most of the political leadership, including a state assemblyman Richard Polanco, county supervisor of Gloria Molina, state Senator Art Torres supporting the defeated candidate Michael Woo. Only Councilman Richard Alatorre broke with fellow Democrats to yearn Republican, Richard Riordan. Loyola University political science professor Fernando Guerra believes having a Latino political operator inside the Riordan organization might be advantageous.

If Richard Alatorre had not gone over to Riordan's campaign, that means that every single Latino elected official who did endorse one of the two candidates would've endorsed Michael Woo. This way you have somewhat of an entree to the Riordan mayoral team.

Guerra believes the costliest race in the city's history may have helped Latinos come closer to the mayor's office.

With Mayor Bradley's leadership, Blacks have been at the forefront. At the congressional level, there are now more Latinos than Blacks from LA County. At the state level, there are now more Latinos than Blacks in LA County. So that Latinos have actually surpassed, in terms of absolute numbers, Blacks. And they are now, I would say, the dominant minority group in Los Angeles politics.

Whether the new mayor will help promote Latinos, still unclear. What is obvious, according to local observers, is that allegiances were clearly visible, especially on issues of interest to Latinos, something not seen around here in a long time. For Latino USA from Los Angeles, this is Alberto Aguilar reporting.

US Senator Barbara Boxer of California is defending her controversial proposal to have the National Guard patrol the US-Mexico border. Boxer says her suggestion is meant to limit the backlash against legal immigration by using the troops to deter undocumented immigrants. Boxer's suggestion is being heavily criticized by many Hispanic officials in California, and another immigration-related proposal came under fire in Washington.

It's not going to accomplish anything in keeping people from crossing the border. It'll simply prevent them from wanting to come over to buy American goods.

That's California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard reacting to Senator Diane Feinstein's proposal to charge a fee for crossing the border as a way to pay for more border patrol agents. At a hearing in Congress, some experts warn such a fee might cause even longer delays at the border and perhaps difficulties with the governments of Mexico and Canada. Larry Francis is the mayor of El Paso, Texas.

Any kind of fee will cause Mexican nationals to cross the Rio Grande illegally, worsening our problem. Over a broader view, any attempt to reduce the flow of people will have an economic impact on both countries.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service also expressed concerns about the border-crossing fee.

And from Austin, Texas you're listening to Latino USA.

In New York City mayoral candidates are campaigning for what many see as the crucial Latino vote. Recent polls show the Republican candidate ahead of the Democratic incumbent. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco has more.

The latest Harris Poll by the Daily News and WNBC Television shows Republican-Liberal candidate Rudolph Giuliani beating Mayor David Dinkins, 54 to 41% among Latino voters. Of the Latino registered voters surveyed the same percentage said they were optimistic about the city's future. Both Giuliani and Dinkins have been courting potential voters in New York's Latino communities, appearing at the Dominican Day Parade and shaking hands in El Barrio. Campaign watchers note that Latino support will be critical to either candidate's victory this fall. Giuliani is running for office with city controller candidate Herman Badillo, the elder statesman among New York's Puerto Rican politicians. Mayor Dinkins discounted the latest poll saying, "His own campaign survey show he's ahead of his opponent." Dinkins also got a boost from Brooklyn Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who promised to campaign for the mayor's reelection throughout the city's Latino communities. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. In New York City's, East Harlem, the Puerto Rican Barrio. A neighborhood marketplace known as La Marqueta has long been a symbol of the area's economic development or lack of it. The one's thriving market is now run down and in need of renovation, but as the political climate heats up in New York City for local elections, La Marqueta is beginning to become an issue. From New York Mandalit del Barco reports.

Beuno, aqui tengo platano maduro, platano verdes. Tengo Yucca, [inaudible], agua—aguacate.

The Banana King, Jose Luis Santiago sells fruit from a stand at La Marqueta. A warehouse under the old, elevated subway tracks in the heart of El barrio, Santiago has been here for 42 years in the business he took over from his father in that time, he says he is seen many changes.

Oh! Aqui la luna han cambiado.

[Inaudible.]

Como te dije al principio que la marqueta se cayeron, caer no, no limpieza toda via ven la marca.

La Marqueta fell into disrepair over the years. He says, leaving the place dirty and neglected. Luis the Banana King's just one of eight or nine vendors left at La Marqueta, along with a couple of butchers, fabric vendor, egg seller and botanica merchants. He's watched the once thriving marketplace deteriorate before his eyes.

No hay mucho publico, muy pco lo que nadie aqui, no hay nada que buscar--

Luis the Banana King laments that nobody shops at the marketplace anymore and there's not much to shop for. It's a far cry from 1936 when it was created by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as an indoor space to keep the push cart pedalers off the streets. What started as the Park Avenue market with Italian and Jewish merchants slowly shifted to becoming La Marqueta as Puerto Rican started flooding into East Harlem in the 1950s, there were five Marqueta buildings where there now is barely one. Butcher Alex Garcet, a Puerto Rican New Yorker remembers how La Marqueta used to be.

30 years was different, was crowded you couldn't even... We used to open at five in the morning by six o'clock was people waiting outside the N 20. The bus used to be crowded. Everything, it's nothing, was different. Everybody was concerned.

In the 1970s, tenants at La Marqueta organized to run the marketplace and later several developers took over all without success. La Marqueta became the site of building code violations and neglect as small vendors retired or moved elsewhere and there was no one left to take their place. A year and a half ago, the city finally took charge again. Through the Economic Development Corporation. [Natural sounds of neighborhood] The city is fixing the one remaining building hoping to welcome new tenants by October. There's now a task force working on choosing a new developer to boost La Marqueta to a new future. The city is committed $5 million to the project and the task force is hoping for state and federal money in addition. East Harlem City council member Adam Clayton Powell IV envisions La Marqueta as a tourist attraction and an affordable neighborhood shopping center.

I would like to see like a flea market where different vendors can have their push guards and where we can have fruits, vegetables, t-shirts, magic, trick stores that that sort of thing, and I think it can be done.

But others, including Powell's rival in the current city council election, William Del Toro wonder about the viability of such a dream becoming reality given the marketplace's history and the neighborhood's lack of buying power. Also, the wisdom of spending so much money to revive a place that might simply be outmoded.

The goal is to create 20 stalls at a cost of $2,000,000.00 Do you know what we're talking about? $100,000.00 a stall. And you know what a stall is? A couple of pieces of plasterboard and a gate that rolls down.

[Archival sound] Temperatura en la cuidad de Nueva York en los 84 grados.

Those working to revitalize La Marqueta disagree that the place is doomed. They see a future mixed east marketplace complete with food vendors, clothing stores, movie theaters, and a community space with the smells, feel, and mood of East Harlem. Across from the banana stand, Alex Garcet sells fresh meat, accepting food stamps and allowing his customers to buy food on credit. He even has a whole index card catalog filled with IOUs like many in the neighborhood, Garcet considers where he works a landmark. Not long ago, he had to lay off 11 employees from behind the meat counter, still he says he'll stay. Why do you stay?

Well, listen, the reason we stand, because we have hope. Okay? Everybody have hope and I have a hope that one day we might be able to make it and we doing it by ourself.

Until La Marqueta becomes a sensation that's promised, Alex Garcet says the vendors will continue to wait for customers to return. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In New York City, politics is heating up as the November mayoral election looms ahead. Incumbent Mayor David Dinkins easily won the recent primary, but the November race will be much more difficult as Mandalit del Barco reports.

David Dinkins is running for a second term in office as city's first African American mayor. Polls say he'll need a large turnout of Latino voters, many of whom say they may go for his opponent, Republican candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Despite harsh criticism by those like Fire Commissioner Carlos Rivera who quit his job and through his endorsement to Giuliani, Dinkins acknowledges the support he's gotten from many other segments of the Latino community. On primary night, he even peppered his nomination victory speech with Spanish.

A la victoria. Les quiero mucho. I love you all.

Cuatro años más.

Latino campaign workers and fans wish Dinkins has four more years in office, but Giuliani is also hoping for Latino support in his campaign, and he's running with former congressman and Deputy Mayor Herman Badillo. Badillo is the as the city's elder Latino politician and is on the November ballot on the Republican and Liberal lines. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. Voters in New York City have elected by the narrowest of margins, Republican Rudolph Giuliani as their new mayor. Mandalit del Barco reports the majority of Latinos cast their ballots for the losing candidate, incumbent Mayor David Dinkins.

The city's Latinos whom both candidates had courted as the key swing vote once again voted overwhelmingly for Dinkins. 60% of the Latino votes went for Dinkins and many said they wanted to give another chance to the city's first African-American mayor, but the numbers just weren't high enough. Dinkins urged his supporters to respect the decision of those who voted for Giuliani. Giuliani also had a message to those voters.

What I think we both want to say to the people of the city is that it doesn't matter for whom you voted, whether you voted for me, for David Dinkins, or you decided not to vote, or you voted for any of the other candidates, today we're all New Yorkers.

A federal investigation is underway to look into charges by Mayor Dinkins of dirty tricks by Giuliani supporters. Dinkins told of intimidating posters seen around the largely Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights warning voters that poll watchers would be checking voters passports, charges Giuliani has denied. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In Miami's mayoral race, candidates Miriam Alonso and Steve Clark face a November 9th runoff. And as Melissa Mancini reports from Miami, voting there broke down largely along ethnic lines.

Former Metro Mayor Steve Clark dominated in white non-Hispanic areas and also won a sizeable share of young Hispanic votes. Challenger Miriam Alonso took two votes for every ballot captured by Clark in Miami's Hispanic areas. However, Alonso trailed Clark by big margins in non-Hispanic neighborhoods winning less than 15% of the vote. For the past two decades, Miami's mayor's job has been held by a Hispanic, a fact that Cuba born Alonso has repeated in Spanish language radio broadcasts. During election day radio appearances, Alonso exhorted Cuban voters to keep the mayor's office in their hands. Those appeals apparently succeeded in Miami's Little Havana community where voters turned out in greater numbers than in other neighborhoods. However, it remains to be seen if Alonso can broaden her base for the November 9th runoff. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami.

Voters in Hialeah, Florida meanwhile will also vote in a runoff election between State Representative, Nilo Juri, and suspended City Mayor, Raul Martinez. Martinez was convicted two years ago on corruption charges and suspended from his post by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.

More than a dozen big cities elect mayors on November 2nd. One of the most contested races is in Miami, where Cuban-born Commissioner Miriam Alonso is facing former mayor, Steve Clark. That race has been characterized by a great deal of mudslinging, with Clark being dubbed the marshmallow mayor, and Alonso's opponents calling her Castro's ambassador and a communist. Alonso's husband was Cuba's ambassador to Lebanon, before the couple defected from the island 27 years ago.

Mayoral elections are being held in the heavily Latino cities of Miami and New York. Dade County voters will decide between Miami Commissioner Miriam Alonso and former metro mayor, Steve Clark. While in New York, poll show incumbent Mayor David Dinkin's running neck and neck with challenger Rudolph Giuliani. And analysts say, the Latino vote could decide the election's outcome. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Four years ago, David Dinkins won his job as mayor by beating Rudolph Giuliani by only 2% of the votes. Now, in the final days of the campaign, both mayoral candidates have been serenading Latino voters like never before.

“Papa, por quien tu vas a votar?”

“Eso no se pregunta mijo, los Latinos votamos por Dinkin.”[Latin music]

Presente! Latinas! Con Dinkins! Presente! Latinas! Con Dinkins!...

Outside City Hall recently, a group calling themselves Latinas for Dinkins rallied for the mayor, who listed some of his accomplishments.

We've made a lot of progress in the past four years, and we're not going to turn back now. I felt the sting of discrimination in my own life, and I know that unless all of us are free, none of us is free. And that's why I have appointed highly talented Latinos to top posts in my administration, more than any mayor in our city's history.

Dinkins' spokeswoman Maite Junco says Latinos have a clear choice between a progressive minority candidate and Giuliani, a conservative Republican who served in the Justice Department under Ronald Reagan.

[Background people speaking] The choice is clear. For us, it's clear, particularly for the Latino community. The mayor has done in four years what this man has not done in his lifetime.

Dinkins' has the support of Congress members, José Serrano and Nydia Velázquez, as well as Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer. El Diario La Prensa, along with the New York Times and the Village Voice has endorsed him. And wherever he campaigns, Dinkins make sure to throw in a little Spanish.

Vaya con Dios, y mantenga la fe. [Applause]

While Dinkins got a standing ovation when he addressed a conference of Puerto Rican elderly, his challenger, Rudolph Giuliani, also received a warm reception.

Do you speak any Spanish?

Un poco, [laughter]. I understand Spanish from understanding Italian. And I can read it, but my accent is so bad. I hate to speak it. I embarrass myself. [Background-People speaking]

Giuliani's bid to win the Latino vote has been boosted by running mate Herman Badillo, the grandfather of the city's Latino politicians. A longtime Democrat, Badillo's campaigning for city controller, this time around, on the Republican liberal ticket.

There's no way that Dinkins is going to get the same support in the Latino community that he got in 1989, and that's the reason he's going to lose. Every poll, while it may vary more or less some points, shows him nowhere near the 66% to 70% that he got last time. And I'm convinced that we're going to win the majority of the Latino vote. So that's the election right there.

Herman Badillo is not the only Latino Democrat to have defected from Dinkins' camp to Giuliani's. Fire Commissioner Carlos Rivera, along with prominent political figures, Ruben Franco and Elizabeth Colón, are now supporting Giuliani, citing disillusionment with the mayor.

He has failed us, and that is the cry of the Hispanic community around the city of New York. He has failed us, and we need a change.

Around the city, Giuliani voters seem more concerned about crime, while those who favor Dinkins feel a kinship with the city's first African-American mayor.

Dinkins look like he likes Spanish people. And Giuliani, he is going to go for Italian people. So we get together, the Black and Spanish, so I think we could get him thinking back. I think he's doing all right. We have to give him a chance.

Years back, we went to the street. We went to church. We went to different places at nighttime. Now we can't go out. We're scared. Drugs is number one. [Background-People Speaking]

And you think that Giuliani will take care of that?

I think Giuliani will take care of that, yes. Maybe a change would be better.

Giuliani.

Why?

Well, he looks like he'll take care of the crime, the crime and the drugs in the street. He'll do a better job, I think.

How do you know he will?

Well, I'm not too sure, but from people talking and everything.

Giuliani is not going to win and Dinkins is going to squeak by. That's what's going to happen.

Reporter Evido De La Cruz has been covering the election for the city's largest Spanish language newspaper, El Diario La Prensa. He says, at this point, the election and the Latino vote is just too close to call.

I believe that it is such thing as a Latino vote. But who's going to get it? Nobody's sure. A lot of people are really, really upset with the mayor, because they perceive him as somebody that he didn't live up to his promises, his commitments to the Latino community. And the other part of it is that, they don't trust. For some reason, they think that Giuliani is not sensible enough, doesn't know the community. He's perceived as somebody that's going to like everybody that has this mentality of prosecutor mentality. I interview a lot of people and that's what they say. I mean, they don't know how to vote. They haven't made their mind.

In the meantime, at least one segment of the city's so-called Latino swing vote has been trying to force both mayoral candidates to address issues such as racial violence against Latinos.

Madison Avenue! This Latino swing vote is in the middle of the monster, waving our flag, demanding...

At rallies outside City Hall and outside Giuliani's headquarters, community activist Richie Perez challenged Dinkins and Giuliani to act on the recent racial murder of a Dominican teenager and the fire bombing of a home belonging to a Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn. [Background-Person giving speech]

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.

If nothing else, says Richie Perez, this mayoral campaign has forced the candidates to put Latino issues on the political agenda. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Police chiefs and mayors from throughout the nation came to Washington, DC recently to ask President Clinton's help in dealing with violent crime. The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the crime and murder rate has reached staggering proportions in recent years says, although more police is one solution, it's perhaps more important to confront this nation's culture of violence. Mayor Hector Luis Acevedo.

In Puerto Rico, we have now the National Guard in the public [inaudible]. We have this year more than 100 murders more than last year.

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.

Latino voters in New York could be a key force in that city's upcoming mayoral race. That's what recent polls say, as Latino USA's Mandalit del Barco reports.

A New York Times WCBS poll shows more than 1200 Latino voters giving Mayor David Dinkins a 40% approval rating. They were split in their support between Dinkins and a Republican challenger, Rudolph Giuliani. But analysts say the results prove a growing political power in the city where one of every four New Yorkers is Latino. Another survey by the Hispanic Federation of New York City shows Latinos don't think the mayor's doing a good job, but if the election were held today, they would vote for Dinkins. In the last election, Dinkins got about 70% of the Latino vote. Some say that's because Latinos here believe they shared a political agenda with the city's first African-American mayor. The poll shows continued support for the mayor with a warning that the quality of life must improve for Latinos in the city. The picture that emerged from the thousand Latinos polled was one of anger and despair about discrimination, education, the economy, crime, and drugs. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.