Immigration Issues

Growing With the Community

Hispanic Businesses Fill a Void and Fuel City's Revitalization
By Lila Arzua, Washington Post Staff Writer
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Submitted by Jorge Ribas

With its wide aisles and meticulously stocked shelves, the store in Olde Towne Gaithersburg looks like a smaller version of any other chain supermarket -- almost. Here there are more than 55 kinds of beans in a spectrum of colors, and an entire section of a wall is dedicated to spices. The shelf above the Pantene shampoo offers hairdressing potions with garlic and avocado. And a collection of piñatas dangles from the ceiling at Center Market Morazan.

Along eight blocks of East Diamond Avenue and elsewhere in Olde Towne sits an enclave of Hispanic-owned businesses: the grocery store, a bakery, several Salvadoran restaurants, a bookstore, a hair salon, clothing stores and businesses that send goods and money to Latin America. Most of the signs are in Spanish, and televisions at bars and restaurants are tuned to futbol -- soccer, not football -- and telenovelas, or soap operas.

A decade ago, this aging commercial area, once Gaithersburg's primary downtown, was struggling and run-down. But a revitalization effort by the city and a rush by Hispanic entrepreneurs to serve Gaithersburg's growing Hispanic population have helped give it a new identity. Of nearly 300 businesses in Olde Towne, about 40 are Hispanic-owned and almost all of them have opened within the past five years.

"People want to be close to the market they want to entice," said Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz, owner of Wolfson's clothing store in Olde Towne.

His grandparents, who had emigrated from Lithuania, opened the store in 1918. Katz said he thinks today's immigrants are drawn by the same qualities that brought his family to the city: employment, a strong educational system and housing. "They're looking for a good place to raise their family," he said.

From 1990 to 2000, the Hispanic population in Gaithersburg jumped from 3,694 people, or 9.3 percent of the total, to 10,398, or nearly 20 percent of the 53,000 residents. The city, which is the third largest in Maryland, is nearly 42 percent minority, according to the 2000 Census.

Owner Neftali Granados opened his Center Market Morazan in 2001, his third in the Washington area. He did it because his other store in Olde Towne, Morazan No. 2, was so successful that he needed extra freezer capacity and storage space.

Granados, who left the Morazan region of El Salvador at 18, spent seven years as a merchant marine in Greece. He came to Washington in 1982 and worked as a dishwasher. After asking a head chef what he was earning, "I discovered restaurant work paid very little," said Granados, who decided to go into construction. He became an apprentice carpenter and moved up to supervisor. He eventually started his own construction business.

Granados said a secret to his grocery enterprise has been incorporating services such as money orders, wire transfers and check cashing at the stores and carrying conventional U.S. products.

"If it's selling, we don't take it away. Here we don't sell by race; we sell by market," he said, adding that about a third of the customers are not Hispanic.

In 1996, Gaithersburg launched a 25-year plan to revitalize Olde Towne. With $40 million from public and private sources, the city provided grants to help shopkeepers renovate their storefronts, and a developer was given land on which to build office space. A city parking garage also has been built.

Jorge Ribas, who owns a computer consulting business near Olde Towne, noticed the influx of Hispanic-owned businesses and last fall began planning the Western Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which became a reality this past summer. About 30 businesses -- mostly along the Interstate 270 and Interstate 70 corridors in Gaithersburg, Germantown, Frederick and Hagerstown -- have joined the group, which is a member of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"Our group wants to organize businesses in the Hispanic community so we can achieve greater economic growth," Ribas said. He added that priorities for the organization include educating potential entrepreneurs, helping them secure capital and representing them as a voice to elected officials.

Over the past decade, the new businesses in Olde Towne have in some ways become victims of their success. Part of the lure of the commercial area was its relatively cheap rents, which have increased over the past decade from about $7 to $10 a square foot to $17 to $20, Ribas said. Low vacancy rates make it hard to find space.

Nevertheless, some shopkeepers keep looking for ways to expand. Maria Luisa Corvera, who owns Paul Marie Hair Salon on East Diamond Avenue, for example, is considering starting a beauty school. Carlos Reyes moved his Guatemalteca Bakery one block down East Diamond Avenue to a building three times larger. Competitors opened another bakery in his former space, and Reyes said he hopes to launch another shop soon.

"When they become successful, they reinvest in Olde Towne," said Cindy Hines, the city's Olde Towne coordinator, who works as a liaison with the area's residents and businesses.

Along with its new opportunities, the revitalization of the area has brought the difficulties of urbanization. Many businesspeople are especially concerned about the increase in the number of loiterers and in littering in recent years. A month ago, Gaithersburg police began to meet with merchants and distribute fliers encouraging them to report illegal public drinking.

Storekeepers report that young men often hang out idly in front of storefronts, catcalling women and dropping cigarette butts on the ground. "We hear remarks from some customers," said Basil Waters, who said the atmosphere has a negative effect on his Waters Appliance Service, which he opened on East Diamond Avenue 40 years ago. "A lot of people don't seem to want to come to the area."

Jose Antonio Deras, a native of Honduras who owns several stores in the Washington area, said burglars recently stole $50,000 worth of goods from a shop on East Diamond Avenue where he sells jewels, clothes, food and toiletries.

Ribas said his group is trying to organize a crime watch for local businesses. In the meantime, Gaithersburg officials are planning to work with Montgomery County on a campaign to cut down on public drinking.

Still, businesspeople said the Olde Towne area is desirable and welcoming to minority-owned businesses.

Nancy P. Muñoz, a native of Ecuador, owns Nazar Servicios Financieros on North Summit Avenue, a financial business that secures mortgages and refinancing and provides income tax preparation. She conducts almost all the transactions in Spanish.

Clients "feel so much more confident with someone who knows their language," said Muñoz, who started the business in the basement of her home six years ago. Next month she plans to open a second office in Frederick. She also plans to become licensed to sell insurance.

"When I moved here, there was already a big Hispanic population, but it's definitely expanded," said Steven Clark, who opened Clark Chiropractic Center on East Diamond Avenue 13 years ago. "You go down to the corner, and you feel like you're in Central America."

He said the changing demographics have been good for his business, which advertises "Se Habla Español" on its outdoor placard and has several Hispanic employees. Clark has learned enough Spanish to communicate with his customers, about three-fourths of whom are from Latin America.

Assistant City Manager Tony Tomasello said the competitive environment has inspired non-Hispanic businesses to start catering to Hispanics, and Hispanic businesses to expand their clientele as well.

"It became well-known there was a market for Hispanic businesses in Olde Towne, and a lot of people have responded to that information," said Tomasello, who added that profitable merchants generally can't rely on just one segment of the population for their market.

That is a lesson evident to rotisserie owner Edilberto Ore, who caters to a mix of residents at Junior's Chicken. His menu features standard Peruvian fare, such as corn with cheese. But his secret recipe for chicken cooked on long metal skewers appeals to all.

Ore, a grocery store owner who had never been a cook, learned the method a few months ago in an 18-day crash course when the chef he had wanted to hire couldn't get a visa into the United States.

Nurse Ruby Haberkamp realized her lifelong dream of owning a bookstore of Spanish titles in 1994. At first she hired someone to run the store, but that didn't work out. So she started a nutritional business, which she operates out of the bookstore.

"You have to be really at your job for it to be a success," Haberkamp said.

Today she brings clients to a small office at Libreria Diamante Bookstore on North Summit Avenue to discuss their diets. "Historia Viva," by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and other Spanish-language bestsellers line the walls, along with books about religion and health and a selection of children's material.

"I developed this store for the customers," said Haberkamp, a native of Colombia. She also sells music and mementos and plans to sell products online next year. "It has to be done the way they want."

That can as simple as the personal touch.

At Guatemalteca Bakery around the corner, Jose T. Andino's shopping bags were full of freshly baked bread.

"Here they have almost all the products from home," said Andino, a native of Honduras. "It's not just the selection that brings him here. "One can come in and talk the same language here. I can even chat with the owner."

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

LEGISLATORS SUPPORT LIMITING DRIVING LICENSES
By Robert Redding Jr.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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Submitted by Carmen Camacho


A bill that would bar illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses is gaining bipartisan support among Maryland lawmakers.

"I think this is a bill that cuts across party lines," said Delegate Herbert H. McMillan, Anne Arundel County Republican who filed the bill last week. "I don't think it even has to have a party stamp on it."

The bill, which would require an applicant to be a Iegal U.S. resident to obtain a driver's license, has gained support from at least three Democrats and 15 Republicans since Mr. McMillan told The Washington
Times in October that he would submit the bill.

Majority Whip Emmett C. Burns Jr., Baltimore Democrat, said he opposes the bill because it "is just bad policy both economically and politically" and "opens the door for other bills for undocumented" aliens.

"I have been here all my life and it seems like they have more opportunities than me, and I'm documented," said Mr. Burns, who is black.

Delegate Rosetta C. Parker, Prince George's County Democrat, said she is supporting the bill because the threat of terrorists misusing state-issued identification is too high.

"I am not against people getting improvement, but I am against them getting it illegally," she said. "With all the problems we are having now, we cannot be too careful."

Delegate Kevin Kelly, Allegany County Democrat, said the idea of giving licenses to illegal immigrants is "nuts."

"I think it positively absurd and dangerous to issue driver's licenses to people who are in this country illegally," said Mr. Kelly, another co-sponsor. "If you are illegal and in this nation, you should be promptly deported ... If you are illegal, you should not be here to board airplanes and crash them into buildings."

Some of the terrorists who hijacked and crashed a jetliner into the Pentagon on September 11 had obtained driver's licenses and other identification in Virginia. The state since has barred illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses; the new law takes effect next month.

Meanwhile, California this month repealed a law that allowed illegal aliens to get driver's licenses. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, made the repeal a campaign pledge in the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who had signed the driver's license law in September.

Mr. McMillan has proposed his bill to respond to a legal opinion by state Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr.

In October, Mr. Curran instructed the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) to issue driver's licenses to immigrants even if they cannot "prove [their] lawful presence" in the United States. He also said the agency may use immigration documents to verify identity "when other satisfactory identification is unavailable."

Anne S. Ferro, former MVA administrator, has said Mr. Curran's opinion supports procedures already in place at the agency, which accepts passports, visas and other immigration documents if applicants have no U.S. birth certificates.

Mr. Curran's written opinion follows efforts by Delegate Ana S. Gutierrez to give illegal aliens more access to driver's licenses. Miss Gutierrez, Montgomery County Democrat, has been appointed to a task force to study the issue.

"Giving privileges to people who are breaking the law is an insult to those who abide by it," said Delegate John R. Leopold, Anne Arundel County Republican and a co-sponsor of the McMillan bill. "One of the lessons of September 11 was the ease with which illegal immigrants can be a threat to our security by virtue of having access to driver's
licenses."
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This article was mailed from The Washington Times
(http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20031216-094201-9179r.htm)
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