Benny Torres and Ricardo Montano Partner to Serve Latinos in Hampton Bay

The Latino population has exploded across the Hamptons of LI -- +94.2% in the Town of East Hampton; +140.3% in the Town of Southampton; and +118.9% in the Town of Shelter Island -- so it's no surprise that Latino businesses are growing as well.

Fiesta Auto in Hampton Bays (+154.7%) is one of the new businesses catering to the area's growing Latino community. The entrepreneur is local resident Benny Torres. According to the 27east.com story, the enterprise is unique because it offers a full menu of services -- insurance, tax and legal assistance -- in partnership with Ricardo Montano's law firm Ferruggia and Calisto, LLP.

Seeking a new venture, [Benny] Torres decided in October to open a branch of Fiesta Auto Insurance—a national chain with 74 locations across the United States—close to his Hampton Bays home. The West Montauk Highway location opened in January.

Looking to further bridge the language gap for Latinos by also offering them access to bilingual legal representation, Mr. Torres said he reached out to an old friend, Suffolk County Legislator Ricardo Montano, a partner with the Hauppauge law firm Ferruggia and Calisto, LLP.

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Vigil & Rally To Protest the Death of Facundo Gonzalez - 2.8.09, 1pm, Southampton

Vigil & Rally

To Protest the Death of Facundo Gonzalez

Sunday, February 8

1:PM

232 North Sea Road, Southampton

Facundo Gonzalez, killed on January 5 at a Southampton construction site, was the third worker killed on LI in several months. He is the second Long Island immigrant worker killed at work in two months.

Nationally, unsafe conditions or negligence kills 1,000 immigrant workers on the job each year. Over 5,800 U.S. workers die on the job yearly. Hundreds of thousands more are sickened or seriously injured.

Join Us To:

Remember Facundo Gonzalez and other workers who are killed, injured or made sick on the job.
Raise public awareness about this often hidden side of the sacrifices made by immigrant workers on Long Island.
For more information: 516-565-5377 or 631-435-1857.

Sponsored by: The Long Island Immigrant Alliance, The Immigrant Worker Occupational Health and Safety Committee of the Workplace Project, NYCOSH ( New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health), East Hampton Anti-Bias Task Force, Organizacion Latino Americano of Eastern Long Island, Jobs With Justice, and the Southampton Anti-Bias Task Force.

Staff Sgt Edwin Gomez Surprises Angelica

“Daddy!”

Six-year-old Angelica Gomez looked up to see her father, Staff Sergeant Edwin Gomez, standing at the entrance of her kindergarten classroom. “I told ya,” she offered as an aside to her classmates as she rushed across the room and into her father’s arms.

Staff Sgt. Edwin Gomez reunites with his daughter Angelica in her kindergarten class at Southampton's Tuckahoe Common School.

Links:
Video
Photo series
Father reunites with his daughters after a year in Afghanistan - 27east

Southampton Town Staffer Benched for Racist Threats

A Town of Southampton staffer is on unpaid leave for allegedly sending other town employees racist and threatening messages related to the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency. Town Supervisor Linda Kabot confirmed the case and that the U.S. Secret Service is involved.

Link:
Southampton Town employee suspended for sending racist messages

Angel Rojas Wins Westhampton Beach Hurricane 5K; Jorge Flores Captures Triple Crown

Hampton Bays’ Angel Rojas, 22, won Saturday's Hurricane 5K in Westhampton Beach in 17 minutes, 23 seconds.

Other Latinos with terrific outings, include: Water Mill’s Doroteo Soledad, 33, who won the Quogue Hudsy 5K a week earlier, netting fourth place in 18:23; and 37 year old Jorge Flores (East Hampton) with a 7th place showing at 18:33.

Flores won the Hamptons Triple Crown with the best overall performance in the season's 5K competitions: 7th at the Hurricane, 4th at the Hudsy, and a 16th at the Koziarz. (Rojas did not compete in the Koziarz - a race won by NYC/Mexico's Antonio Blas, 23, with a time of 16:34.)

Twelve-year-old Isabella Torres of Westhampton was first across the line in the 12-and-under group (24:26).

Photos: top - Angel Rojas (L) in the red top and blue shorts at the start of the Hurricane 5K (by Brett Mauser); bottom - Antonio Blas at the 18th annual Joe Koziarz Memorial 5K (See photo series on 27East).

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What Can Brown Do for You? @ Esperanza Leon's Solar Gallery in East Hampton

What Can Brown Do for You?

That's the name of the show at Solar, a lively exhibition venue in East Hampton directed by Esperanza Leon.

No, it's not about the company with the ubiquitous brown delivery trucks. Instead, it's an examination of the underside of the American economy: the exploitation of immigrant workers.

The show continues a theme that included Solar's 2004 show “Spanglish”.

Incongruity marks many of the works in Solar Gallery's present show; simply put, the effects are delicious and daunting. And risk-taking. It's not that these examples are necessarily surreal, yet in a way they cannot deny their surreal roots. More to the point, the pieces make social and political statements, some more subtle than others, that reflect the sensibilities of the current times. And that give dignity to the working class. Marion Wolberg Weiss, Arts Commentator, Dan's Hamptons - 9.19.08

Esperanza Leon, an immigrant from Venezuela, founded Solar in 2001 to showcase little known Latin American and U.S. Latino artists, as well as nonLatino artists investigating Latino themes.

For example, Brown includes:

Sheila Breck's Shadow Economy is a collection of the portraits of day laborers at the 7-Eleven in Farmingville.

Dulce Pinzon’s photographs document Mexican immigrant workers in New York City who withstand “extreme conditions of labor” in order to help their families to survive and prosper.

Aurelio Torres' work portrays the figure of the gardener or landscaper.

Also included are works by Santiago Garza, Christa Maiwald, Esperanza Mayobre and Michael Pribich.

The show can be seen through November 3, 2008.

Links:
"What Brown Can Do For You?" At Solar Gallery
Leon Delivers At Solar Gallery
Solar Gallery

Minerva Perez Scelza on OLA Latino Film Festival

“Sometimes we see that there is not a great message being put out there about the Latino community, but this film festival is a real prime way to celebrate the positive aspects. I hope that the celebration won’t just end with watching a film, but with really building a positive image within the rest of the community.”

Executive Director Minerva Perez Scelza on OLA Latino Film Festival

The first installment of the fifth annual OLA Latino Film Festival will be held at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton on Friday, October 3, followed by a second evening with two new films at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday, October 25.

Link: 'Journeys' is theme of this year's Ola Film Festival - 27east.com
Related: OLA's 5th Latino Film Festival
OLA's Children's Art Project Features Hector de Cordova

Popular Mexican Restaurant Closed by Town of East Hampton

Why is a restaurant employing a dozen or so locals, paying its share of taxes, and providing a valued service to its patrons, shuttered in this period of severe economic turbulence seems foolish?

Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Town of East Hampton has done to the Hideaway Restaurant, a beloved and popular Mexican on West Lake Drive in Montauk.

The official reason is that while the dock-side eatery has a state liquor license and a restaurant permit from the county, it lacks a CofO and a site plan. Hideaway was part of a marina whose owners sought to diversify in order to weather a downturn in its boating business. Waterside restaurant within or near marinas are common across Long Island. It's smart business. But I guess that government officials in East Hampton are not up for creating win-win situations. Too bad.

Of course, when you look at the faces of the people losing their livelihoods, one begins to see another possible motivation. Truth is that government can be dumb. And it can be downright retarded during times of sharp demographic shifts.

Link: Season Ends Early at the Hideaway

OLA's 5th Latino Film Festival

OLA of Eastern Long Island, Inc. holds its 5th Latino Film Festival this October at various Hamptons venues.

The schedule includes film screenings October 3rd (Parish Art Museum, Southampton) and October 25th (Guild Hall, East Hampton), as well as an October 4th OLA Fund Raiser Fiesta at Ziggy's of Bridgehampton.

The films are Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman, Carlos Sorín's El Perro, Juan Carlos Cremata's Viva Cuba, and Lucía Puenzo's XXY.

All are welcomed.

For more information, please call 631.726.6526 or visit www.holaola.org.

Southampton Targets Diner's 'Hispanic Night'

Frank and Maria Vlahadamis of a Hamptons Bay Diner have filed a $55 million federal lawsuit against the Town of Southampton and its police department, alleging they tried to stop the restaurant from holding Hispanic Nights.

When they found out about Hispanic Night, town officials sought to "prevent the plaintiffs from continuing to draw Hispanics into their restaurant, and punish them for doing so in the first instance," the suit said.

Juan Crow in Southampton? Did the Town act in violation of the rights of the restaurant owners and their Latino patrons? A federal court will now decide -- and that's a good thing!

BTW: The Hampton Bays Diner has a terrific Spanish Menu. Spread the word!

Link: Diner owners: Southampton targeted 'Hispanic Night'

Juan Crow

OLA's Children's Art Project Features Hector de Cordova

Through the generosity of the town of Southampton, OLA of Eastern Long Island, a Latino advocacy group, has received a grant once again for the Children’s Art Project.

The purpose of the painting workshops is to bring children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds together in order to foster greater understanding and mutual respect for each other.

Established artist, Hector de Cordova will work with youths, ages 8 to 12 from diverse cultural backgrounds to participate in this intensive painting instruction to be held at the Veteran’s Hall in Southampton.

The project will culminate in three exhibits of the children’s work; at Veteran’s Hall and Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton and at Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport.

The Children’s Art Project is currently looking for children who can fit the profile of the workshop.

The classes will be held at the Veteran’s Hall in Southampton beginning on Monday July 21 through Friday July 25. Classes will be from 10am to one pm each day. Classes are free and enrollment is limited.

Please contact the deCordova Gallery at 631-477-0620 or e mail at decordovastudio@optonline.net.