todays #Pittsburgh Post Gazette, digging into the right questions (btw, Pittsburgh ranks next to last in net #immigration among 40 U.S. cities): With national legislation on immigrants stalled, it’s up to individual cities to encourage the growth of an immigrant population in relation to the restaurant community. But it’s not easy. “How can we help all types of immigrants find their footing in our cities?” asked Richard T. Herman, an immigration lawyer based in Cleveland. He’s the author with Robert L. Smith of “Immigrant, Inc: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs are Driving the New Economy.” “There is economic juice in a rich mix of immigrants, from a variety of cultures, and a variety of educational and industry backgrounds,” he wrote in an email. “Often, they are inter-connected and interdependent. For example, high-skill immigrants want to live in a place that offers authentic native-food restaurants, their ethnic grocery stores, their churches/temples/mosques, etc. “Merchant and blue-collar immigrants can help cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit grow the population and provide a new wave of homeowners and consumers to help revitalize older, distressed neighborhoods, replenish outmigration and tax base and preserve manufacturing jobs.” He cited Pittsburgh as being “out front,” in terms of encouraging immigrants to move to Pittsburgh. In May, Mayor Bill Peduto launched the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative, in which he acknowledged that, for the city to thrive, it must be attractive to a new generation of immigrants. Mr. Peduto’s goal is to bring 20,000 new immigrants to the city in 10 years. Mr. Herman also noted that the administration can acknowledge the presence of undocumented workers by encouraging a city ID program, which allows these individuals to have access to libraries, schools and other core services. Among examples are the combination photo identification and debit cards in Oakland, Calif., the New Haven Resident Card in Connecticut and New York City’s municipal ID card that comes with discounts or free tickets to cultural institutions. “Historically, immigrants have gravitated toward restaurants,” Mr. Herman said, citing his in-laws from Thailand who opened a restaurant in the U.S. when they arrived here. He used the example to encourage immigrants attending local universities to consider another avenue: to start their own restaurants through the E2 Treaty Investor visa, which allows foreign nationals from treaty countries such as Turkey, Japan and Mexico, to invest here and to stay in the U.S. post-gazette/newimmigrants/2014/11/09/Pittsburgh-s-New-Immigrants-City-lacks-immigrants-to-staff-local-restaurants/stories/201411090020 Ivan Gomez VoceroLatino Cleveland Todd Q. Adams Azaadjeet Singh George Burke Jeff Su Frank Krajenke Richard Romero Shannon Anicas Helena Larios Thomas Buell Jr. Guadalupe Velasquez John O. RamosRibera Lourdes Maritza Motino Josue Vicente Tom Kerr
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 13:15:33 +0000
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