Posted on 05/01/2006 4:17:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Chinese food or a hamburger were easy to come by in the Mission District on Monday. Doughnuts or bagels? No problem. But in a neighborhood where every other storefront seems to house a tacqueria, you would have been hard-pressed to find a burrito.
With leaders of the national "Day Without Immigrants" calling for an economic boycott, many Hispanic-owned businesses closed for the day in the city's unofficial Latin quarter and throughout California, encouraging employees to participate in the massive protest marches.
"Today, no - no working and no buying," said Enrique Varguas, 28, who rescheduled a dozen or so landscaping appointments so he could participate in San Francisco's demonstration. "They will see how much money immigrants spend, and how much immigrants contribute to the economy of the country."
Though participation in the work stoppage was uneven and hard to gauge, its impact was hardly limited to Hispanic neighborhoods in a state that relies heavily on immigrant labor. Building contractors in many communities canceled jobs, appliance stores curtailed deliveries, parents scrambled to make alternative child care arrangements and farms had fewer people to pick produce.
At the state Capitol in Sacramento, the California Legislature canceled its floor sessions and the two onsite cafeterias remained latched because not enough employees showed up. Yet many large manufacturers, including the Farmer John meatpacking plant in Los Angeles and Gallo Wine's plants in Modesto, Fresno, Sonoma and other cities reported they were near fully staffed.
Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic development Corp., said the economic fallout of the one-day boycott could be as high as $200 million in Los Angeles County. The estimate, a fraction of the $1.2 billion in economic activity the county generates daily, consisted of business lost on Monday and took into consideration commerce that would be made up later in the week.
Throughout the state, employers seemed eager to accommodate employees if they could. Fencing contractor Justin Lena had to postpone five of the six jobs he had scheduled in the San Francisco suburbs until Saturday after 14 of his 16 employees said they would not be coming to work.
Lena filled in, shoveling gravel. But he wasn't upset, especially after his most veteran employee told him his friends and family would be angry with him if he breached the boycott.
"The Mexican guys I have who work for me, they are absolutely fantastic workers. I've had Asian, I've had black and I've had white. (Hispanics) are the most hardworking, dedicated, family oriented, focused people I've ever had work for me," said Lena, 26. "The backbone of my business is on their shoulders."
Carmen Murray, owner of Rodeo Carpet Mills in Commerce, Calif., said she was operating on a skeleton staff Monday as two-thirds of her 33-person work force took the day off to attend rallies. She said her workers asked weeks in advance and were allowed to use vacation time.
"We thought it was important for them and we wanted to support their feelings," Murray said.
In food-loving San Francisco, owner Laurie Thomas made a deal with workers at her Rose Pistola restaurant: she would keep the Italian eatery shut for lunch if the night crew promised to show up for dinner. A sign on the door informed patrons of the closure, but didn't give the reason.
"I don't feel compelled to make a big statement about it," Thomas said. "We need to do what's right to run the business and sometimes that includes compromise."
Farmworker advocates claimed the boycott put a significant dent in one of the state's signature industries. The United Farm Workers union said the boycott shut down grape, strawberry and citrus harvests throughout California for the day.
"This really demonstrates the power that we have when we're unified," UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said from a rally in Salinas.
But agricultural interests said farmers were prepared for the boycott and would probably not suffer. Many farms and packing plants let their workers take the time off while others rearranged schedules to make up for missed work on Monday, California Farm Bureau Federation spokesman Dave Kranz said.
Sean McNally, a spokesman for Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield, said the company was down to less than 30 percent of its normal work force, but didn't have to close any of its vegetable-growing operations.
"We made it clear there would be no repercussions if they wanted to take that day off. We wanted them to feel free to express themselves," McNally said.
While industries with heavily Hispanic staffs saw the biggest impact, the boycott also had a trickle-down effect. Bay Area 2nd Mom Inc., a Palo Alto-based caregiver referral service, saw a sharp increase in calls on Sunday and Monday from parents who needed a last-minute nanny or baby sitter, said Chief Executive Shalini Azariah.
"Today our phones are just ringing off the hook," Azariah said.
For some enterprises, that meant a boon in business. With so most other restaurants closed, Wan Kee, a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District, did brisk lunchtime business.
"We have to eat, too," said Francisco Sanchez, 25, an ice cream vendor, tucking into a plate of rice and stir-friend scallops before he headed off to San Francisco's protest.
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Associated Press Writers Terence Chea, Gary Gentile, Olivia Munoz and Don Thompson contributed to this story.
I know of a Mexican restuarant in Phoenix I will be going to again. They were opened and staying so, "as long as nothing goes wrong".
Yeah. They just clog up your arteries (as does pretty much all Mexican food).
I missed O'Reilly tonight, but it repeats at 11. I'll catch it then and thanks for the tip.
Your namesake!
My guess is this thing is big in the inner city Democrat-led bastions on liberalism, like SF and LA (and a mini-effect here in Austin), and meaningless elsewhere.
For me: Just another manic Monday.
Yes, there is. Some towns are starting to pass ordinances against this kind of thing. Pressure yours to do the same.
I liked what a caller to Rush's show said about the boycott and protests. He wanted illegals to be banned from all emergency rooms, free gov't services, etc., for the same length of time to see how it all balances out.
LOL!
"Ummm... we're sorry ma'am.. there seems to be some problem with this credit card..."
Sorry if this point has already been made, but I'm too tired to read the whole thread. I wonder if they also said "No--No welfare benefits for today, no uninsured illegals at the hospitals today, no Latino gangs killing babies in drive-bys today." Now THAT might make a positive impact.
The media will make sure people THINK this was a big success! At least where I am, it was not!
Great to hear! We just moved away from the N.VA (DC) area out a bit. Between a WMD attack on our country, which is imminent, and the concentration of gangs and illegals, we just bolted. N.VA inside the beltway has become a sh%#hole over the last decade.
Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, the major newspapers, and so on : nothing but globalist-controlled media.
Who, in there right mind, would trust their kids to a person who is illegal, and whose past could never be verified? They could molest your kids and sell the videos in Mexico when they returned to be splashed all over the net. Or, worse yet, while you are gone, they could just take your kids back over the border and sell them deep into Mexico to have videos made and you would never know the true identity of the "undocumented worker" that took your kids. As a boy growing up in southern Texas, we were always aware of kidnappers that sold kids across the borders (and that was before the Internet perverted a lot of these people). Some parents are freakin nuts.
What a boor you are.
So why are your union's members only making pennies per hour with no retirement and only the tax payers to take care of their health benefits?
Who, in there right mind, would trust their kids to a person who is illegal, and whose past could never be verified?
The same kind of person who risk exposing their children to TB, mumps, etc.
Ummmm.... that would not be recommended! (but I understand the sentiment!)
Wal-mart and the megamart I can see but the furniture store?
"I will not return to the old restaurant. Both restaurants are owned and run by immigrants, just one group screwed themselves."
Yep. My favorite Pancake House which is owned by legal Albanian immigrants was open for business today. I didn't dine there; had other plans, but I called just to see. They'll continue to get my Sunday Brunch business. :)
I think people are compiling lists in towns and cities all across America today, comparing and contrasting who REALLY contributes to The American Dream and who is here for the Free Ride or for (sadly) other nefarious reasons.
I don't think the protesting illegals realize what damage they've done for their bogus "cause" today, but in reality, their Marxist HANDLERS are to blame because this ended up being more of a "Mother Sheehan Dog & Pony Show" than anything else.
People have criticized me in the past for not being out there counter-protesting these types of things, but why bother? The dopes always end up saying more about themselves and showing us more of "The Man Behind the Curtain" than anything I could ever achieve by attending a counter-protest. They make my political life way too easy, LOL! :)
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