A great visit today from President Fox. My only concern was that he was not able to see more of the city. Council member Schiff and I had a conversation with the consulate in Chicago when we first heard and proposed a plan to meet him at City Hall, hop on the light rail to Lake and then tour the street...ending at Mercado Central. But there was just not enough time.
But the people in his delegation, including the secretary for north American affairs, agreed that they should make a visit later to see everything that is happening in Minneapolis. It was really encouraging to see so many people in the delegation make a point of saying that they had no idea how much is going on in Minneapolis. The big new is that President Fox announced that there will be a full time consulate in either Minneapolis or St. Paul....This is extremely important for our Mexican resident. Here are my remarks, the last part of which I delivered in well-intentioned but really halting Spanish: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minneapolis is a city filled with visual signs of the progress being made by Mexicans and Mexican Americans. A walk down any of our major commercial streets, especially Lake Street, or into Mercado Central, will show you one store after the other powered by Mexican and Mexican Americans entrepreneurs. Your presence here honors their work. But your presence also honors the work of those Mexican and Mexican Americans who are not visible. While we eat in our restaurants, they toil in the kitchens; they mow the lawns in our best neighborhoods; at night when we go home they clean our office buildings for the next day. They prepared this room for us tonight. It is these unseen residents of both of our countries who deserve our special attention. They are why Minneapolis was one of the first cities in the nation to recognize the matricula consular, why our police continue to work on outreach, why I....and so many other Minneapolis citizens...will continue to be outspoken advocates for immigrant rights and why we are so pleased tonight to learn of your decision to have a full time Mexican consulate in Minnesota. We are building our cities and countries together with the sweat and ingenuity of Mexicans and Americans. Our futures--both seen and unseen---will be forever linked. ------------------------------------------------------------------ En Espa�ol Presidente Fox, bienvenido a Minneapolis. Minneapolis es una ciudad llena de comprobantes visuales hechos por el esfuerzo de Mexicanos y M�xico-Americanos. Al caminar por cualquiera de nuestras principales calles comerciales, especialmente la Calle Lake, o al entrar al Mercado Central, se demuestra tienda tras tienda con la potencia y energ�a de empresarios Mexicanos y M�xico-Americanos. Su presencia aqu� otorga honor al trabajo de ellos. Pero su presencia tambi�n brinda honor al trabajo de aquellos Mexicanos y sus descendientes quienes no son visibles. Mientras comemos en nuestros restaurantes, ellos se esfuerzan en las cocinas; ellos cortan el c�sped de nuestras mejores vecindades, y en la noche cuando nos vamos a nuestros hogares ellos limpian nuestras oficinas para el siguiente d�a laboral. Son estos residentes invisibles de ambos pa�ses nuestros los que se merecen nuestra atenci�n especial. Es por ellos que Minneapolis fue una de las primeras ciudades en la naci�n que reconoci� la matricula consular, es el porque nuestra fuerza polic�aca continua trabajando en la educaci�n comunitaria, es el porque yo... y tantos otros ciudadanos de Minneapolis... continuar� la defensa y abogac�a franca de los derechos del inmigrante y es el porque es tan esencial que esta regi�n tenga un consulado Mexicano. Estamos construyendo nuestras ciudades y nuestros pa�ses con el sudor y la ingenuidad de Mexicanos y Americanos y nuestros futuros - ambos los visibles y los invisibles - ser�n de por siempre enlazados. R.T. Rybak REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
