SUCKING THE BLOOD OUT OF OUR COMMUNITY

I am so frustrated at the dramatic change our Latino West Side has succumbed to. No longer see Latino people walking down our neighborhoods; now, all I see is White Europeans (professionals/college students/preppies).  What is going on here? Gentrification in the making? A good example is 925-926 West Avenue. Is this building available for affordable housing, at least 30% of it?? NO!!!!

Down the street on 10th Street/Virginia Street, we have a Methadone clinic, and most of the clients are not people of color. They are young and older white (Europeans) faces, and none speak Spanish.

Can you believe that we are accommodating two hundred plus heroin addicts in this facility called, Alba De Vida (PROMESA.), a program funded by a New York City operation run by the brother who administers and heads the program on Virginia Street, based at the Hispanics United of Buffalo (HUB).

Here is information I found based on my initial research:

A 10th Street resident was going to the store with her 4-year old daughter and a heroin dealer offered her “Manteca” (heroin in Spanish). The resident reprimanded him and asked the dealer if he would please not mention those things in front of her child. The heroin dealer responded: “Business is business, I have to make money.” All she would replay is, “please, I want my family to stay and be safe.”

This led me to the question: What has our Puerto Rican/Latino Councilman David Rivera (Niagara District Council), and his supporters, accomplished for our community?? I will tell you: Gentrification has taken over; and, a run-down and neglected public library was named after a well-known community leader, Isaias Gonzalez-Soto.

I visit this Library regularly, and it needs a lot of repairs and renovation.  There is an election coming up in the 149th Assembly District. Please do yourself a favor: there are three candidates running in the primary on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020. Do not vote for JON RIVERA He has no ties whatsoever in our community.

If you want to see a change for the better, vote for one of the two candidates – Adam Bojak or Roberto Quintana.  These two candidates really care about our lower west side community. Rivera was put up by the political machine, a machine sucking blood out of our community.

We are ready for a real change!  Our COMUNIDAD is in jeopardy. Just look around and ask yourself: “What positive changes have Puerto Ricans/Latinos experienced in the last five or ten years? Where is our growth and development? I do not see it! Do you???