Posted on 05/18/2006 8:49:28 AM PDT by poisonivy27
The subway system serving the nation’s capital had a different look and feel yesterday, featuring fare signs and announcements in Spanish to assist with an influx of illegal-immigrant supporters who were lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Throughout the day, audible announcements that are piped through Metro’s system came through in both English and Spanish. At station entrances, Spanish-language signs explained the cost of a ride. Metro also boosted the presence of Spanish-speaking employees at stations.
The efforts came in response to the April 10 protests in Washington, which drew tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to the National Mall. Operators of the transit system were able to manage the large crowds of people taking the train that day, but this time around they wanted to make sure Spanish-speaking riders were able to understand instructions and fare information.
Joanne Ferreira, who works in Metro’s communications office, helped coordinate Metro’s response to yesterday’s activities. She speaks fluent Spanish and communicates with the Hispanic media on behalf of Metro.
“Little by little, we’re trying to use every resource that we have to not only get the information out in English, but also Spanish,” Ferreira said. “Yesterday, because of the rally, we put everything out there.”
Yesterday’s turnout—about 2,000, according to estimates—was significantly smaller then the April 10 rally. In fact, Ferreira said, it caused little strain on the system.
“For yesterday’s rally, we wanted to make sure customers didn’t have any problems getting their fare cards,” she said. “We tried to put Spanish-speaking employees in the system, but we were expecting a much bigger crowd like we had in April. We don’t have a lot of Spanish-speaking employees who could be out there helping the masses of people who are coming into the stations, so that’s why wanted to put the paper signs there to help get the information out.”
Ferreira said the money for the paper signs came from Metro’s budget for special events. She said there has been some talk of making Spanish-language signs a permanent fixture on Metro, but no decisions have been made about such a plan.
Why was "mlc" banned???
I know we've been sparring with him, but he hasn't done anything so bad!
The funny thing here is he usually is very conservative (almost always on my side, if you will ;-) ). I was really shocked to see him so "pro-Spanish".
Regardless, I don't understand why he was ZOTted.
We should accept payment in pesos too.
SO are you saying your office represents known Illegals?
If so, I hope you are quite happy with aiding known law breakers.
A good commentary on this foolishness would be to make up signs in Klingon or Elvish and slap them up right next to those signs.
They would not be allowed to come until they could already demonstrate fluency in the ENglish language. After all that is the rule now.
I would like to see them fluent enough to read a ballot, to read signs in stores, to read ATM's, you know all the things a person needs to be able to do when in a nation that does not speak their native tounge.
AH I guess that means I should no longer post to em eh?
I'm saying it's the ONLY thing that will benefit them, but having signs in two languages keeps them from having to learn, having phones that say "en espanole numero uno" harms them, having bi-lingual education harms no only them but harms American kids who already KNOW english.
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