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April 2008:
Tenants speak out!

April 24, 2008

Barry Carter, Reporter
The Star Ledger
1 Star Ledger Plaza
Newark, NJ, 07102

Re: Rejoinder to Article

Dear Mr. Carter:

As you are aware, CWA Local 1081 has for many years worked proudly and well with you as you have responsibly documented issues of sociological import in your role as a reporter for The Star Ledger. Similarly, our Union has observed, with admiration, the topics your articles have covered and how well they’ve been executed.

A recent case in point is the article of April 23, 2008 you wrote, entitled “After losing everything in fire, family fights to find its way back”. The manner in which you articulated the fate of Leticia Rodriquez and her family, as they suffered the cruelties of a fire having destroyed nearly all of their worldly possessions, was as at once replete as it was responsive to human pathos. The photograph taken by John Boyle, of The Star Ledger, of Little Leticia as she appeared to scream and gesture “why” as she watched helplessly as her familial abode burned, worked seamlessly and economically by complementing the original article as well as yours of April 23, 2008.

However, CWA Local 1081 must take respectful umbrage with one line contained within your article when you assert, “Taking six kids with you to the welfare office and sitting all day there is grueling.” Factually, our Union has come to learn that the family waited within one of the Essex County Division of Welfare’s offices for no more than one and one-half hours the first time they visited seeking services, and approximately one-half of an hour the second time the latter due to documentary requirements.

While it’s can’t be imaginably easy to maintain a brood of six children within any given setting, not the least of which a welfare office following a family tragedy, it is important to CWA Local 1081 and our Union’s Brothers and Sisters the process of seeking social services from our agency not be depicted, no matter how innocently intended, in an underserved unflattering light.

Despite our chronic dearth of a sufficient numbers of staff to perform our tasks, this in spite of the fact the State of New Jersey has long mandated the Division of Welfare employ a total of 798 employees to be considered minimally fully staffed and the County has never achieved that total, the members of CWA Local 1081, nonetheless, trudge onward heartened by their dedication to their jobs and their work ethic despite the comparatively paltry remuneration the receive.

So, as National, State and County budgets inexorably tighten and our members’ plight worsens within the worksite, this even as we inherit the Newark General Assistance population to service starting this July, our Union envisions overcrowding within the agency’s offices exponentially exacerbating with many variables of ill effects possible, if not probable.

CWA Local 1081, therefore, respectfully requests The Star Ledger, and you, take our agency’s above cited conditions into account when reporting our toils, our tribulations and our triumphs as we work on behalf of those most in need within our society.

Sincerely,



David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081

After losing everything in fire, family fights to find its way back
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Star Ledger
Barry Carter
The anguish on Leticia Rodriguez's face was heartbreaking. She was crying and screaming, her hands outstretched, her eyes barely open. The two-family home where she lived for six months was on fire, burning out of control last week on Wainwright Street in Newark.
When the 9-year-old girl saw her picture in the paper the next day, she summed up the situation with another gut-wrenching expression. Next to her picture she wrote -- "Girl without a home."

Leticia and 10 members of her family have nowhere to go. They came from Holyoke, Mass., for a fresh start. The U-Haul trailer was packed with their belongings, being pulled by the Ford Expedition packed with the family. But everything they owned is gone now. Pictures, family heirlooms, antique collectibles, clothes, items with sentimental value.
"After we finally get settled, now this happens," said Leticia's mother, Rosie.
After the fire, residents in the neighborhood fed them. A Newark public school gave them something to wear. The American Red Cross put them up for two days at the East Orange Ramada Inn until they were placed in three connecting rooms in the Newark YMWCA on Broad Street.
Living in downtown Newark hasn't been ideal. The kids attend different schools and Ms. Rodriguez hasn't been able to get them there. The priority, aside from food, is finding a place to live. Taking six kids with you to the welfare office and sitting there all day is grueling.
They've never lived like this in such close quarters. Every phone number they see on front lawns, they write down, hoping somebody will call and accept their Section 8 voucher. And they seem to have lucked out. On Monday, they found a four-bedroom place in the North Ward. Hopefully the home passes inspection so they can move in soon and start off all over again.
At least they are smiling again, somewhat. The new place may be spacious, but it's still going to be a struggle. Ms. Rodriguez doesn't earn much from a cashier's job at McDonald's, so acquiring furniture and suitable clothes will take time. She also has to figure out transportation to get the kids back to school. Two are in high school, two in elementary schools, another at a school for kids with special needs in Union County.
The family, however, is just thankful no one was in the house when the fire started. That's why Leticia was screaming in the first place. She thought her oldest sister and her 9-month-old baby niece were inside.
Two of her teenage sisters, Maribel Torres, 16, and Addyn Casanova, 15, got the family pets -- a dog and a fish -- out with the help of a neighbor. They were the first ones home waiting on the porch for their mother when they heard the smoke detectors going off. Casanova went around back and saw the smoke.
This a close family that sticks together despite their circumstance, realizing that all they have is each other. Leticia is an upbeat and cheerful kid most of the time. She's the one who cracks jokes to keep everybody in a good mood, the one the family calls the "drama queen," because she always has something to say.
"I'm her reminder," she said, speaking about her mom. "When she forgets stuff, I'm the one who reminds her."
In fact, she was the one who told the school how to reach her mom in her moment of fear.
The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental, said John Brown, a fire department spokesman. An extension cord appears to have heated up and caused the blaze, which also left a resident on the first floor without a place to live.
The home is boarded up now. There's nothing to retrieve. Ms. Rodriguez is ready to move on. She's tired of shelter living. She's tired of running around. All of this has been too much for her.
"I want to get out of here," she said. "I want my own place. I like to live in peace."

Copyright 2008 CWA 1081