"There are a lot of ethnic neighborhoods in this country; there's nothing wrong with that per se," says Trillo. "In public housing the question is, do you want to give a government subsidy to start a Spanish ghetto (in public housing)--with no bad connotations to the word? Black pressure groups will push for affirmative action in the smaller, more desirable housing projects, but Hispanics are not interested, Trillo says. In fact, the racial integration concept in public housing may be responsible for hostility between blacks and Hispanics.
According to Trillo, for many Hispanics seeing friends, hearing the kind of music they like, and going to stores where they can buy the foods they are accustomed to is more important than upgrading their living standard by moving away from Washington Elms Newtowne Court to a smaller, newer project.
"By and large these are very poor people," Trillo says. "While you and I might think otherwise, to them Washington Elms is a mansion. A warm home, running water, a separate bedroom for the kids--you can't beat it." The trouble comes when housing authority regulations seem to block Hispanics at the door. Recently, Trillo went down his list past 80 minority families, mostly Hispanic, before reaching a white family whose preferential entry was required by Washington Elm's replacement rule designed to promote racial balance. Another problem arises when Hispanics who would prefer to stay near Columbia Street are assigned to the predominantly white Jefferson Park project in far-off North Cambridge. "How can I explain to them that 200 years of history means they have to go to Jefferson Park?" Trillo says. "I try."
While Hispanic newcomers to Cambridge have left much behind, they have also brought some of home with them. Cambridge is not New York City, where over a million Spanish-speaking people have two UHF television stations serving their needs. But Cambridge can tune in on Boston-based Radiolanda 1600, an AM station featuring Spanish-language broadcasting in the bombastic announcing style of stations in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Cambridge Hispanics also play in Boston's amateur soccer league, where teams like Hispanos Unidos and El Salvador compete against other immigrant and domestic clubs, with the league standings published every Thursday in The Boston Globe.
Living in the barrio may mean living in Columbia Terrace, a complex of 62 apartments built as mixed-income housing five years ago with federal and private monies, and now jointly run by the Cambridge Association of Spanish-speaking Tenants (CAST) and the landlord, Abrams Management.
In the barrio, bodegas (grocery stores) like El Coloso on Broadway which cater to Latin American tastes are close at hand. Also close by is Casa Alegre, a Latin-American record store which sells Spanish newspapers and statuettes of the saints as a sideline. Around the corner in Central Square is the Latin-O Restaurant. Its authentic Hispanic cuisin attracts a 90 per cent Anglo clientele, however. After all, local Hispanics can buy in the neighborhood bodega the same ingredients the Latin-O uses, and make equally authentic Latin cuisine in their homes.
Perhaps the sweetest reminder of home is the dance party, costing up to $15 a couple, where Latin-style bands play the marimba of Guatemala, the cumbia of Colombia, and Puerto Rican salsa. A band may be flown specially from Puerto Rico or Central America for the event, if enough tickets can be sold. Otherwise there is plenty of local talent, such as Los Estrellos Latinos de Boston.
Recently the Union Juvenil Hispana of Cambridge Rindge Latin School sponsored a tund-raising dance at the Santo Cristo Club on Cambridge Street which featured a Dominican band, the Conjunto Imperio Latino, door prizes, and lots of dancing. Such events are much more than mere moneymakers.
The tantalizing rhythms and familiar refrains of the music abolish distance for the space of an evening, carrying listeners back to the warm friendships, relaxed pace, and traditional ways of the homelands that, for better or worse, they have left behind.
Hispanic newcomers to Cambridge have brought some of home with them