Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: You're listening to the weighing in podcast, the show that brings you inside the Daily Gazette's featured news column.
And now here's your host, writer of the weighing in column, Andrew Waite.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: U.
I'm Andrew Waite. Thanks for listening. So in July, there were some 230 asylum seekers who came by bus to a super eight motel in Rotterdam. And they'd been relocated here from New York City, which has just been inundated with asylum seekers, in part because governors from conservative states like Texas and Florida have been sending migrants to New York City kind of as a political move. But New York City also just has a lot of people coming there because it's a big city and because people are already living there and so people are joining their family and friends. And it just makes sense as a place to end up regardless because there's been so many asylum seekers coming to New York City. Many of those asylum seekers have been relocated to places including upstate New York. And that's what happened over the summer. And when the 230 plus migrants arrived to the super eight, many local residents were outraged. And there was one particular meeting where things got very heated. The situation was compared to 911 and the rhetoric was just really elevated. And some of the frustrations I think, were justified because Doc go, the company that New York City has contracted with to help relocate some of these migrants, they've just really had poor communication and have kind of bungled their entire operation. So I think some of the frustration at the logistics of this were warranted. But really a lot of what we were hearing, especially at that one meeting that stands out, was just a lot of baseless nativist fears. And it was the same kind of rhetoric that we hear whenever the issue of migrants or immigration is talked about nationally. And this week, as we're looking back on some of the biggest stories of 2023, I thought it made sense for me to return to the migrant issue for a column because I've written a fair bit about it. I've gotten to meet some of them. I've been to the motel. I wrote one story about a venezuelan whalen family, a husband and a wife that were reunited after they were separated at the border in Texas. The husband was detained and then eventually released. And that's the piece I wrote. So I have some familiarity with it. But also just I wanted to point out that the migrants have been here since July. And after all of these heated meetings shortly after their arrival and fears expressed by residents, we just haven't been hearing reports about anything really going wrong. I mean, it's not been entirely seamless, but we haven't seen any spike in crime or any real problems at the Mohanisan Central School district, which enrolled 70 students in September. Maybe it's a little simplistic, but I just wanted to write a piece more or less saying that all has kind of gone well and the fears that we were hearing in July were pretty much overblown. So here's that piece.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: You're listening to the weighing in podcast with columnist Andrew Waite.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: During a downright nasty town meeting in July, several angry Rotterdam residents demanded that 230 plus asylum seekers who'd arrived unexpectedly at the super eight motel be referred to as illegals and criminals. But in the month since, while there have been easily resolved noise complaints at the Carmen Road motel, Rotterdam police have yet to arrest any of the migrants, according to police chief Michael Brown. We stepped up patrols early on and we continue to do that and we're not seeing criminal activity, Brown told me. Indeed, five months after multiple buses came from New York City carrying asylum seekers from countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti and China, it seems much of a fear surrounding their presence simply was not warranted. Take the Mohanisan Central School District, for instance, which welcomed about 70 asylum seekers in September. Many residents fretted about how the new students would affect the district, specifically how the migrants may drive up costs for local taxpayers. While the state funding is yet to be finalized, Mohammedson expects to be reimbursed for the extra money and reserve funds the district spent on the asylum seekers this year, according to Superintendent Shannon Shine. Sure, that means state taxpayers are likely to split the tab, but that's a much lower burden than local residents being saddled with the entire bill, as some feared. In addition to the questions about funding, Shine said he personally had worries about the way new students would be treated. But those fears haven't come to fruition either. What I was most worried about was that the ugly side of things would rear its head, Shine told me in an interview earlier this month. The superintendent feared that the asylum seekers, who are, quote, not engaged in any politics and are, quote, here to try to find a better life, could be at risk of physical and verbal abuse. Instead, rather than being shunned or bullied, the new students, which still total about 70 after some families have left and other families have arrived, have been largely embraced. It's gone well. The students are very happy to be in school, Shine said. Migrant students are forming bonds and enrolling in clubs and athletics. One student recently stood out for his skills in a new drone soccer program. I would say the students are assimilating, Shine said. That matches what a venezuelan father of two boys, one in high school, the other in middle school, told me in October. The kids want to know about them and want to practice Spanish with them, and then they are teaching them English, so it's symbiotic, the father told me of his sons making friends at their new schools. So was all that fear mongering in July really worthwhile?
No doubt the way busloads of migrants arrived without warning deserved skepticism and frustration. And much of the ire should be directed toward Docgo, the medical company that is contracted with New York City to facilitate the relocation of migrants from Manhattan to upstate communities for its poor communication and haphazard operation, which hit a low in August when their representatives alienated helpful volunteers because they'd collected too many donations. But even after a bumpy beginning, life with the asylum seekers seems to be going generally well in Rotterdam. In a nutshell, things are going good, Superintendent Shannon Shine told me. Has it been perfect? Of course not. For instance, many, including Governor Kathy Hochel, would like to see work permitting processes expedited so asylum seekers across the state can find employment which would not only allow them to afford lives outside of hotels but would also help them fill abundant job vacancies. And at Mahanisan, school, leaders have had to scramble to hire and train staff to accommodate an influx of english language learners that more than doubled the amount of such students all at once. The district remains in need of staffing and is contemplating adding an English as a new language teacher to its current staff of five. Still, quote, we're further ahead than I probably would have predicted, given the level of challenges, Shine said. The superintendent said he understands some of the concerns residents shared over the summer. Anytime you have the unknown or something different or that you don't understand, then there's a level of apprehension, he said. You layer on top of that that this is a huge political football at the federal level, the state level, in New York City and in upstate communities. But while something like the arrival of migrants can test people's patience and tolerance, it also brings out the best in people, Shine said. Truly, that's what we've seen in Rotterdam, where volunteers have stepped up to provide the asylum seekers everything from food and warm winter clothing to assistance with filling out school enrollment forms. You could see that some of the asylum seeking families had never experienced such unsolicited kindness, Shine said of witnessing this support. And that kindness has actually continued, thankfully, five months after Rotterdam witnessed so much vitriol and outrage in response to migrants coming to a motel. It's been kindness that's endured.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: You're listening to the weighing in podcast with columnist Andrew Waite.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: And now it's time for reader response. So I'm just going to read a letter this week that I got in response to a piece about short staffing at Ellis Hospital among the nurses that I wrote last week. This is Michelle from Niski Una, who writes thanks for writing about the significant staffing issues at Ellis in today's edition of the Daily Gazette. I can speak firsthand about a nightmarish encounter I had recently with my 89 year old aunt, who suffers from dementia at the Knot Street ER. We waited 11 hours in the cold outer lobby from 08:30 p.m. To 07:30 a.m. The next morning for her to be seen in a treatment room and to get the results of a CT scan after she fell at her memory care residence. She had a ten minute assessment by a PA at 09:30 p.m. CT scan at 01:30 a.m. Results of tests told to us and then seen in a treatment room at 07:30 a.m. She was discharged with a normal scan result at 07:45 a.m. Let me repeat a nightmare, not to mention how patients are treated as the staff, quote, yells out of the name of the patient. Some are assessed in the lobby, others in a small room of the main lobby. You raise your hand on behalf of a loved one, like a first grader and wonder if you're going to get called on. I tried to be sympathetic about the short staffing levels and no rooms available, which was mentioned, but the experience was utterly unconscionable. Thanks for putting it out there.
So that's what Michelle says happened to her aunt at Ellis. And again, Ellis had responded to that column and basically saying they are doing what they can. They're working with the nurses about trying to get a contract. They say they support nurses and offer competitive benefits and wages. But as the column pointed out, 93% of the time, on average, Ellis units are understaffed. And so that seems to be a problem that needs to be addressed. And that's what that column had been about. So interesting perspective from one reader on what she says was her experience at Ellis. That's it for this week's edition. Thanks to Erin Palaya for handling marketing and Jim Gilbert for taking care of production. Happy New Year. I'm Andrew Waite. Take care.
