GR plans Spanish commission translation

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell made a point of giving a shout-out to Spanish language speakers in his State of the City address last weekend.

He said it's the second-most spoken language in Grand Rapids, and the city commission should translate all its meetings.   

"Whether you are in the audience or in your home watching television, by June 30, 2013 you will be able to listen to the city commission meeting in Spanish with simultaneous translation. I am very pleased to be able to offer this service and believe we are one of the first cities in the state to do so," he said Saturday.  

The idea came about after the mayor said he saw a lot of people at a December city commission meeting who had a hard time understanding what was happening.

"I was struck by the difficulty Spanish speakers have in following the proceedings, which take place in a language other than their mother tongue," Heartwell remarked.  

City officials told 24 Hour News 8 on Monday that the price tag to start a real-time translation of those commission meetings will be about $25,000 or $30,000. But none of that will be taxpayer dollars.   

"I think it's just the next step in where we want to go," said Tom Almonte, assistant to the city manager. "We know that the Hispanic community is growing in our area so we want to make sure that that community, as they keep growing, that they know what's going on."  

Almonte said about 17% of the Grand Rapids community is of Hispanic descent -- and many speak Spanish as a first language -- so this move just makes sense.   

According to the US Census website, nearly 30,000 people in the city of Grand Rapids are "of Hispanic or Latino origin," and more than 30,000 people speak a different language at home -- not necessarily Spanish, but not English. 

"We want [the Hispanic] community to be engaged and knowledgeable," said Almonte.

The process began with things like translated signs in Grand Rapids. Almonte pointed to one of the listed goals in the City's sustainability plan: To "Increase diverse programming and additional language programming by 25% on the Public Access Channel by June 30, 2015." Almonte said this move is in line with that bigger plan.  

Almonte said Grand Rapids would need to buy some equipment and hire someone to translate the meetings live. That means people could watch the translation on television as the meeting is happening. Exactly how people at the meeting would hear the translation is still in the works.   

The plan would cost $25,000 to $30,000 to start up and then about $10,000 per year after that. Officials say it will be paid for by a grant funded from money collected from cable providers.   

"No taxpayer dollars will be used in not only initiating this, but maintaining," said Almonte.

Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, the CEO of the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, said she knows there are people in the community who will object to the translation services, but says they are important for people who live here to be able to be informed about their community.

"I would say it's long overdue and would be well received," she said.

She also said that there are many people in the community who may not be fluent in English -- but not for lack of trying.  

"The process of learning English and being bilingual is a process that takes many years, and so again, I know from personal experience from individuals in my personal life that you can live in this country, work multiple jobs be an upstanding tax-paying member of the community for many years and still not be fluently bilingual. We think we contribute to the vitality of cities and we think we contribute to the vitality and the reinvention of the state of Michigan," she said.

Everything should be in place to begin translating the city commission meetings by the end of June.