Soon, shop owner can look it up
By GLORIA CAMPISI
The Spanish-English dictionary should arrive any minute now at Geno's Steaks.
Velazquez Press of California shipped the dictionary overnight to Joey Vento, proprietor of the landmark South Philadelphia steak shop.
The gift was prompted by Vento's decision to place signs in his shop windows reading, "This is AMERICA, when ordering SPEAK ENGLISH."
"Mr. Vento is a son of immigrants and his appreciation for the English language is unparalleled," Daniel Morales, of Velazquez Press, said, tongue in cheek, in an e-mail announcing the gift of the dictionary.
Morales, originally from Mexico, also wrote a letter to Vento, sent along with the dictionary."Feel free to contact us for assistance regarding better understanding of your Spanish-speaking customers," he wrote.
The Spanish-tongue-in-cheek gift is the latest salvo in what has become a Ground Zero in the national debate over immigration.
Vento, the grandson of Italian immigrants, has said the signs are aimed at a flood of recent Mexican immigrants to the neighborhood around the shop at 9th Street near Passyunk Avenue.
Morales said he called Geno's earlier to talk to Vento, first in Spanish and then in English. "Of course, we got nowhere."
Vento isn't talking to the print media now, although he's done a lot of talking recently on TV shows and talk radio, picking up supporters on the issue.
Among them is "Ron," who said he was from the United Patriots of America, and called the Daily News yesterday to say he had come down from North Jersey specifically to buy a Geno's steak to "support what Joe is doing."
But not everyone is backing Vento. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations has filed a complaint, citing Geno's for discrimination. Vento has 15 days to respond. If he refuses to remove the signs, the commission will negotiate, and then, possibly, hold a public hearing that could be followed by an order to remove the signs. Vento could appeal to Common Pleas Court. |
