Latino influx brings change to ‘Heaven’s Place’ : Florida’s rural Osceola County is experiencing the biggest such population surge in the country.

The Caloosa Indian word by which this small city is known translates as “Heaven’s Place,” but for many years the residents just called their home “Cow Town.” Most of Osceola County is still a grassland, and this town remains a major hub of beef cattle production in Florida.

But 21 years ago Disney World opened 15 miles up the road, and instantly the economy had a new focus. Cattle and citrus gave way to tourism as the area’s major industry.

Now, more changes are taking place in Kissimmee and Osceola County--and the accent is Spanish.

Osceola County is ground zero of the biggest Latino population boom in the United States. According to Census Bureau figures, between 1980 and 1990 the Latino population of largely rural Osceola County skyrocketed, from 1,089 people to 12,866.

In the three years since that head count--believed to be on the conservative side--the influx of new Latino residents from Puerto Rico, New York, the Dominican Republic, Central America and South America has accelerated. Estimates put the Latino population of Osceola County at 15,000, or about 12% of all county residents.

“We have grown tremendously,” said Marissa Reyes-Mearns, who writes a weekly column on Latino affairs for the Orlando Sentinel. “People are coming here for a better way of life.”

For decades, the only thing Spanish in Osceola County was the moss that hangs like fuzzy rope from the oak trees. Now, in Los Amigos grocery, shoppers are able to pick up El Vocero, a newspaper from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and quenepas-- a tart fruit from the Dominican Republic. At Oscar and Susanna Lopez’s downtown delicatessen, El Buen Gusto, the specials are Argentine empanadas and cookies imported from Brazil. “Se habla Espanol” signs are appearing in shop windows everywhere.

“We have come here for the same reasons as everyone else--because it’s peaceful, because we don’t want to fear for our safety and because we want the best for our children,” said Carmen Carrasquillo, president of the Hispanic-American Assn. of Osceola County. “We’re here. We’ve bought homes. Our savings are here.”

Most of the Latino newcomers have settled in Buenaventura Lakes, a sprawling subdivision built by Landstar Homes Inc., which has targeted Puerto Rico and New York residents with marketing blitzes.

Many new residents were lured here not only by the small-town ambience, but also by the promise of jobs, chiefly in the thriving hotel and restaurant industry around the theme park attractions in the Orlando area.

But while jobs are available, they do not pay what many workers were accustomed to, and newcomers often find themselves underemployed in positions paying $5 to $10 an hour rather than the $10- to $20-an-hour jobs they held in New York or San Juan.

Juan and Madelene Martinez are typical. An airline passenger agent in Puerto Rico, he is now an attendant in a Disney World hotel deli. On the island, she was at home with four children and two grandchildren. Now, she is working a job as a hotel housekeeper to make up the difference.

“It’s worth it,” said Madelene Martinez as she lugged groceries out of Los Amigos recently. “We came here six times on vacation, and we wanted to live here for the peacefulness. We feel comfortable here.”

The Latino boom here is so new that demographers and sociologists have yet to study what’s called the “channelized migration” to central Florida. But based on anecdotal evidence, Boston sociologist Edwin Melendez, who follows Puerto Rican migration patterns, says the Osceola settlement is “typical where middle-class and professional people are willing to take lesser jobs while earning credentials and overcoming some barriers” in a new community.

County commissioner Charles Owen, who represents Buenaventura Lakes, said the area’s rapid growth “has not been properly managed, and we’re now trying to catch up.

“We’ve had people come from highly urban areas, such as New York, to escape the high cost of living,” Owen said, “but they are also looking for the same benefits. And they are not willing to pay for it through taxes.”

Some Latino residents complain that non-Latinos have shown resistance to changes. “Many people resent the fact that we’re here. They think we’ve come too fast,” said Maggie Bernardy, who moved here from New Jersey and now teaches English as a second language to elementary school students. “I’ve been asked: ‘Why did you come over here?’ I answer: ‘Why not?’ ”