Latino Activists Target English Ordinance

Latino activists who have been waging a high-profile battle to change voting practices in Santa Paula are now setting their sights on neighboring Fillmore, urging repeal of an ordinance declaring English the town’s official language.

Ramon Rodriguez of the North American Civil Rights Organization sent a letter this week to Mayor Evaristo Barajas and the five-member City Council, asking the city to voluntarily repeal the 1985 ordinance.

The civil rights group also says it wants to challenge Fillmore’s at-large system of city elections. That is the same issue that spurred a yearlong federal investigation in Santa Paula on whether at-large voting has prevented minority candidates from winning election to the City Council.

The proposed changes would “bring closure to this sorry chapter in our history . . . and let a new era of unity and reconciliation begin,” Rodriguez wrote on behalf of the organization, which he founded in 1996.

Rodriguez said Thursday that he forwarded a copy of the letter to the Justice Department.

Although city officials are not receptive to changing the election system, there is some council interest in repealing the 14-year-old “official language” resolution, which has had no legal or practical impact on city or other business.

Latinos comprise about two-thirds of the Fillmore population, but their voter turnout historically has been lower than that of whites.