Barber Says Obama is Heads Above
Not every New Yorker supports the hometown politician. Luis Cordova, a Dominican immigrant who runs an upper Manhattan barbershop, would like to see Barack Obama win the presidency.
Not every New Yorker supports the hometown politician. Luis Cordova, a Dominican immigrant who runs an upper Manhattan barbershop, would like to see Barack Obama win the presidency.
At lunch time in the Financial District, Alvin Badall wrapped and served a veggie roti for a regular from Buffalo, a chicken roti with pepper sauce to a man from the West Indies, and a shrimp roti to an Englishman – in less then five minutes.
Despite the freezing temperatures, a line of people formed at Nio’s Trinidad Roti truck on Front St.
“It’s a fast food that has the taste of home,” said Ramin Ganeshram, author of “Sweet Hands,” a Trinidadian cookbook. “It’s cheap, it’s quick and if you like it, you can go back — you don’t have to make the investment of immersion right away.”
New Yorkers depend on immigrant businesses for many of the services they need and the goods they consume. But these entrepreneurs face many challenges – including language barriers, limited access to financing and a lack of understanding of the rules of doing business in the city.
Click here for Tanzina’s Vega’s multi-media report, and hear some immigrant entrepreneurs’ stories and listen to what the experts have to say about what can be done to help such businesses thrive.
Prices are up at the Green Farms Supermarket, a Polish foods specialty store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – and the weak dollar is to blame.
For customers in the heavily Polish neighborhood, getting a taste of much-misssed homeland delicacies is getting more expensive. Merchants, meanwhile, are ordering less goods and fear a dropoff in business. Sebastian Bednarski reports.