Joe Rodriguez opens doors for Manhattan’s wealthy so that doors will open for his two sons.
But increasingly in these tough economic times, Rodriguez, a doorman on the Upper West Side, fears that his salary and his wife’s will not be enough to help his children capture the American dream of upward mobility.
“I just want him to be productive and make a difference and be what I’m not,” Rodriguez says of his eldest son Liam, 10.
Rodriguez, 41, works a second job so he can put money away for Liam and his four year-old brother, Cristen. A college fund was established when Liam was only three years old. But this year, with the plummeting economy and soaring prices, money has been tight. Rodriguez and his wife Migda, 39, have not been able to contribute for the boys’ future. Their combined annual income of $55,200 now barely covers basic costs, including the $1,200 monthly rent for their two-bedroom Bronx apartment, as well as food and new clothing for growing children. Unexpected medical expenses constitute a crisis.
“Everything else is so expensive, the food and then rent, it’s like Catch-22,” says Migda. “Especially if you’re not making six-digits — and even at that those people are even losing their jobs, which is scarier. It’s like, it’s hanging in there and just hoping for that break to come eventually.”
One more helping of oatmeal…
Professor Sig Gissler exhorted us at the beginning of the semester always to eat a good breakfast, and urged us to choose oatmeal.
My partner, Chikodi and I, went to Joe Rodriguez’s house to work on an audio slideshow of the family on a typical Sunday. As his wife Migda served dinner, Cristen, their younger son, took me on a tour of the bathroom and the small bedroom he shares with Liam. After he showed me his bed, his toothbrush, and washed his hands, I asked Cristen what his favorite food was.
“A sandwich,” he told me.
“A sandwich?” I asked.
He thought for a moment.
“I mean oatmeal.”
A J-Schooler in the making.
Many languages, two teams
While reporting our hard-times article, we went to the Bronx on a Sunday afternoon to watch our character’s son play in a soccer game. The kids fought a hard battle against a team far superior to them. On the sidelines, their parents screamed and cheered in a multitude of languages. They were from all over the world.
As we watching them watch their kids, it struck me how diverse this city is, and how its citizens weave their different backgrounds together into the urban tapestry we know as New York.
—Dana Chivvis
Rodriguez looks forward to an end-of-year bonus to give him a financial cushion in the coming year. Last year his bonus was $9,600. He says he is not concerned that the current crisis on Wall Street will affect his bonus, but he knows that he cannot count on a windfall each year.
“I don’t look for it because you never know, it’s not like something that’s written in stone,” Rodriguez says. “I take it as it comes.”
He is hoping this year’s bonus will allow him to take his family on vacation, which they could not afford this year. In February, Migda had unexpected surgery and was out of work and on disability pay for two months. Rodriguez picked up extra hours at his job to help cover the costs and they tapped into their savings.
“It’s hard to be out of work, especially nowadays,” Rodriguez says. “When she was out the first month I was like, okay. When she was out the second month, I was like, it’s gonna start to get tight now.”
