Landlord Ousts Business Tenant for only Speaking English

by Joe Kovacs

posted 08/08/07

INVASION USA - Ousted for speaking English: Floridian now national focus. Landlord tells businessman to pack up so he can serve 'Spanish need in area.'

STUART, Fla. – A South Florida man who claims he's being evicted from his place of business because he speaks no Spanish – just English – has suddenly become the focus of national debates over illegal immigration and property rights.

Tom McKenna's Seacoast Water sign in Stuart, Fla., is the only one of three businesses in his plaza in English. Tom McKenna, owner of Seacoast Water Care is getting requests from media outlets across America to tell the story of how his landlord at the Ellendale Center wants him out of his office space by the end of the month, in order to "complete [his] vision of converting the center to quality tenants serving the Spanish need in the area."

"I guess I don't serve the 'Spanish need,' whatever that means," McKenna told the Stuart News in a story published Sunday. Since then, the saga has been prominently featured on websites including WND and the DrudgeReport, and now McKenna is making the rounds on the television-news circuit, both on Florida stations as well as national networks. "That's just a kick in the face to me. Like, what am I? Just really been a bad tenant for like the last seven years?" McKenna told WPBF-TV, the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach.

"Because somebody comes in here and says, 'Hey, you know I like that corner store where that Seacoast Water is there, and now we have a full-service plaza serving the Spanish needs in here, we need to get him out of there."

McKenna's water-conditioning business shares the same building as a check-cashing store and a Mexican restaurant, both of which feature signs in Spanish. The day after Independence Day, McKenna received a letter from landlord Ivan Munroe telling him to consider another location, even offering McKenna other space he owns. Then in another letter dated Aug. 1, Munroe informed McKenna his rental contract was being terminated. "Please remove all of your possessions by August 31," the second letter stated.

When asked about his initial letter's statement about his "vision of converting the center to quality tenants serving the Spanish need in the area," Munroe told the Stuart News, "I can have a vision, can't I? And his business just doesn't fit there." Regarding prospective other tenants to replace McKenna, Munroe said, "Mexican people come in, you know they're going to stay. You know they're going to pay the rent."

McKenna told NBC affiliate WPTV-TV: "[Munroe] blatantly put down in [the letter] how he has two quality tenants in there that have several stores and he's got another quality tenant that wants to rent my space here to complete his vision of making this a plaza that serves the Spanish community – it's not acceptable as far as I'm concerned." He has reportedly been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and others ready to take up his cause.

The story has ignited a firestorm of comments on the Internet. Many feel a sense of outrage that an American business owner could be ousted because he speaks only the native language of his country, but others think property rights are the issue, and the landlord can choose whomever he wishes to fill the space.

Some comments include:

• First and foremost, the USA, (immigration policy and embracing of diversity notwithstanding), is an English speaking country! This is a classic example of political correctness run amuck! What would happen if Americans were to move to Mexico or any Spanish speaking country and open a business and evict all Spanish owners for not speaking English?
• This is the United States! I cannot believe what I am reading. I hope that everyone decides to steer clear off all the tenants and [property] owner's business. Why make such a man profit from his unfair acts?
• If it was the other way around – an English-speaking landlord kicking out a non-English speaking illegal alien, the ACLU would be all over this case.
• This is wrong on every level. This is discrimination 101. Tell Hooter's it's OK to only hire women. Tell those applying for citizenship in the U.S. that they don't have to speak English. Tell me it's OK if I only want to hire English-speaking workers at my place of business. All discrimination. Please, Mr. American businessman, don't leave! We have to start fighting for our rights! I don't want "Black Entertainment Television" because if I had "White Entertainment Television," someone would say I'm a racist. I don't want "Black History Month" because if I have "White History Month," I'd be called a racist. I don't want to be told that I have to move out for not speaking Spanish because if you were kicked out for not speaking English, I'd be called a racist.
• For over 200 years, the language of this country has been primarily English. The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, then in turn the U.S. Constitution were all written in English. Only in the last 20 or so years has it become an issue to have another language available to people who come here. If you immigrate to a country you must have found something about that country that appealed to you to make you think you could have it better there than from whence you came. Why would you think the country you are going to would have to conform to you, the newcomer?
• This [landlord] is certainly within his rights if he wants to target these residents with his shops.
• The real issue is the landlord's right to do what he wants with the property, McKenna's whining notwithstanding. If McKenna had been a good tenant, the landlord, especially in the current market, wouldn't be asking him to leave. (By the way, for those who don't know it, being in favor of a property owner's rights is generally a conservative position.)