‘Eyesore’ to some, a taste of home for others
The Stamford Advocate
April 17, 2006

By Vesna Jaksic
STAMFORD -They top roofs, peak out from balconies and emerge from side walls.

As many as seven have been spotted on a single home in the Cove; many houses have four or five. They are mushrooming all over the neighborhood, outnumbering flowers on some properties and dominating the appearance of many streets.

Satellite dishes are bringing signals from all over the world to television sets in the Cove.

To some, they are eyesores. But to many immigrants in the diverse neighborhood, they are a way to connect with their roots. They allow a Brazilian woman to watch her favorite soap opera, an Italian man to follow politics in his homeland, and a Mexican woman to listen to news in her native tongue.

Sandro Arbulu-Doig gets satellite television so he can watch Rai International from his native Italy.

“I just want to keep track of what’s going on and have different opinions from around the world,” said Arbulu-Doig, 73, a retired Merchant Marine who said he also watches French and Spanish channels.

He turned up the volume to hear a news report about Italy’s recent election.

“We have a new government so I have to follow up,” he said, his eyes glued to the TV.  “It’s very interesting.”

His next-door neighbor also has a satellite dish, but for a different reason.

Cleo Ramalho often watches Globol, her favorite Brazilian channel.

“I watch soap operas and shows,” said Ramalho, a limousine driver. “I can see the news there and find out what’s going on. And my granddaughter can practice Portuguese.”

Both have one satellite dish. But many Cove houses sport more than that.

“They are an eyesore,” Cove resident Dee Colacicco said. “They put them right in front of the houses.”

For many neighbors, satellite dishes are a hint that a house may be overcrowded or sliced into illegal apartments.

“I do think that if you have multiple televisions, you’re going to have three or four dishes,” said Colacicco, who reports such complaints to the city on behalf of the Cove Neighborhood Association. “So I think it’s almost a dead giveaway that there are multiple families living in these homes.”

Citizens’ Service Center Supervisor Frank Fedeli said his office has not received any complaints about satellite dishes. Regardless, municipalities have no control over placement of satellite dishes. The Federal Communications Commission prohibits restrictions on viewers’ ability to receive broadcast signals.

But Dr. Johnnie Lee, the city’s health director, said health and zoning inspectors look at satellite dishes as a clue that a house could be overcrowded or have illegal apartments.

“There are several key things we look for when canvassing a neighborhood, and those include the number of satellite dishes, mailboxes and air conditioning units that look like they are in attics,” Lee said.

Because satellite allows viewers to pick up channels from all over the world, many immigrants get them. It has created political issues. The mayor of one largely immigrant community in France, for example, recently banned satellite dishes that received North African programs, saying he did not want to transform France into a nation of the Maghreb, an African region.

Sometimes it’s just an aesthetic issue. The city council of the historic York district in Pennsylvania is considering a plan that would allow new satellite dishes to be placed only on roofs or sides of homes, or in the rear of properties to be less visible.

In the Cove, many satellite dish owners said viewing international television stations is an important part of maintaining cultural ties.

“It keeps me informed about news, politics, economics of my country,” Natalia Leiva, 26, a medical clerk from Chile, said of TV Chile, her favorite station. “We Spanish people all send money back to our country so it keeps us informed about money, costs, politics – things we can’t get here.”

In her home, which has three satellite dishes, a Mexican woman watches news in Spanish and a Haitian woman uses her signal to keep abreast of what is going on in her Caribbean homeland.

And the house across the street? Leiva knows that dish also picks up signals from Chile.

“That’s my sister,” she said. “She gets it for the same reason as me.”