American Dream on the brink

Editor's note: Joe Martinez and his brothers help their father Manuel run his family-owned El Taco Grande restaurants in Batavia. Their inability to get a loan in today's troubled economy, however, leaves the future of their business in doubt. This first-person essay begins an occasional series on the economy.

I am the son of a Mexican immigrant who came to this country over 40 years ago to make a better life for himself. My father arrived here barely speaking English, hoping to make the American dream possible.

He, along with many other immigrants, came to this country with the work ethic and ideals that have now been lost in the United States. He made a sacrifice by leaving his family behind in his home country to provide a better life for them with hard, honest work.

A legal immigrant, he worked for minimum wage for years as a dishwasher, picking up a second or third job to make ends meet and provide for his own family. He worked hard to save what he could to give me and my four younger brothers the opportunities he never had, including getting a college education. At the same time, he strove to achieve the American dream - being a self-employed businessman - when he opened the doors to his own restaurant, El Taco Grande, in downtown Batavia in 1991.

This was only the first of his accomplishments. He knew that a small carryout restaurant would not be sufficient to provide his wife and kids with all their needs, so he had to find a way to improve it by expanding his business to a full-service dine-in restaurant. Being the wise businessman that he is, he took out his first major loan, besides his mortgage, to purchase his first piece of commercial real estate: the building that houses his restaurant. He was very excited and proud of himself, but at the same time nervous, due to the fact that he had put his home on the line as collateral. He knew he had no choice but to make it work, no matter what, for the sake of his family.

It took some time, sacrifice and patience to get his business established, but his hard work paid off in the long run with the opening of his second restaurant that he built from the ground up and opened on the west side of Batavia in 2005. Our family is very proud of my father for accomplishing his American dream. There's no other man I admire, respect and appreciate more. There is nothing I wouldn't do to help him in any way possible.

Yet, as the economic times are getting tougher, I am sad to see that all his hard work and sacrifice may soon be lost.

My father, a U.S. citizen, is in a very scary situation because the struggles and failures of our capitalistic system and government have trickled down to the banks now putting pressure on the hardworking independent businessman. My father had taken out a commercial loan a couple years ago, in order to continue building his dream and expanding his business. After two years of always making his payment on time and NEVER missing a payment, the bank refused to refinance the loan.

He has tried to find another bank to refinance his loan, but they have all turned him down, forcing him to file for bankruptcy. He has resorted to trying to sell his property, the site of our second restaurant, in a struggling real-estate market. He has had no luck and has now been served with a foreclosure notice from the bank. We don't want to close our restaurant, but we may have no other choice.

And where is our government's wonderful rescue plan?

Instead of helping out the independent businessman, the government is bailing out the greed of the corporate world. It saddens me to see that our government forgets that this country was built on the hardworking entrepreneur willing to do what it takes to make a dream come true.