L.A. Councilman Calls for Day Laborer Sites
Eastern Group Publications, News Report, Selene Rivera, Posted: Jun 01, 2005
In the early hours of daylight, close to 26 thousand day laborers gather everyday on about 125 corners around Los Angeles County, hoping to be hired and earn a day’s wages.
But in many neighborhoods surrounding these locations, residents complain the day laborers are “obstructing the streets and dirtying the community.” Now, if one Los Angeles City Councilman has his way, streetside work solicitation could be drastically reduced, if not eliminated.
First District Councilman Ed Reyes has introduced an ordinance that would require all new home improvement stores, including Home Depots, to provide funding for the creation and operation of day laborer sites on their property.
“We want to make sure that all day laborers in the city — despite their legal status — have a place where they can offer their services so that both neighborhoods and day laborers are equally protected,” says Reyes.
“In some instances residents have complained about day laborers in their neighborhoods… and if we provide a specific place for them, we believe that these type of problems will be resolved,” he adds.
It is estimated that as many as 90 percent of day laborers in the United States are undocumented, the majority of them from Mexico and Central America, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Although there is no law prohibiting soliciting a job on public streets in the City of Los Angeles, the behavior of some day laborers, such as urinating in public, can result in citations. The ordinance also mandates that all new home improvement stores larger than 100,000 square feet provide bathroom facilities with cold and hot running water at their day labor sites.
“These are not extraordinary requests. They are a simple means by which we can treat people who need jobs humanly and for the companies to cooperate to help improve our communities,” says Reyes.
The councilmember says that he feels optimistic about the ordinance, which was initially introduced as a motion by councilmember Bernard Parks. Similar pilot projects in the communities of Pico-Union and Cypress Park, he says, have had positive results.
“We believe that most of the council will be favorable to the final ordinance, which should be completed within three months,” says Reyes.
Day laborers say they pleased with the proposal. “Many people dislike us standing on the corners. If we had special sites where we can congregate it would be better. We would have bathrooms and the employers will be able to identify us,” says an East Los Angeles day laborer Fidel Estrada.
As for “Don Javier,” a day laborer who didn’t want to give his real name, “It’s necessary to have a place with running water and a bathroom especially when the weather gets hot. Many home improvement stores let us use their bathrooms, but others don’t.”
The City Attorney’s office is reviewing and drafting the ordinance, which will go to the Housing Community and Economic Development Committee before it goes to the council for a vote.
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