Thread: Day laborers hiring site fenced off in Oceanside, CA

Too bad!

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/09 ... _22_06.txt


Fence goes up around Oceanside hiring site

By: LORELL FLEMING - Staff Writer



OCEANSIDE ---- A chain-link fence was being erected Friday at a vacant lot in eastern Oceanside where day laborers gather each morning to wait for work and anti-illegal immigration advocates often try to discourage hiring.

The property on North Melrose Drive, just south of North Santa Fe Avenue, has been the site of increased activity over the past several weeks, since the city of Vista enacted an ordinance to regulate the hiring of day laborers within city limits.

That move pushed several workers to sites outside of Vista, including the vacant property on North Melrose that is bordered by Willowbrook Drive. Around the same time, anti-illegal immigration activists, who had targeted a popular hiring site at the corner of South Santa Fe and Escondido Avenue in Vista, began stepping up their presence at the Melrose site.

On Friday, workers were installing a chain-link fence around the property, while a truck bearing the name Legend Fence Corp. sat on the north side of the lot. An employee at the Lemon Grove-based firm said she could not comment on whether the company was performing the work.

The site is on the edge of Guajome Regional Park, where the border of Vista and Oceanside hits the western tip of Bonsall.

The North County Times was unable to determine Friday who owns the land, though local activists have said it is owned by the city of Oceanside. Oceanside City Hall was closed Friday and city manager Barry Martin could not be reached for comment.

Councilman Jack Feller, reached by cell phone, said he did not know whether the site was city-owned.

Members of a local group targeting illegal immigration said they were pleased to see the fence go up. Rhonda Deni, leader of the Oceanside Citizens Brigade, said the fence will help prevent, loitering, trash dumping, public urination and the hiring of the day laborers who gather there.

"A fence is a lot prettier than trash," she also said. "It's a nuisance what goes on over there."

Deni said her 10-member group, which formed three months ago, has lobbied the city to do something about the land and that others have complained about what goes on there as well.

"Others have said that those activities there drag down property values of nearby homes while negatively affecting the community's image," Deni added.

Day-laborer activist, Claudia Smith, said if there are nuisances at that lot, it's not the migrant workers who are responsible.

"The day laborers leave by late morning if they haven't gotten any work," she said. "So really, nothing goes on there other than them seeking work."

She also noted that day laborers who are at the lot put their garbage in trash bags.

"They leave the bags on the (partial) fence that was already there, and the Oceanside trash collectors pick up the bags," Smith added.

Smith is the border project director for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, an Oceanside-based nonprofit organization that focuses on migrant-worker issues. Smith said she monitors day laborer sites, such as the one at Melrose Drive and North Santa Fe, to check on whether Minutemen are harassing the day laborers and prospective employers.

Smith said the fencing will not accomplish much.

"The workers have a right to solicit work from what's the equivalent of a sidewalk. If you fence the lot, there's a part outside the fence that's considered sidewalk," Smith said.

"They're taking away the bit of shade the workers got there. That's what they're doing by putting up the fence and blocking access to the lot," she added.

Jeff Schwilk, founder of the San Diego Minutemen, previously said that his organization watches the Melrose Drive area regularly and occasionally protest there against day laborers.

When contacted Friday, Schwilk said: "That is property owned by the city of Oceanside, so obviously they don't want illegal activity occurring there, including the hiring of day laborers. It's kind of a no-brainer."

In a Sept. 5 Town Hall meeting, Schwilk told Oceanside police Chief Frank McCoy that there had been an attack on an Oceanside Citizens Brigade member by a violent day laborer at or near the lot.

Schwilk also asked what the city was going to do to keep that area from being used by illegal immigrants.

McCoy said "We will be forming a game plan on that issue."

On Friday, the department's public information officer, Sgt. Leonard Mata, said he was unaware of any plans for the lot or areas near the lot, and had not personally heard any residents complain about problems there.

Contact staff writer Lorell Fleming at (760) 731-5798 or lfleming@nctimes.com.

"

Deni said her 10-member group, which formed three months ago, has lobbied the city to do something about the land "

goes to show if you want action you have to get off your butt,

Fight Back it works if you work it

Now THAT is a beautiful site isn't it folks?

The fencing works. They fenced off a day laborer site in my area and they no longer loiter and hang out anymore looking for work. Here is an article with pictures.


http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=26946