Day laborers raising concerns in Annandale

http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab5 ... 1688&rfi=6

03/23/2006
Day laborers raising concerns in Annandale
By Frank Mustac

fmustac@timnespapers.com

An ongoing topic of discussion for the Hummer Road Task Force, a group of business and civic leaders in Annandale convened by Mason District Supervisor Penelope Gross (D), is the presence of dozens of day laborers lined up on a stretch of Little River Turnpike waiting for construction and landscaping work and other odd jobs.
The group will gather again for its regular meeting at the supervisor's office on Columbia Pike on Wednesday, March 29.

"Supervisor Gross has done an excellent job engaging businesses and the community in conversation about the issue," said Janet Hubbell, a regional director with the county's Department of Systems Management for Human Services.

"It's an opportunity to get in the room and talk with her about what's going on," Hubbell said.

In addition to attending task force meetings, Hubbell is involved with the oversight of a county-funded program designed to make the day-laborer lineups safer and less intrusive to businesses in the area, as well as to patrons of those businesses, pedestrians and vehicular traffic.

According to Fairfax County Spokesman Brian Worthy, the county is spending $132,878 on the program in Annandale through a contract awarded last October to the Virginia Justice Center, a nonprofit organization based in Charlottesville that works to support low-wage immigrant workers. The contract period extends to June 2007.

One outreach worker from the justice center has been on Little River Turnpike six days a week, from Monday to Saturday.

"The real focus here is bringing some sort of order," Hubbell said.

The outreach worker, she said, is involved with explaining to the day laborers their responsibilities with respect to safety concerns, especially.

The employee from the Virginia Justice Center, Hubbell said, also works with the laborers to enable them to manage themselves when it comes to conduct.

"They need to take a leadership role as well," Hubbell said.

Part of the effort in Annandale, she said, also is to identify all of the stakeholders—day laborers, businesses and residents—and have them come forward with concerns and recommendations.

Any actions the county takes regarding day laborers, Hubbell cautioned, must fall within the bounds of state and federal laws.

Annandale Chamber of Commerce President Court Thelen said members of his organization are extremely concerned about the day laborer situation and its effect on businesses along Little River Turnpike.

An optometrist at Annandale EyeCare on Little River Turnpike, Thelen said some of his longtime customers have been reluctant to patronize his store because of the presence of day laborers nearby.

He said that at one point the chamber was advocating the establishment of a center for the laborers, similar to the one now operating in Herndon, away from the busy roadway. The chamber has since backed down from that position, he said.

"Our position is to aid businesses that are affected," Thelen said. "Something must be done in a legal way. I just don't know what that is."

"Supervisor Gross has done an excellent job engaging businesses and the community in conversation about the issue," said Janet Hubbell, a regional director with the county's Department of Systems Management for Human Services.

"It's an opportunity to get in the room and talk with her about what's going on," Hubbell said.

"The real focus here is bringing some sort of order," Hubbell said.

I'm getting sick of all the talk. There needs to be more action. I have lived in 4 countries in my life. There is only one country that I have lived in that puts up with this bullshit, and that is the US. I have lived in South Korea, Laos and the United Arab Emirates. Each of those countries make routine sweeps of known illegal hangouts and immediately deports illegals. They don't mess around with it and have a damn "encounter group" or "discussion group" about it, they deport the illegals, which is exactly what the US should be doing.

I'm getting sick of all the talk and no action.

Fed up with the Feds