Thread: CA-Costa Mesa won't temporarily enforce anti-solicitation la

Costa Mesa won't temporarily enforce anti-solicitation law

By ELLYN PAK and CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
March 2, 2010

COSTA MESA - The city of Costa Mesa has placed a moratorium on its anti-solicitation ordinance that civil rights groups say targets day laborers seeking employment on public streets.

A month ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, along with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, filed a lawsuit on behalf of day laborers challenging the ordinance.

Day laborers walked with their signs up Newport Boulevard on Feb. 2 to Costa Mesa City Hall in support of an ACLU suit against the city of Costa Mesa's anti-solicitation ordinance.

The lawsuit alleged that the 2005 ordinance violates the day laborers First Amendment rights and bans "active solicitation" by, of or from people in moving cars and in commercial parking areas that have signs prohibiting such actions.

"They know they are going to lose," said Naui Huitzilopochtli, a member of Colectivo Tonantzin, a day laborer advocacy group. "The day laborers are happy that they settled for the moment."

The city of Costa Mesa has agreed to halt enforcing the ordinance pending a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal on a challenge to a similar anti-solicitation ordinance in the city of Redondo Beach, according to an ACLU release.

Costa Mesa officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. Click here for more immigration-related news.

The solicitation ordinance is designed to address conduct that creates a public safety hazard and obstructs the entrances and exits to public streets and parking lots, according to the city.

The city has for years tried to tackle issues related to day laborers. In 2005, the city shuttered a job center, which citizens argued attracted illegal immigrants and wasted taxpayers' money.

The center – formerly on Placentia Avenue – opened in 1988 in response to complaints about loitering, traffic problems and unsafe conditions when laborers searched for work on streets and at parks.

In September, police went to five hot spots throughout the city and arrested 12 day laborers for illegally soliciting work in three locations.

The day laborers were later deported.

Police Chief Christopher Shawkey said in a recent interview that police received 114 complaints from residents and business owners about day laborers intimidating customers and swarming vehicles prior to the September arrests.

The day laborers were free to be in the locations if there were no violations of the ordinance, Shawkey added.

He said the city has reached out to nonprofit and church groups to let them know about the guidelines of the ordinance.

According to the ACLU, the ordinance also stops a wide range of other groups, including small businesses that use handheld advertising on public streets, homeless people who seek donations, people in fund-raising activities and students who try to get the attention of passing motorists for car washes.

Besides asking city officials to halt the ordinance, the lawsuit asks that the city pay damages to Colectivo Tonanztin in an amount to be determined at trial.

The suit also asks for reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses of the litigation.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7956 or epak@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/news/day-2371 ... orers.html

What a joke! Our court system is cowering to illegal invaders and the groups that file f'ing lawsuits on their behalf! I guess the law really doesn't apply to illegal invaders!!

just read this..........somehow, we need to have our own may day parade to loretts sanchez's office in santa ana this year