http://www.azcentral.com

Day laborers fear Chandler redevelopment
Pickup spots may vanish if plan is used

Eugene Mulero
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 5, 2006 12:00 AM


Many of the day laborers who wait for work daily along Arizona Avenue's southern corridor fear they will be displaced if a plan to redevelop the area takes off.

A consultant hired by Chandler is expected to present details to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission next month for revitalizing the area by replacing some single-family homes and businesses on and near Arizona Avenue with mid-rise condos and new retail.

But self-proclaimed day laborers such as Gustavo Rey and Hector Abreu say the looming redevelopment worries them.

The duo stood at Boston Street and Arizona Avenue late Friday morning. They said they've been in Chandler for nearly a year and admit they arrived here by illegally crossing the border from Mexico. They said they consistently find work in construction and landscaping but are worried about that changing.

"We are afraid of police, and 'patrons' (contractors) not paying us. Now we don't know where we might gonext year," Abreu said in Spanish.

Yet with the potential to draw thousands of people downtown, city officials and most business owners are pushing for the redevelopment.

"In my opinion, the redevelopment can't happen soon enough," said Ray O'Neal, owner of New York Deli & Pizza, a business in the heart of the day-laborer area on Arizona Avenue. "The idea is to bring in more people by making the area look new. Now it looks rundown."

O'Neal said he has not attended public hearings on the plan. But there have been residents and other business owners at these meetings, and most have agreed the area must be revitalized.

Last month, Hank Pluster, Chandler's interim long-range planner, told residents the city would not consider a redevelopment plan that called for using eminent domain to force property sales. But Pluster did not comment on the fate of day laborers because they are not homeowners in the affected area.

Pluster did say the city wants to prepare people for the likely redevelopment coming their way.

Carlos Garcia, a self-described day laborer, said he realizes he lacks legal status in this country. And if redevelopment sweeps the area where he waits for work, Garcia said he would move out of Chandler if contractors change their pickup sites as a result.

"I know I'm here without papers, and that's why I just focus on getting work. I'm all about getting a place to work, either in Chandler or someplace else," Garcia said.

If the redevelopment moves forward, city officials have said there's the potential Chandler's privately-funded day labor center at the Light and Life Free Methodist Church on Arizona Avenue, just south of downtown, may have to move.

The Rev. Jose Gonzalez, who runs the church, said he plans to keep operating downtown. Light and Life and the Macehualli Work Center in north Phoenix are the only day labor centers in the Valley.

Chandler's Human Relations Commission also plans to revisit community concerns regarding day laborers.