http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_4588292

Day-labor gathering rules dropped

The Aurora proposal would have barred employers' vehicles from certain streets. It was a safety issue, said the councilwoman who withdrew it for lack of support.

By Carlos Illescas
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:11/02/2006 12:43:54 AM MST


Aurora - Dozens of Latino men who gather on Dayton Street in hopes of securing a job for the day will still get to do so after a councilwoman pulled a proposal that would have driven them away.

Deborah Wallace's proposal would have prohibited "vehicle solicitation" by employers on certain streets. It also would have required employers to tell their workers in advance the wages they would be earning and how they would be transported to the hospital if they are injured on the job. The employers could have faced fines of up to $500.

Wallace said she withdrew the measure because of a lack of support from fellow council members.

"It was an uphill battle that was not going anywhere," she said.

She said she offered the measure as a way to make the streets safer by targeting the people who hire the laborers, as well as to prevent the workers from being taken advantage of.

"It would have been protection for me as a citizen of Aurora, and other citizens, and for those who are looking for work so they don't get hit trying to make money to support their families," Wallace said.

Each weekday morning, employers in pickups pull onto Dayton just north of Colfax looking for workers. They maneuver in and out of traffic, sometimes having to dodge the men who run up to them seeking to be picked for a day of landscaping or loading boxes.

Workers like Romeo Gutierrez, 25, of Sonora, Mexico, depend on being able to gather along Dayton to find work. He said Wednesday he was glad to hear the city had backed away.

"We didn't have any other place to look for work," Gutierrez said. "If we don't work, we don't eat."

The city thought it had a solution when soon after Wallace came up with her proposal, a property owner on Dayton Street offered to allow his parking lot with a garage as a safe place for the workers to gather. But a temporary employment agency is next to the site, and the city prohibits day-labor sites from being so close to one another.

So for now, the city staff said the area can be made a little safer by enforcing loitering laws and increasing police patrols. Wallace was planning to meet with police this week to discuss the problem.

Wallace said the issue was about safety and not race, as some had claimed.

"All this attention has brought the issue forward. Maybe someone out there will look at this and come up with a better resolution," she said. "And that's what I wanted, the protection of all of our residents."

Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.