Fewer drivers stopping downtown to pick up laborers
2 commentsby Megan Boehnke - Jul. 16, 2008 06:48 AM

A weak economy, new labor laws and consistent traffic enforcement are likely contributing to a drop in the number of parking citations typically issued to drivers stopping to pick up day laborers on Arizona Avenue near downtown Chandler.

Citations have consistently decreased from the end of the summer last year, when 28 were issued in August, to just four last month.

Leah Powell, a diversity administrator with the city who has studied the city's day labor issues, said she has consistently observed the laborer population for the last three years and noticed a significant drop in the number of men loitering.
"We know 60 percent are being picked up by residents for construction work, and as the economy hits, you're not doing improvements for the sake of doing improvements," she said.

She also pointed to the declining immigrant population as some leave Arizona in the wake of employer sanction laws that went into effect in January. These factors, along with a routine enforcement over the past three years, have likely caused the dip Powell said she has observed in the past six months.

"It used to be right after the holidays you'd see an increase - there'd be a big increase," she said. "We didn't see that this year."

Officers on overtime shifts park many mornings near the downtown area and watch for violations, said police spokesman Sgt. Rick Griner. The days and times vary, but he said officers have had a consistent presence since that stretch of Arizona Avenue became a no-stopping zone three years ago.

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