Thread: Los Altos Hills to donate $25,000 to day worker center

Saturday Mar 15

Los Altos Hills to donate $25,000 to facility

Offer for day worker center contingent on Mountain View, Los Altos pitching in

By Melanie Carroll / Daily News Staff Writer
Now that Los Altos Hills has pledged to donate up to $25,000 toward a permanent Day Worker Center in Mountain View as long as neighboring cities Los Altos and Mountain View follow suit, the county also may kick in some money, Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss said Friday.

The Day Worker Center helps match local laborers - such as gardeners, carpenters and painters - with employers who almost always pay cash. The center last year moved to a temporary home at the Trinity United Methodist Church, near the corner of Mercy and Hope streets, after being forced out of the Calvary Church on California Street.

The Los Altos Hills City Council voted 3-2 Thursday to pony up some money to help buy the vacant $300,000 building on Escuela Avenue, near the railroad tracks in Mountain View. The council decided the funding should be contingent on Los Altos and Mountain View also pitching in toward the project. Because Los Altos Hills has a population of about 8,000 residents, the donation comes out to about $3 a person, Vice Mayor Jean Mordo said, adding he would like the two other cities to contribute according to their respective populations.

Mountain View has indicated it may offer land for a parking lot in lieu of cash. Both Los Altos and Mountain View are scheduled to take up the matter by the end of the month.

"I am delighted that the Los Altos Hills Council has conditionally approved spending $25,000 for the Day Worker Center in Mountain View. I think it's regrettable that they have decided to link it to what other cities are doing," Mountain View Council Member Laura Macias wrote in an e-mail. "The city of Mountain View is home to many nonprofits and when we fund programs at so many of them, we haven't linked our funding to other cities. While the city may encourage the nonprofit to seek funding from other cities within their service area, it seems peculiarly penalizing to the nonprofit to make the approval contingent upon what other cities do."

Mountain View Mayor Tom Means, however, said getting all three cities to fund the project together makes sense to him.

"It should be conditional" on each city's participation, Means said. "I like how it's conditional. One group should not bear the burden."

Los Altos Mayor Val Carpenter said her group will take up the issue March 25.

"We'll have a discussion on what the council wants to do with that," Carpenter said. "I think a Day Worker Center is a good thing. The question is whether we as a council can afford to participate."

Roughly $175,000 has already been raised through private donations, Mordo said.

Mordo said the goal is to raise the rest of the money by the end of April and to close the deal by the end of May.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Kniss said that when the county begins discussing its budget in April, she will bring up funding the worker center.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, said while she applauds the efforts to buy a permanent building, the state is in no financial position to offer up funds, adding that she hopes Palo Alto will also contribute to the cause.



E-mail Melanie Carroll at mcarroll@dailynewsgroup.com.
http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/articl ... ker-center

Did the city of Los Altos Hills do this with the approval of the taxpayers/residents?

Santa Clara County Supervisor Kniss said that when the county begins discussing its budget in April, she will bring up funding the worker center

.

This woman sould be removed from office if she authorizes any funding of a worker center with tax dollars unless the citizens of Santa Clara have a say in the matter.

It's not HER personal money to do as she pleases with it.

Now that Los Altos Hills has pledged to donate up to $25,000 toward a permanent Day Worker Center in Mountain View as long as neighboring cities Los Altos and Mountain View follow suit, the county also may kick in some money, Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss said Friday.

How can a town LEGALLY DONATE TAX-MONIES to anything?

Don't they know they can be chaged with a felony--aiding, abetting and harboring illegal aliens?

The Day Worker Center helps match local laborers - such as gardeners, carpenters and painters - with employers who almost always pay cash.

Knowing the employers pay in cash makes them accessories to tax evasion.

Roughly $175,000 has already been raised through private donations, Mordo said.

Each donor is aiding and abetting illegal immigration and providing a means for the illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. through employment.

Mountain View has indicated it may offer land for a parking lot in lieu of cash.

Parking lot for the illegal aliens' vehicles? The ones who aren't suppose to have drivers licenses?

ICE should raid the Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, and Los Altos city council meetings and the Santa Clara County Supervisor's meeting.

No one is above the law.