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OPPONENTS: Site lacks parking; nearby firm concerned

DAY WORKERS: Worry about safety, remote location
New muster zone faces critics
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/7/06
BY JOHN VANDIVER
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

LAKEWOOD — If the day laborers who gather downtown move to the Lakewood Industrial Park to wait for work, the business next to the planned muster zone could be forced to relocate, the owner of the company said.

The reason: "Security, security, security for the clients' data," said Michael Swords, chairman and CEO of DPF Data Services.

The prospect of large numbers of men — many believed to be illegal immigrants — gathered nearby could raise concerns among clients about DPF's ability to secure sensitive data, Swords said.

Day laborers turned cyberthieves? Who knows, Swords said.

Swords, during a meeting Tuesday with members of the Lakewood Development Corp., asked the organization's board of directors for help.

"I don't understand what the thinking here is in the township," Swords said about the soon-to-open muster zone on Swarthmore Avenue.

Though the LDC doesn't have the power to stop the project, the group has formed a subcommittee to look into the concerns of industrial park businesses.

As the township presses forward with plans to open the zone, officials have encountered criticism from just about every angle.

Advocates for the day laborers said efforts to force the men away from downtown are dehumanizing and discriminating. Others argue that the township, by establishing a special employment area, is catering to the needs of a population that is in the country illegally.

Mayor Meir Lichtenstein said he hears the critics and understands their concerns but remains resolved to have the muster zone running in a matter of weeks.

In addition to the concerns of businesses and various activist organizations, the laborers themselves are opposed.

Hispano Power, a newly formed group of day laborers, said the muster zone is inaccessible and doomed to failure.

Lichtenstein met with members of Hispano Power on Wednesday night to make his sales pitch about why the work zone will be good for the laborers.

"Of course it's not going to be perfect, it's going to be a work in progress," he told the group gathered at Christ United Methodist Church.

Gerardo Perez, vice president of Hispano Power, said a major concern is the safety of the workers, who often carry cash.

The workers said they are often victims of attack because it is known they carry cash because they do not have bank accounts. Moving to the muster zone increases their risks, said Juan Carlos Cordero, president of Hispano Power.