Thread: Ordinance cuts down on lingering

Ordinance cuts down on lingering
By: Andrew Dunn, Senior Writer
Posted: 1/29/08
Just before 11 a.m. on many mornings, Carrboro police officers drive by the corner of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road and point to their watches.

It's just about time for the day laborers to leave, according to a recent anti-lingering town ordinance approved by the Board of Aldermen Nov. 20.

Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison said so far no citations have been made and no confrontations between officers and laborers have occurred.

"We see it more as we're reminding them it's time to move along," she said.

Dozens of men gather daily at the corner of Jones Ferry and Davie roads in western Carrboro.

Construction trucks come by, and most of the men jump in to work for the day.

The ordinance was proposed to combat an increasing concern with illegal behavior by those who stay after the workers leave.

"There seems to be a somewhat clear situation between those who are there to be picked up for work and those who are just hanging out," Town Manager Steve Stewart said.

Some of the issues included littering, public drunkenness and degrading language used against women.

The regulations do not allow people to "stand, sit, recline, linger or otherwise remain" in the parking lot by the BP/Kangaroo gas station after 11 a.m., when the last work trucks come through.

No further action is planned on the part of town government.

"The signs are up, and the ordinance is on the books," Stewart said. "The idea was to have it as a tool to encourage people to move along rather than to cite people."

The manager of the BP/Kangaroo gas station said that since the ordinance was passed, day laborers have not been staying past 11 a.m.

He said the other problems have abated somewhat but not completely.

Hutchinson said police have also increased their presence in the area.

The ordinance has drawn the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, which said it might make a complaint to the town government.

In drafting the ordinance, the aldermen drew a distinction between those who come to work and those who don't - both groups largely made up of Latino immigrants.

"I don't want to bother anybody who works hard. I just want to bother those who don't," Alderman Joal Hall Broun said.

But ACLU Legislative Coordinator Sarah Preston said racial profiling might be inevitable.

"It is mainly meant to deal with people who are day laborers, so for the most part they are Latino people, and we're afraid it will only be directed at the Latino population," Preson said.

"For example, if a Caucasian woman was standing in the area, she probably wouldn't be seen as violating the ordinance, and that would be racial profiling."



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"It is mainly meant to deal with people who are day laborers, so for the most part they are Latino people, and we're afraid it will only be directed at the Latino population," Preson said. '

No, it will be directed at anyone who is loitering on street corners trying to solicit work illegally, irrespective of race. Where in the law does it specifically state that only lations will be targeted?

I guess accoring to the ACLU, if only one segment of the population is breaking the law and contributing to the destruction of quality of life for all citizens, then it really shouldn't count and we should just ignore it.

Construction trucks come by, and most of the men jump in to work for the day.

If the company name is on any of these trucks, the state should insure these companies are paying workman's comp. insurance for these workers.