Thread: Report offers data on pickup spots for day laborer pests

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/lo ... 0937.story

Report offers data on pickup spots for day laborers

By Vesna Jaksic
Staff Writer

Published September 18 2005

STAMFORD -- The city's designated "no hassle zone" for day laborers draws the strongest and most aggressive workers. The parking lot in front of Dunkin' Donuts on East Main Street is popular for laborers who have already arranged pickups with employers. And the nearby area in front of a Blockbuster video store is a gathering spot for female domestic workers.

Observations and surveys of the city's day laborer community have helped paint a picture of this group, including its numbers, habits and movements. Collected by a part-time day laborer outreach worker, the information was presented Wednesday night during a meeting of the East Side Partnership, a group of business and property owners on the East Side.

The report found most day laborers use the city's designated job pickup zone along South State Street. Others congregate in front of East Main Street businesses because their employers have told them to come there, according to the report.

Philip Berns, a local immigration attorney who presented the report, has been working with the East Side Partnership to address issues related to day laborers. A number of East Side business owners have said day laborers can intimidate customers and leave a mess.

Berns said that because employers influence where laborers go, the city should pass a no-vehicle solicitation ordinance. The ordinance, which has been discussed by several boards but has not been voted on, would fine vehicle owners $90 for picking up workers outside the designated zone.

"It's all the more obvious that while that's not an entire solution, it's going to be a big part of the solution," Berns said.

City Rep. Thomas Hunter, D-12, who proposed the ordinance, said the issue has been controversial and viewed by some as political. But Hunter said the ordinance simply aims to relieve East Main Street businesses and prevent accidents along the busy East Main Street corridor.

The report found most workers use the designated job pickup area. Observations during nine mornings last month and this month indicated an average of 75 workers coming to the designated zone between 7 and 10 a.m., compared with an average of 18 laborers who were outside the zone.

The designated area is near Interstate 95, where many cars drive by quickly, Berns said. As a result, most of the competitive workers go there, he said. The areas in front of Dunkin' Donuts, BevMax and Blockbuster are mostly used for prearranged meetings, though some laborers go there in hopes of getting hired, he said. Most day laborers are men from Central and South America, though the Blockbuster parking lot draws a number of women who do domestic work, Berns said.

Between 52 and 123 day laborers showed up on nine recent mornings. Some days, laborers left if they could not get work. Many stayed and additional workers arrived later in the morning, when the average number of day laborers increased to 94, compared with 81 earlier in the morning, Berns said.

The outreach worker also recorded license plate numbers of cars picking up the workers. At the urging of East Side Partnership co-Chairman James Grunberger, Police Lt. Brian McElligott said he would consider calling owners of those cars to inform them where they should pick up laborers.

What is ideal is if you can get legal day laborers to report the cars. They should include a warning on the card that those employers should ask if the laborers they pick are legal.
The employers should also be told of the legal penalties under the law even if they are not being enforced again yet.

Why don't they do what Fairfaxs County, Va. did which is build a day labor site with taxpayers money

Originally Posted by steelerbabe

Why don't they do what Fairfaxs County, Va. did which is build a day labor site with taxpayers money

Why don't they just deport them like the law requires? Oh that's right, if we had a real government led by a real leader and not the spineless pukes we have in office now then this wouldn't even be an issue.

IMPEACH BUSH!!!