Thread: Solis pressured city to not enact anti-day labor laws.....

Issues of illegal vending, day laborers resurfacing in Baldwin Park
By Tania Chatila, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/12/2009 01:21:11 PM PST

BALDWIN PARK - A year after a city effort to control day laborers and vending in parking lots fell by the wayside, the contentious topic is slowly making its way back to the forefront of the city's agenda.

Councilman Anthony Bejarano wants the city to outlaw the selling of things or hustling up work in parking lots.

"It was bad enough with the guys, the hip hop rappers that were selling their CDs," Bejarano said of a recent visit to Food 4 Less. "Last week I went and some guy parked his camper in the parking lot, pulled out a lawn chair and a grill and was selling hot dogs. It started off with CDs, then it went to corn, then it went to tamales and now they're setting up kitchens."

The debate over regulating parking
Day laborer Gerardo Brigido looks for work in the Home Depot parking lot in Baldwin Park Thursday, December 18, 2008. A councilman wants to revisit an issue of an ordinance to stop day laborers from congregating in parking lots. (SGVN Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/SVCITY)
lot solicitation was sparked two years ago.

The city received complaints that day laborers at the Home Depot parking lot were urinating in public, sitting on cars, drinking, gambling and making offensive remarks to customers.

The city council eventually decided to ban people from soliciting within three feet of sidewalks.

A judge in July 2007 imposed an injunction against that law, saying it was unconstitutional.

The sidewalk law was eventually repealed as part of a settlement with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which sued the city on grounds that the law was unconstitutional.

The city came back later in 2007 with a law limiting uses of commercial parking lots to only those for which they were designed, such as parking cars and providing access to structures.

But, partly due to political pressure, the law was not enacted.

One source of that pressure was Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte. She has been tapped to be President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for labor secretary. Solis did not return several calls seeking comment.

"I urge Baldwin Park to postpone (consideration of the) ordinance," she wrote to Baldwin Park in 2007. "...Progress is being made to reach a multi-party solution for the establishment of a day labor site plan."

Today, that "site plan" is a make-shift tent made of tarp.

Some council members are concerned efforts have not improved conditions for shoppers at the Puente Avenue Home Depot.

"I agree it continues to be an issue," Councilwoman Marlen Garcia said at a December City Council meeting. "I still get complaints from women ... (who) don't like going shopping there because these men are standing around."

Bejarano said the city needs to take more drastic action.

"It's not working," he said of the tent. "There are still a significant amount of individuals throughout the parking lot engaging in the same behavior that many of our residents complained about prior to us taking a stance on this."

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said the canopy was a temporary fix, and company officials are still working with the city.

Day laborers at the site on Saturday - who requested anonymity in fear of retaliation - said some of the laborers don't use the center because they want to get a competitive edge. So they gather at other ends of the lot in hopes of finding work faster.

Jose Luis Centes, a day laborer who was been vocal in the dispute, has argued that a few stragglers cause most of the problems.

Bejarano disagreed.

"An agreement between the (city) and the day laborers to be better organized is not something that's going to day in, day out ensure that this situation is resolved," he said.

Whether Bejarano will get the rest of the council to revisit the law is uncertain.

His colleagues on the dais have been hesitant.

"My main concern about this issue is it's going to draw the city again into a number of lawsuits," Councilman Ricardo Pacheco said. "I wouldn't support this ordinance. It criminalizes Latinos."

Councilwoman Monica Garcia said at the December City Council meeting she was concerned with a "blanket policy."

"I do want to advocate for control of the parking lots, but I also think that, for instance, when you look at the Home Depot site, we do need a designated area for day laborers because they will be there," Garcia said. "By adopting this ordinance in this format, it is not going to deter them."

MALDEF attorney Kristina Campbell said workable solutions have been found in the past.

"It's not an either/or thing," she said. "It's about crafting an ordinance that allows the city to reach its goals and allows workers to solicit work. It's been done."

Campbell referred to a Glendale ordinance addressing day laborers at its Home Depot store.

"Its been OK. I can't say it's been perfect, but it's been OK," Glendale City Attorney Scott Howard said.

The ordinance allows day laborers to solicit work on sidewalks and on parkways but not on curbs.

Howard said officials' ultimate hope is that all laborers will utilize a center set up across the street.

Bejarano said it's not just about day laborers at Home Depot.

"I don't have a crystal ball," Bejarano said. "I have no idea (how to fix this). All we can do is continue to try and take steps to make the situation better at all of our shopping centers."

tania.chatila@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2109

http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_11436360

This country will become one huge third world day labor center once the wicked wench of the west Solis supplants Elaine Chao as the de-facto Mexican labor Secretary.......

What should we do?

The state of Calif is ntotally broke. How are these "day laborers" eating and living? Are the taxpayers still footing the bill? I think California and a few other states will need to go completely under and start over. There is no hope. Schwarzennegger is another liberal always skirting the biggest problems facing California, illegal immigrants.

[quote="Captainron"]What should we do?[/quote]




Good question

America is so totally and obviously screwed before this freak show even officially begins, I'm at a loss.

There just doesn't seem to be any way to get out of this one. They're all just going to do what they feel damned well like doing and the hell with every thing and body.

"It was bad enough with the guys, the hip hop rappers that were selling their CDs," Bejarano said of a recent visit to Food 4 Less. "Last week I went and some guy parked his camper in the parking lot, pulled out a lawn chair and a grill and was selling hot dogs. It started off with CDs, then it went to corn, then it went to tamales and now they're setting up kitchens."

How crazy! Don't they call those flea markets? And even they have rules and standards. What a zoo! I can't say I blame them, but lord it is going 3rd world when that happens anywhere and everywhere.

As a woman, I would NEVER patronize a business which allows an unlimited amount of males to congregate in their parking lot. I don't care why they are there, I don't need to put up with the BS.

Home Depot will care when they see their sales dive and with "day laborers" harassing their customers, sales WILL dive.

I'd rather patronize a small hardware store with a SAFER parking lot.

DITTO "miguelina" I would go to the next town before I would put up with it.

As a woman, I would NEVER patronize a business which allows an unlimited amount of males to congregate in their parking lot. I don't care why they are there, I don't need to put up with the BS.

Exactly. I wouldn't feel comfortable wading through a mob of any group of people wanting something from me when I'm just trying to get to the store. I get annoyed with the endless donation people, but there's usually just a few......forget it if it's a mob.

"It was bad enough with the guys, the hip hop rappers that were selling their CDs," Bejarano said of a recent visit to Food 4 Less. "Last week I went and some guy parked his camper in the parking lot, pulled out a lawn chair and a grill and was selling hot dogs. It started off with CDs, then it went to corn, then it went to tamales and now they're setting up kitchens."

No wonder people want out of California. It looks like a 3rd world petting zoo. Its disgusting how this is happening to once beautiful cities.