Thread: Where jobseekers wait, some neighbors fume

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ne ... 007056.php

Sunday, February 19, 2006
Where jobseekers wait, some neighbors fume
Gathering spots for day laborers are points of contention in Lake Forest.
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE
The Orange County Register

LAKE FOREST – Randy Montur starts most mornings at a doughnut shop. He's not there for glazed doughnuts - he's looking for work.

Some days Montur, 29, is lucky. If picked for a construction job, he'll work eight to 10 hours. Other days, he'll wait inside the Plaza El Toro shop for hours.

It's tough, he says. But it's better than the life he had as a teacher in a small farming village in Guatemala where he made $200 a month.

Public reaction to day laborers, who await job offers around large warehouse stores as well as in small shopping areas, is prompting cities to get involved.

City officials throughout Orange County are grappling with balancing private property rights and neighborhood quality of life with a person's right to solicit work. Many property owners say day laborers cause them problems, while others sympathize with their desire to work.

At council meetings throughout Orange County, the topic is highly charged, carrying undertones of the debate over illegal immigration.

"The concern of illegal immigration is not within the city's policing power to enforce," Lake Forest Mayor Richard Dixon said at a recent meeting. "Undesirable behavior of day laborers or anyone else that violates state law is within the city's purview."

Cities that seek to regulate day laborers, said Lake Forest City Attorney Scott Smith, are waiting to see if courts will require them to provide hiring areas. Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach each have a designated place for day laborers to gather. Costa Mesa had a designated spot, but closed it down in December.

Soliciting work on a public right of way is not illegal.

Lt. Jay LeFlore, chief of police services in Lake Forest, said property owners can call police for assistance after they've told someone to leave their property.

Siphaun Ouk, 58, owns the doughnut shop where Montur goes. He doesn't mind if the workers hang out.

"If they're nice guys, no problem," he said. "They can stay here a short while and get a job. If they come in and buy, I'm very happy. But sometimes I lose business when there are a lot of guys in here. Often, American people - ladies with children – don't want to come in."

Montur is thankful. He doesn't like the other unofficial gathering spot - Cherry Avenue and Jeronimo Road.

"It's clean and safe here," he said. "People aren't drunk and don't throw around trash."

Jessie Gonzales, 86, of Mission Viejo frequents Ouk's shop for jelly doughnuts.

"I just wish things were different," she said. "I don't have any objections. They want to work. Let's face it, our kids don't want to do that kind of work."

Other business owners in Plaza El Toro and at Jeronimo and Cherry say they're tired of seeing women and children harassed, finding trash and human waste in their parking lots and observing drunken and belligerent behavior.

"Nobody is against the day laborers," said Max Bahmani, co-owner of Pizza Bite on Jeronimo Road. "But it's worse than ever. The whole neighborhood is fed up. The city needs to find a solution. Give them something permanent, and give them something for sanitation."

Denny Pointon, who manages Plaza El Toro, in December called the Sheriff's Department for help.

"They instructed me how to do a citizen's arrest," he said. "I go out there every morning and tell the day laborers that they're trespassing. At one point we had up to 100, now it's less. When they see me, they go off the property or go inside to buy a doughnut."

A sheriff's deputy is there to assist Pointon. Those who don't leave are arrested.

Since October, the Lake Forest sheriff's office responded to 13 calls and arrested two people. Most are cited and released once they're taken to Orange County Jail and go through a routine booking. Immigration status is not checked, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Montur hasn't had problems. He's studying English and hopes he might teach students here one day.

"The U.S. is beautiful," he said. "There's a lot more opportunity for my children."

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I don't blame the people who live in that area for being angry. Whose to say when someone will come along and stir up the ignorant masses and they will go on a killing rampage? Looks like drugs are also an issue. Whose to say when someone will freak out on drugs and go on a killing rampage?

And why, in the name of all that's holy, doesn't ICE go to those areas and round up those people, sort them and deport them?

In this city, gangs of kids (I think the limit is 4) are prohibited from walking down the street together in order to avoid major gang confrontations. People are prohibited from having a large public gathering without getting permission and, sometimes, a parade permit. Why, then, are a bunch of men allowed to congregate in a place daily without a parade permit?