Council Studies Ban on Street-Corner Job Solicitation

In response to complaints about the increasing number of day laborers on Los Angeles street corners, the City Council is considering a proposal that would prohibit the soliciting of work on city streets and sidewalks.

Although the proposal contains a provision to create an alternative hiring site for laborers who solicit work in Harbor City, immigrants’ rights groups Wednesday said they would fight the proposed ordinance, arguing it would violate the workers’ First Amendment right to freedom of assembly and take away their only means of support.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores proposed the ban after complaints by residents in Harbor City, where “large groups of men” congregate in search of work each morning at several intersections, said Karen Constine, a spokeswoman for Flores.

“People who are trying to drive through the area get caught in the congestion,” Constine said. “The corners and sidewalks aren’t free because of people congregating.”

Constine said the proposal would address similar problems at the dozens of Los Angeles intersections where day laborers solicit work. “It was called to our attention in Harbor City, but this problem exists throughout the city,” she said.

But Linda Mitchell of the Coalition for Humane Immigrants’ Rights of Los Angeles, said she doubted the law could be enforced. “What are they going to do, send the LAPD to round people up?” she said. “It’s ludicrous when you think of the number of people looking for work on the street corners.”

Mitchell said provisions to create one hiring site in Harbor City would still prohibit day laborers from soliciting work elsewhere in the city.

Constine said the proposed ordinance would be enforced by the Police Department. She said she did not know what penalties would apply.

Flores’ proposal was approved by the council’s Industry and Economic Development Committee last week, with a request that the Community Development Deparment identify sites in Harbor City where the laborers can look for work away from the hazards of the street, Constine said.

“This is not trying to limit people from getting employment by any means. It’s just meant to find a safer way to do it,” Constine said. A council hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for Feb. 22.

City-Sanctioned Hiring Site

A proposal by Councilman Ernani Bernardi for a city-sanctioned hiring site for day laborers in Pacoima will also be discussed in the next two weeks, at a hearing of the council’s Government Operations Committee.

Bernardi said he has “strong reservations” about an outright ban on the workers and would support Flores’ proposal only if it included alternative hiring sites.

“We hear about welfare fraud, and here’s a group of people willing to stand outside in the cold and look for work,” Bernardi said. “We need to take a different approach than saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to arrest you.’ ”

Alternative hiring sites were set up last year in Costa Mesa and Glendale. The Costa Mesa site is open only to laborers with work permits. All workers can solicit work at the Glendale site, regardless of their immigration status.

The Glendale site is a Catholic Youth Organization pre-school where laborers and volunteers from the business community cooperate to keep the site clean and orderly. “The problems we had in the past have been alleviated,” said Richard Reyes, community relations coordinator for the city of Glendale. “I think it’s very successful.”

City officials said the number of men soliciting work on Los Angeles street corners has increased since last year, when federal officials began enforcing provisions of the 1986 immigration law penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants. The law has forced many immigrant workers to seek jobs on the streets.

Father Thomas Smolich, associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church and coordinator of a program to educate day laborers about their rights, said creating one or two alternative hiring sites, or banning the workers from the streets, would not solve the problem.

“The ordinance does not even begin to deal with the heart of the issue, the fact that thousands of men everyday are looking for work on street corners and will probably continue to do that with or without this ordinance,” he said.