Agoura Hills Council Votes to Ban Job-Seeking by Day Laborers

Despite warnings that a similar ordinance aimed at day laborers in Costa Mesa has been ruled unconstitutional, the Agoura Hills City Council on Wednesday approved a measure that could make it illegal to seek work on a city sidewalk, street or parking lot, or to hire someone there.

The ordinance passed 5 to 0 on its first reading and is expected to receive final approval in two weeks, said Agoura Hills City Manager David Carmany.

Lt. Jim Pierson of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Malibu substation said in an interview that he urged council members to consider offering day laborers a supervised place to seek work instead of imposing an outright ban on their attempts to find jobs.

“My point was that this is not a law enforcement problem; it is a social problem,” Pierson said.

Residents have complained to the City Council that day laborers who congregate at Agoura and Kanan roads are a public nuisance, heckling women, jumping into the beds of pickup trucks uninvited and relieving themselves in public, Carmany said.

He said a property owner had offered the use of some vacant land for a day-laborers’ gathering place, complete with insurance to protect the city from liability.

However, Pierson said council members were reluctant to use public money for portable toilets or a site coordinator and rejected the idea of establishing a place for laborers to seek work.

Pierson said that if the ordinance passes, it will be difficult to enforce because authorities will have to prove, possibly with videotaped evidence, that a solicitation for work was made and accepted.

“Unfortunately, I think they’ve got the impression that we can write 40 or 50 citations and the problem will go away,” Pierson said. “It’s just not that easy.”

“I’m hoping we won’t have to issue any citations,” said Councilwoman Louise Rishoff, who said a more humane approach would be to publicize the ordinance before it goes into effect, giving day laborers a chance to move on.

A Superior Court commissioner in Orange County recently ruled that a Costa Mesa ordinance prohibiting people from congregating in certain areas of the city to seek work was unconstitutional, Carmany told the council.