COSTA MESA : Job Center to Stay Open Another Year

The controversial Costa Mesa Job Center, opened in 1988 to discourage day laborers from seeking work on city streets, will continue operating for another year.

The City Council decided early Tuesday morning to allocate additional money to pay for two part-time staff workers and supplies. Council members also agreed that the center should continue the practice of allowing all workers, regardless of whether they have legal proof of their right to work in the United States, to seek jobs.

“I don’t think there was any whisper from anyone in City Hall to close the job center,” said Councilman Peter F. Buffa, who was a key figure in helping establish the center.

The center formerly screened job applicants for legal status, a practice that generated controversy.

Members of the audience, some of whom said they have received temporary jobs from the center at 1697 Placentia Ave., applauded after the council unanimously agreed not to reinstate the screening.

“There’s a sense of survival out there,” said Roy Alvarado, who founded Latinos Costa Mesa last year in response to several moves by the City Council that were viewed by some as anti-immigrant. He visited Lions Park and the job center on Monday to talk with some of the men who gather there.

Richard Grisham, 38, who told the council he was homeless before becoming a regular at the center for the past two years, praised the council’s decisions.

“Understand one thing,” he said after the meeting, “you won’t get rich off the job center, but you will make a living.”

Carlos Jose Quintos told the council that he has also received temporary jobs at the center. He recommended that volunteers who teach basic English to the people waiting for jobs there increase their twice-weekly visits.

The Costa Mesa Literacy Center has taught English at the center for the past two years with the help of a city grant, according to co-director Margery Fuller.

She and others also suggested that the city improve the job center’s services, such as making them more widely known to the community and increasing the number of jobs geared toward women.

In response to City Council demands, the Police Department has made more day contractors aware of an ordinance that makes it illegal to hire workers off the streets, Officer Tom Pipes said. As a result, police have noticed a decrease in the number of people seeking work at Lions Park.

“We got the word out that it was illegal and the contractors would be liable,” the police officer said. “They’re all starting to go to the job center.”

In fact, figures for the total number of workers who found jobs at the center jumped from 414 in March to 848 in April. The number of workers signing up for jobs there also increased significantly, from 2,068 in March to 3,424 in April, according to city figures. The most recent figures show that 859 workers were hired at the center in June, out of 3,565 seeking work.

The city, which budgeted $24,000 this fiscal year for rent on the building, had expected the state Employment Development Department to take over the daily operation of the center and to pay the $48,565 for staffing and supplies.

The EDD surprised city officials last month when it decided against taking over the center, citing financial constraints.

The money to fund the center for the rest of the year will be taken out of the council contingency fund.