City to Reconsider Plan for Laborers Site : Moorpark: Merchants angrily protest the proposal to designate a downtown corner as an area for day workers to gather.

Bombarded with complaints from angry residents and merchants, the Moorpark City Council decided to reconsider a plan to establish a downtown hiring site for day laborers.

Mayor Paul W. Lawrason and Councilman Bernardo M. Perez, who were part of a special committee investigating the day laborer issue, had proposed designating the southwest corner of High Street and Moorpark Avenue as the hiring site.

But during an emotionally charged council meeting Wednesday night, downtown residents and merchants vigorously argued against the city sanctioning a site where laborers could solicit work. They said it would be a nuisance and a detriment to businesses already struggling to survive.

“Why do we want to put this smack-dab in the heart of the city in an area we’re trying to rejuvenate?” asked Mike Vickers, whose wife, Judy, operates an ice cream parlor on High Street. “Let’s put it in front of City Hall . . . I guarantee you won’t like it.”

Robert Coughlon, an attorney and president of the Chamber of Commerce, warned that the city was opening itself up to possible litigation by sponsoring a hiring site. The site is owned by the Ventura County Transportation Commission but is managed by the city.

“The first time a worker is hurt on the property, you’re going to find a lawsuit against the city,” said Coughlon, whose law office is on High Street.

The City Council, which has long promised to spruce up downtown with new sidewalks and improved street lighting, instead was considering a plan that would create a negative impression of the area, Coughlon said. Business owners were especially upset that the city was considering installing portable toilets and a pay telephone at the site.

“As a resident and a voter, I am outraged that the City Council would consider spending tax dollars in such an irresponsible manner,” Coughlon said.

Seventeen residents spoke on the issue, with all opposing the proposed hiring site. More than 100 people attended the meeting.

Greg Simons, an outreach worker with El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, an Oxnard-based Latino rights group that has been lobbying for the hiring site, said the day laborer issue was not going to go away and pleaded with officials and residents to work with them to find a solution.

“These people live in Moorpark. They are your neighbors,” he said. “I encourage you to help us resolve this in a manner that is fair to all residents.”

Jorge Ruiz, one of half a dozen laborers who attended the meeting, said that about 40 men congregate daily in front of the Tipsy Fox convenience store in downtown Moorpark and will continue to do so. He said the men are residents of the city and are documented and should be allowed to solicit work.

“We need to work,” he said. “We need to make money to take care of our families.” He said the men have gone to the county unemployment offices, but they are usually put on waiting lists because no steady jobs are available.

But Councilman Roy Talley said it was not the city’s responsibility to find a hiring site.

“If we’re going to help out one group,” he said, “what other groups are we going to help out? Where do we draw the line?”

Lawrason and Perez agreed to re-examine the issue and organize a town hall meeting with residents, business owners and the laborers to try to come up with a solution.

“I think in our anxiousness to resolve this issue, we may have overlooked some very valid points that have been raised,” Perez said.

Both officials told the audience that in recommending the hiring site, they were simply trying to respond to the complaints of the owner of the Tipsy Fox convenience store. Owner Mike Abdul has said that although he is sympathetic to the men who gather in front of his store, they are frightening his customers away.

Indeed, several residents who addressed the council said they no longer patronize the store because they are afraid or uncomfortable around the laborers.

Still, Perez remained optimistic that the issue can be resolved amicably.

“There has to be a solution that everyone can buy into,” he said. “Doing nothing is not an option.”