LAGUNA BEACH : Dayworker Hiring Restriction Rejected

After an emotional public hearing that pitted dayworker advocates against residents who want the workers out of their neighborhood, the City Council reversed itself Tuesday, rejecting a law that would have restricted hiring to a single, designated hiring site.

The council’s split vote stunned north Laguna residents who had proposed the ordinance as a way to relocate the laborers from their neighborhood to a city-approved hiring lot in Laguna Canyon.

Despite efforts to educate the workers, residents say, day laborers still mill about the area, intimidating residents and clogging business entrances. Since the area lacks public toilets, workers urinate and defecate outdoors, said William Buckley, a member of the North Laguna Community Assn.

“Many people have given a lot of valuable time to solve this problem,” said Ilse Lenschow, president of Laguna North Neighborhood Assn. “But nothing worked.”

Among those lobbying against the ordinance was Hector Martinez, president of Latinos United for Development and Integration in South Orange County, who earlier in the day had filed with the city a petition signed by 130 opponents.

Two weeks ago, the council had given preliminary approval to the ordinance, which would have banned work solicitation anywhere except at the lot in the 21000 block of Laguna Canyon Road.

However, that 3-2 majority crumbled Tuesday when Councilwoman Ann Christoph reversed her position and voted against the measure.

“I find it very difficult to fine and punish people who are trying to look for work,” she said.

The council had two possible ordinances before it: one that would have allowed police to cite both workers and contractors, and another that would have made only employers liable to punishment.

However, neither mustered a majority.

Council members Wayne L. Peterson and Kathleen Blackburn voted for the dual-sanction measure. When that vote failed, Blackburn cast her vote with Christoph for the law that would have punished only employers.

Some council members balked at criminalizing hiring and soliciting work. Violating the measures would have been a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Councilwoman Lida Lenney said the ordinance would have opened “a Pandora’s box to a police state.”

“For us to be in a position where we’re putting people in jail and fining them (for soliciting work) is just something I cannot sign my name to,” she said.

The city has tried with limited success since 1988 to encourage day laborers to relocate to the canyon area from the north end of town--where a bus deposits many of them each day.

After the vote, the council agreed to create a task force to look for a solution without criminalizing the current practices. One option would be to create a hiring hall, as has been done in Costa Mesa and Dana Point.

Evelyn Munro, a member of the city’s Human Affairs Committee who opposed the ordinances, said she thinks a solution can be found.

“This town really is unique. . . . We’re committed to working it out for the whole community,” she said.

But north Laguna resident Buckley said his group has already spent two years and $2,000 without success.

“We have no solution, we have no answer,” he said. “We are at a dead end.”