WOODLAND HILLS : Crackdown Sought on ‘Day Loiterers’

Los Angeles City Council members Laura Chick and Marvin Braude have asked police to crack down on loitering on a Woodland Hills block that is a popular pickup spot for day laborers.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Capt. Val Paniccia of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division, the two members of the council’s Public Safety Committee described “an enormous daily congregation” of people loitering on Fallbrook Avenue between Ventura Boulevard and Avenue San Luis.

“There are individuals that appear to be gathering with no other apparent purpose than to conduct illegal activity,” the letter said. “We are asking that a strict enforcement policy, using existing laws, be implemented.”

In the letter, the two council members refer to the people who hang out there as “day loiterers.” They also complained that drug dealing, prostitution and traffic violations are on the rise in the block, which is near a residential area.

But the issue of law enforcement at day laborer sites is a racially sensitive one, and should be treated carefully, said Kevin Baker, employment policy director at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“The police should be enforcing the law, that’s not the question,” Baker said.

“But if they are simply responding to people’s fears and suspicions, it’s different. And there seems to be an inordinate fear of Mexican folks who are looking for work and are standing in one place.”

Chick, who took office July 1, said the letter was written in response to nearly 150 complaints to her staff about drug dealing, public urination, gambling, jaywalking, catering trucks parking in restricted areas, trespassing and harassment of shoppers between the two intersections.

“The intent of the letter is to let the police feel more comfortable enforcing our laws,” Chick said. “I think the day laborer issue has sometimes been an uncomfortable one for the LAPD. But we want to stress that we’re talking about day loiterers, rather than day laborers, here.”

Chick said her staff is searching for a day laborer pickup site that is not near homes, and that could be regulated.