LADERA HEIGHTS : County Delays Vote on Day Laborer Law

After a lengthy public hearing Tuesday before the county Board of Supervisors, a vote on a controversial ordinance that proposes to ban day laborers was delayed for two weeks.

The ordinance, authored by Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, would prohibit day laborers from seeking work on public rights of way and in unauthorized areas of commercial parking lots. Although the ordinance would be enforced in all unincorporated county areas, it is the culmination of a longstanding movement among many Ladera Heights residents to oust 50 to 100 day laborers who regularly seek work near Slauson and Fairfax avenues.

For several years, residents have complained that the laborers obstruct traffic, scrawl graffiti, urinate on lawns, verbally harass women and children, and generally disturb the peace.

“We’re not against anyone seeking employment, but this is a residential, not a business, area,” Willa Hecter, a resident and member of the Ladera Heights Civic Assn., told the board. “Our community is quiet, and we want it to remain so.”

But many civil rights and immigrant advocacy organizations said the issue is race-driven. Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the county Human Relations Commission and others said Ladera Heights residents are stereotyping poor Latinos, who comprise most of the day laborers.

“Not only is this ordinance unconstitutional, it is inhumane in that it drives more people into poverty,” said Nancy Cervantes, an attorney with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “It also indulges racial intolerance at a time when we simply can’t afford to do that.”

Said Joe R. Hicks, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles: “There should be civil liberties for all people, immigrants included. This ordinance only adds to the immigrant-bashing sentiment sweeping the nation.”

Cervantes echoed Hicks’ suggestion to establish an independent dispute resolution center in Ladera Heights at a local church or other site to foster discussion between residents and laborers. Cervantes and others suggested providing an alternative space for laborers to gather while seeking employment that would have a county staff person and amenities such as restroom facilities. Similar facilities have been established in Harbor City and North Hollywood.

After the hearing, the Board of Supervisors agreed to postpone voting on the ordinance for two weeks to give residents time to arrive at a compromise.