HUNTINGTON BEACH : Day Laborer Center Gets Preliminary Council OK

The City Council has given preliminary approval to a plan providing day laborers with a job center where they could wait for work, instead of congregating at local shopping centers.

The Police Department has proposed setting up the job center at a vacant site off Gothard Street, near Talbert Avenue.

This week, City Council members earmarked $40,000 in federal grant money for the project, which would include restrooms, a trailer for office use, benches and shade trees. A fence would be installed and a portion of the site would be paved.

Other county cities, including Costa Mesa and Brea, have job centers.

In Huntington Beach, business and property owners have complained that the workers who gather on street corners and outside shopping centers discourage customers.

“It’s a deterrent to business. It makes it look slummy and not the upscale place we tout,” said Sandra Lamperts, property manager of Loehmann’s Five Points Plaza at Main Street and Beach Boulevard, which has 40 businesses.

Lamperts said crowds of 20 to 40 men gather weekday and Saturday mornings at the center.

The merchants have taken measures to keep out laborers, including installing a fence on a portion of the center. Signs in Spanish and English have been posted to warn laborers not to use customer parking spaces.

Police Lt. Dan Johnson said the workers have caused traffic and parking problems.

“It’s not a criminal problem, it’s an annoyance problem,” he said. “We need to create an area where employers can hire them.”

Johnson said the city has no ordinances to deal with the problem. But he said that an anti-loitering ordinance could be considered later to encourage day laborers to meet at the job center.