Dayworkers May Get Pay Phone on City Lot

Day laborers who use an unpaved city lot while soliciting work should soon be able to use a public telephone.

City Council members voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to ask GTE to install a pay phone on the dayworkers’ lot in the 1700 block of Laguna Canyon Road.

“I told the laborers that the pay phone was coming, and they were just so ecstatic,” said Patrick O’Flanagan, a resident who for several months has urged the city to install a phone on the site. “They need to call home, they need to give a number to potential employers, and, if someone gets hurt, they need to be able to dial 911.”

The laborers have been cut off from easy access to a telephone since the city designated the dirt lot as a work solicitation site about three years ago. Previously, the workers gathered at convenience stores and other sites until residents complained about loitering.

Officials estimate that 30 to 100 workers are in the area at any one time waiting for offers of work.

Over the years, the city has added portable toilets and a drinking fountain on the site.

Wade Brown, the city’s parks and building manager, said GTE officials had previously told him they were worried about security at the site. But the city can ask independent companies to install a phone for a share of the revenue if GTE refuses, he said.

The phone should be available in three to five months.

Councilman Wayne J. Baglin said he voted against the move because it distracted the city from larger issues of exploitation.

“We’re responsible for the safety of these people, and a telephone is not going to do one damn thing for their safety,” he said. “I think we have to hit [the issue] head on and decide what our ultimate goal is.”

Council members also agreed to ask their human relations committee to look into problems at the site.