City Seeks Ban on Drivers Picking Up Day Laborers

The City Council wants to prohibit motorists from picking up day laborers on the street, copying a 5-year-old Agoura Hills law aimed at the thorny problem of workers congregating downtown.

Merchants near the High Street market, where the men gather to look for work, complain that the crowds scare off potential customers and that some of the men litter and relieve themselves in public.

The City Council on Wednesday instructed the city attorney to come up with an ordinance like the one in Agoura Hills. While officials in that city say the law has not stopped day laborers from gathering there, Moorpark officials believe that adopting something similar would be an important first step.

“It will be a tool we can use to curb what is happening now,” said Councilman John Wozniak. “It will go hand-in-hand with whatever ultimate solution we decide on.”

Along with the ordinance, the City Council formed a committee--consisting of council members Eloise Brown and Bernardo Perez--to come up with an alternative site for the laborers.

Three years ago, Moorpark officials tried to move the men to a designated spot in front of City Hall. But within a few months, the laborers were back on the corner.

Perez said that attempt failed because officials were not willing to spend money to make it work.

Perez recently proposed moving the mostly Latino men to a city-owned warehouse on High Street, but abandoned the plan after stiff opposition from downtown merchants and because of steep costs to renovate the building and install basic amenities.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, several downtown merchants protested any such solution, some saying that the city should not spend any money to deal with the day laborers.

“When my husband lost his job as an aerospace worker, he did not come down and ask you for a corner for the unemployed aerospace workers,” said Debbie Rogers Teasly, former president of the Chamber of Commerce. “Don’t just throw money at the issue.”

Councilman Pat Hunter agreed, saying that any city solution had to be done without taxpayer expense.

But Councilwoman Brown disagreed.

“I wouldn’t be honest if I were to say we could do this without spending one cent of public money,” Brown said. “We use public funds in order to meet public needs and this is a public need. Think about it, if this were a parking problem you would have no problem spending the money.”

The council is considering setting up a job center. The center would have a telephone line and toilets, and workers there would have to abide by rules. Most council members said they would support the center only if it paid for itself through fees charged to the laborers and employers.

Former day laborer Ramon Rodriguez, who now owns his own business and spoke on behalf of about 20 workers at the meeting, said the group wanted to cooperate on a solution.

“I believe they deserve an opportunity like all of us to work,” Rodriguez told the City Council. “I’m asking for your support to relocate the men.”