Ordinance to Restrict Day Laborers OKd

The laborers who gather every morning on a street corner in downtown Moorpark will no longer be able to approach passing cars and solicit work, at least not legally.

City Council members Wednesday night unanimously approved a city ordinance that bars people from soliciting employment or money from passing motorists while standing on a public street or sidewalk. The ordinance comes in response to complaints from downtown merchants who say the men gathering on the corner of High and Spring streets scare off customers.

The new rule, however, will not remove those men from the corner, because they frequently stand in the parking lot of a nearby convenience store and not on the sidewalk. Employers with day jobs for the men will still be able to walk up to the lot and offer work.

Some merchants had complained before Wednesday’s council meeting that the ordinance would not help them, saying the city needs to find another place for the men. Council members acknowledged at their meeting that the ordinance was only a partial solution to the problem.