A Better Location for Day Laborers

Re “Cities Back Off Bans on Seeking Jobs in Public,” Aug. 25:

I understand that the article was on cities’ attempts to ban or control day laborers. But it did not thoroughly describe the alternative action that Huntington Beach has offered.

Several years ago, the city opened a job center, operated by city employees, about a mile from the gathering streets of the day laborers. This center provides both the employer, particularly women, and laborers a much safer area to meet. It eliminates the hazard of negotiating an agreement on a busy street and the dangers imposed by passing traffic.

It also eliminates the frenzy of laborers vying for the job and the employer trying to negotiate the job and pay in front of a group all trying to outtalk each other for the job, particularly if there is a language barrier.

The center provides interpreters so that both the employer and laborer know what is expected about the job, its length and wages.

From my experience with both the street and the center, using the center is much less stressful on both the employer and the laborer. Your article would have been more informative if the above facts had also been included, instead of casting the cities in a negative light, as though they care only for restricting the freedom of the laborer. This is clearly not the case in Huntington Beach.

Robert O. Dettloff

Huntington Beach