Posted on 12/31/2005 7:54:35 AM PST by LNewman
The Job Center closes today. Some laborers will leave area; others will find new places in town to seek work.
COSTA MESA -- Today is the beginning of an uncertain time for workers who use the city's Job Center.
At 11 a.m., the center closes for good after 17 years of operation. The City Council chose earlier this year to shutter the facility, which connects day laborers and employers. At the time, Mayor Allan Mansoor said employment services should be provided by the private sector, not the government.
Without the center, workers will be forced to move on, and for Joel Morales that could mean moving away. Morales, 34, said Friday he might pull up stakes and go to Las Vegas, Idaho or Nashville.
He's been the Job Center since he graduated from Estancia High School, he said -- he dropped out of college to get a job when his girlfriend became pregnant.
Finding long-term work has been hard for Morales because it often doesn't pay well, he said.
"It's not enough money to make a living out of it. The rent is expensive," he said.
Some of his friends at the Job Center will try to get work at a center they've heard about in Laguna Niguel, Morales said.
Delphino Rohas, 65, is worried for his friends, but not on his own account since he recently found a permanent job.
Workers who don't have citizenship papers or who don't speak English have the most trouble, he said.
"It's terrible for us," he said. "Most people tomorrow or maybe next week [will go] around the Home Depot or around the 7-Eleven looking for jobs."
Already workers have started to disperse, Rohas said.
"I saw 10 guys looking for work" on Thursday at 19th Street and Monrovia Avenue, he said.
It was workers loitering in Lions Park and elsewhere that prompted the city to open the Job Center, and some fear that problem will resume.
"Our patrol officers have been informed that because the Job Center is closing, they [workers] may start congregating in places that they used to, so they've been asked to monitor those places," Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver said.
Otherwise, no special provisions have been made, he said. Loitering and related offenses are misdemeanors and often are handled like a ticket, Carver said. Officers don't usually arrest people for loitering or soliciting work unless they don't have identification.
"It hasn't been a big problem yet, so we hope it won't," he said.
While some have wanted the center to close, it apparently hasn't been a problem for one of its nearest neighbors, Maricela Covarrubias. Her family has lived for 90 years in a home at the corner of 17th Avenue and Babcock Street, a block from the center.
"We have no problems with them at all," Covarrubias said.
At the Job Center, it's organized, and she's never heard any complaints about rowdy behavior, she said.
"I prefer to see them there than to see them at the park or the Home Depot or the 7-Eleven," she said.
Even as the Job Center is closing, it could be the beginning of new initiatives for day laborers and for Latinos, who make up a majority of the center's users.
The League of United Latin American Citizens hopes to reestablish a council in Costa Mesa, mainly to address issues like the Job Center and a proposal to locally enforce immigration laws, said Gilbert Flores, deputy district director for the group's Orange County branch.
"People have expressed interest in forming a ... council that will work positively with the city because the members will be from Costa Mesa," Flores said.
The group had a council in the city between 1999 and 2001, but when the organizer moved out of town, the council fizzled out.
But people have started paying more attention to Costa Mesa politics, after the council in December voted to train city police to enforce immigration laws.
As for the workers, other plans are in the works. Costa Mesa resident William Holiday is trying to develop a "virtual job center," using a phone system to help laborers find jobs.
A group of businesses, churches and other organizations is working on opening a privately run and funded job center that would offer a range of training and services, but the group is still looking for a location.
Yo, Carver! Look at the last names and get a clue.
In time, English might be heard on the streets again.
So for 12-15 years, the 34-year-old has been working under the table and paying no taxes.
CM Chamber of Commerce held closed-door meetings with these groups and refused to identify them.
Feel certain MIKA Community Development (a group at one point identified as overseers of the effort) are busy writing government grant proposals for their "privately funded" center.
It's early so I may have missed it, but it sure took them long enough to mention the "I" word in this article. I didn't expect "illegal", but it's a start.
Yep, and sending all that money back home to Mexico no doubt, which is why Vicente and others are so angry about........ THE WALL... (cue music: dumdumdum DUM).
Word is out about all that TN "hospitality."
Segments of the CM day labor contingent have previously intimated that they will go right back to taking over the city park. This isn't over by a long shot.
As an optimist, I guess I should say "Well then the police will have an easier job rounding them up to enforce the LAW if all they have to do is hit the park - with a few buses!" :) If they're watching the news - perhaps they'll all just head to New Orleans. Apparently, there are LOADS of jobs there for illegals, er - workers. Not if you're a homeowner trying to rebuild your own city, however.
Ha! Maybe we can get a government grant for THAT! :)
A group of businesses, churches and other organizations is working on opening a privately run and funded job center that would offer a range of training and services, but the group is still looking for a location.
If you don't want to support illegal aliens, be careful who you donate your money to.
ping
Now I'm just plain ol' mean spirited. ;)
Feels good, don't it?
ping
Southern hospitality is for welcome guests. I note how going back home never entered Senor Morales's mind. He needs encouragement.
Happy New Year one and all.
That is the problem with most illegals....they drain our system dry, don't pay taxes, take jobs from American citizens, destroy our hospital system, send their money home....I can't see any net benefit....except for possible Democrat voters.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
So for 12-15 years, the 34-year-old has been working under the table and paying no taxes.""
He is also ONE of about 14 MILLION.
Women working at homes cleaning and child care work are getting paid in cash. Also all the workers where horses are cared for. More horses in Los Angeles County than ANY OTHER county in the USA.
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