Posted on 07/03/2007 9:57:31 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Although the city didn't renew its contract, private funds will keep it open another year
The doors at a prominent Houston day labor center won't be closing any time soon after all.
The controversial day labor site, slated to close after a city contract expired last month, will operate for another year with $100,000 in private funding, officials confirmed on Monday. The center had been Houston's only city-funded day labor facility.
The East End Worker Development Center, at the corner of North Sampson and Commerce, was the focus of a bitter City Hall debate last spring after opponents said the city funding was fostering illegal immigration.
The city contract was eventually renewed, but it expired Friday after it was not included in a city funding package the council approved.
''The funding has been raised, and the center will stay open for at least this next year," said Marc Levinson, director of agency development for Neighborhood Centers Inc., the Houston nonprofit that has operated the facility since 2005. ''It's all private money. No tax dollars are being used."
Levinson credited the donations to a fundraising effort by Mayor Bill White, who last month pledged to find funding to operate the center after the contract expired. Levinson said the donors wish to remain anonymous.
In confirming the fundraising effort, White noted that Houston, and other cities, have long funded day labor centers. At one time, there were two such centers operating with city funds.
''It was only relatively recently it was cast as an issue that had to do with immigration," White said.
Supporters of day labor sites say they are safer and more sanitary than informal hiring centers on street corners, since workers don't wait in the streets or private property to find jobs and can use bathrooms facilities in the center.
Protecting immigrants
White said the centers also help ensure that immigrant workers are not exploited. "On occasion people have refused to pay them after a day of hard work," he said.
However, groups that favor tighter immigration control say the centers should be banned.
''I hope they would close it," Louise Whiteford, president of Texans for Immigration Reform, has said. "Having a day work center aids, abets and encourages more illegal immigration."
Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, whose district includes the East End, said the labor center is needed.
''Whether it's private or city funding, it's important to the community, and I'm glad they're going to be able to stay for another year," she said. ''I hope they are looking at future fundraising as well to enable them to stay open beyond one year."
At the center Monday afternoon, a dozen Hispanic men stood in a light rain on the corner outside the converted paint shop and waited for contractors.
Inside, center coordinator Francisco Deras-Soltis wrapped up the first day of operation under private funding. In all, about 20 laborers sought work and were served coffee and sweet bread in a neat, but unadorned room cooled by industrial fans.
The center does not broker jobs for workers, Deras-Soltis said, but provides a safe place for them to meet contractors. And, they refer workers with legal or health problems to other agencies.
Service appreciated
One center client is Mexico City native Francisco Reyes, 42, who said he comes to the facility daily looking for work.
''It offers a service that is real good," said Reyes, who has lived in Houston for nearly a decade. ''Here they give us coffee. We can watch television until a contractor comes here to hire us."
james.pinkerton@chron.com
Otherwise known as East End Democrat Voter Registration Center.
The Jorge Boosh foundation? Juan McCainez Charitable Trust? LaRaza?
Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)
Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
phone: 202.863.8500 | fax: 202.863.8820 | e-mail: info@gop.com
1- Investigate who is funding this thing. Charge them for aiding and abetting illegal aliens.
2- ICE should raid the place. Take advantage of having illegal aliens in one central place.
ping
ILLEGAL immigraton, Mayor White!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
ICE.......do yo thang...ya got the address....
That's the SCAM UPON AMERICA that illegals seem to learn about as they cross the border, the scam that most of our cowardly politicians approve of as long as the slave labor influx and the dumbing down of America continues.
A big question is...who is going to pay the bills when the takers outnumber the givers? The politicians ignore this question.
So... “Private” people need to be prosecuted for aiding and abetting illegal trafficing in humans. Bastards.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.