Hiring Hall for Day Laborers; Novato, Like San Rafael, Finds It's a Complicated Problem to Resolve
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Summary
Back in the mid-1990s, San Rafael was discussing the same kind of recommendation: a plan to create a hiring center for the day laborers who congregate along Bellam Boulevard. Word of the proposal triggered a backlash of protest aimed at the city and at the laborers. Some critics of the proposal said the city would just attract more laborers by creating a hiring center, thus exacerbating the problem on local streets. Others objected to the city doing anything at all to help the laborers, many of whom are undocumented. The fact that most of the laborers are Hispanic accounted for some of the vociferous reaction. And the fact that federal immigration officials were conducting sweeps of the area added fuel to the fire. It was not Marin at its finest.
"It can be an investment in the worker," says [Lydia Romero]. But, she says, that investment takes start-up money. Because even if day laborers pay, say, $1 a day in dues, that's not enough to sustain a hiring center. Romero says anecdotal evidence suggests that between 100 and 200 day laborers congregate on San Rafael streets, depending on the time of year. In Novato, about 90 day laborers are generally seen, according to the task force report. Those numbers mean subsidies are needed to get a hiring center started and then to sustain it.Even without the development, officials in San Rafael want to arrive at an equitable solution, for the day laborers and for local businesses negatively affected by the street-side employment transactions. "It all depends on what your goal is," says San Rafael city Councilman Cyr Miller. "If your goal is getting people off of the street, no one is being terribly successful with that." Even in cities like Oakland and San Francisco that have hiring centers, day laborers still congregate on streets, "simply because no one can put in place an anti-solicitation ordinance." And even if San Rafael could enact an anti-solicitation ordinance without the concern of violating First Amendment rights, Miller adds, the tight city budget precludes strict enforcement. Novato's budget is not much healthier.See the full content of this document
Extract
Hiring Hall for Day Laborers; Novato, Like San Rafael, Finds It's a Complicated Problem to Resolve
When the Novato City Council meets next month to discuss recommendations for coping with the number of day laborers who congregate on Redwood Boulevard, the issue will have a familiar ring to those who have been following the same matter in san Rafael.
It's an issue entwined in legal battles, economic pressures and political maneuvering, with a touch of old-fashioned racism thrown into the mix.Councilwoman Pat Eklund raised the issue at a city Council meeting in Septembe...See the full content of this document
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