Debate to continue on Job Center

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- The Job Center.

Those three words cannot be uttered in Costa Mesa without sparking a

heated debate, fueled by a decade of built-up emotions on both sides of

the issue.

Those three words are on today’s City Council agenda.

Seemingly quiet for the past few years, discussion of the Job Center

resurfaced during Councilman Chris Steel’s 2000 campaign, which ignited a

new desire to rid the Westside of the city-funded hub for employment.

“The council needs to get the vision and the courage and the common

sense to get rid of the Job Center once and for all,” Steel said.

However, staff has recommended to keep the Job Center, but increase

the fee for nonresident employers. Currently, the center does not ask for

proof of residence and charges the same registration fee of $5 to all

employers.

The fee for nonresidents should be increased to $10, a staff report

read, and those without proof of residence should be charged the higher

fee. The report estimated that 37% of the employers who use the center

come from out of the city.

But Richard Grisham, who lives in Anaheim and takes the bus with

fellow workers to the center, thinks the city’s numbers are too low.

He said his employers come in from all over Orange, Los Angeles and

Riverside counties. Once, a trucking company hired him for a job for a

couple of weeks across 38 states, he said.

That is one of the many problems with the Job Center, Steel said.

Costa Mesa taxpayers are funding a service that benefits mostly people

from out of town. Both the people looking for work and those offering

employment come from across city borders, Steel said.

Steel said the center has excellent staffing and was created out of

good intentions, but its adverse effects on the city cannot be ignored.

The councilman said he believes the center acts as a magnet, drawing

immigrants to the city that cannot afford to live here and ultimately

rely on the charities to make ends meet.

Immigrants also flood the schools with non-English speaking children,

who reduce overall test scores and, in effect, ultimately hurt property

values, Steel said. It is a vicious cycle, he said.

o7 Resident Martin Mallard, who is known for his contentious views on

immigrants, agreed.

“We have to remove the magnets drawing people to this city who can’t

afford to live here because they are driving down the quality of life for

citizens and turning the city -- especially the Westside -- into one big

slum,” Mallard posted on the Internet chat site for Costa Mesa Concerned

Citizens.

f7 But Steel said he can’t blame the immigrants for flocking to Costa

Mesa, he said, because here they get free food, medical care and clothes.

“It’s not the immigrants that are the scapegoats, it’s the council.

It’s me. I’m a scapegoat, because I’m on that council and I haven’t been

able to get two more votes to get rid of it,” Steel said.

Grisham said the idea that only immigrant workers use the site is

narrow-minded and inaccurate.

“The average person thinks this is only a place for guys from across

the border. I’m a disabled U.S. Marine combat veteran and I make my

living here.”

Although his fair skin is a contrast to the bronzed tones of his

fellow workers, Grisham, 38, said he is frustrated by the belief that

illegal immigrants take advantage of the city and charities.

“These guys that live in town pay their taxes when they buy their

groceries and pay their rent,” he said.

Costa Mesa resident Roberto Jimenez agreed. Jimenez said he is

self-supporting.

“I’ve been working since I was 15 and I don’t get my taxes back, I

don’t complain,” Jimenez said. “I don’t see people working on their own

lawns.”

The Job Center was created in 1988 to keep day laborers off the

sidewalks and out of city parks. Last year, 36,194 workers used the

center and 15,912 were placed.

In a July memo, Costa Mesa Police Capt. Tom Warnack said the Job

Center reduced or eliminated many of the problems in areas where

dayworkers congregated looking for work.

If the Job Center is closed, the Police Department is prepared to

enforce all applicable loitering laws, Warnack’s memo said. But

dayworkers who gather on private property have a legal right to be there

unless the owner complains, Warnack said.

Those who are looking for work at the Job Center must provide proper

documentation while registering with the center, as mandated by the

Immigration and Naturalization Service. Documents must be examined by

staff and if they appear to be genuine and related to the person, they

must be accepted.

If the documents are obviously false or presented by a different

person, the worker must leave the premises.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .