Job Center changes appear on horizon

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Changes, at the very least, appear imminent for the

city’s Job Center.

On Monday, the City Council unanimously agreed to postpone a decision

on the center’s future and to ask staff to come up with possible

solutions to the status quo.

“Staff has not done a credible job in providing us with options,”

Mayor Libby Cowan said.

Cowan, a longtime supporter of the city’s Job Center, said she

recognized her constituents’ outcry and expressed interest in change.

“I’m hearing the community say ‘we have a problem’ just like they did

in 1988, which was the reason the Job Center was opened,” she said.

Staff will come back to the council with more suggestions within two

months.

“I applaud the direction in which the council is moving,” said

resident and Westside activist Eric Bever.

Although Cowan maintained her position that the Job Center is an

invaluable asset to the community, she did express interest in tightening

the checks on legal documentation and creating a policy to serve only

Costa Mesa residents.

“I think the Job Center should be benefiting those in our community

who pay taxes when they shop and rent in the community,” Cowan said.

About 20 people stayed past midnight to speak against the Job Center.

Their arguments ranged from the noise around the center to suspected

criminal activity by those awaiting work.

A handful of residents also cited the recent terrorist attacks as an

added incentive to crack down on illegal immigrants.

The Job Center has gotten its staying power in the city from a small,

but powerful, group of elites, resident Tom Egan charged.

That group has pushed to keep the center, while residents living near

it have wanted it moved or the rules surrounding it changed, said Egan,

whose wife, Eleanor, is a city Planning Commissioner.

The elites “have had at least 15 years of being king, so the citizens

have a steep hill to climb,” he said.

One of the few people who supported the center was Bill Turpit, a

member of the city’s Latino Business Council.

Turpit called it a special value to the community and an effective

resource for not only businesses but residents.

The jobs, although low paying, provide the men at the center a means

to support their families, thus boosting their self worth, Turpit said.

“It provides jobs for people who are happy to work hard for only a

little money,” Turpit said.

At the meeting, the council also limited the hours that vending trucks

can operate in the city, addressing an issue often raised in the same

breath as the Job Center.

The council voted to increase the fines for violators, as well as to

create a “three-strike” threshold. Under that regulation, after three

violations to the same truck, a permit would be revoked.

Cowan opposed all three actions but declined to state her reasons.

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

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

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