Costa Mesa keeps Job Center open

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Council members on Monday put an end to the heated

debate and controversy surrounding the city-funded Job Center, voting to

continue its service to both residents and nonresidents.

The council voted 4 to 1, with Councilman Chris Steel dissenting, to

keep the employment hub open. But they added a condition that the

one-time registration fee be increased from $5 to $10 for Costa Mesa

residents and to $15 for people who live outside the city.

The Job Center, at the corner of 18th Street and Placentia Avenue,

opened in 1988 to provide a central clearinghouse for contractors and

employers to find temporary work. The move was a response to years of

complaints that dayworkers congregated at various city parks and

businesses.

The center costs $87,000 a year to run and works on a lottery system

for people seeking jobs. Since its opening, police and city officials say

the center has reduced or eliminated the problems associated with

unorganized solicitation throughout the city.

Several people who attended Monday night’s meeting wore badges that

read “Save the Job Center.” Those who spoke in support of the center at

the council meeting outnumbered those who spoke against it.

Council members, who heard people speak on the issue for about two

hours, said they themselves have had a tough time taking a stand.

“I’ve struggled with this issue tremendously,” Councilwoman Karen

Robinson said.

She added that she understands there is a part of the community that

has a substantial concern about the use of tax dollars for a service such

as the Job Center.

“But I also understand there is another part of the community that

sees the Job Center as an opportunity to realize their dreams, to feed

their families and to survive,” she said.

Steel, who has publicly opposed the center, said Monday that he is not

against people making a living but is concerned about quality of life

issues for the surrounding community.

Steel, much like many of his supporters, has maintained that the Job

Center attracts illegal immigrants into the community, increasing crime,

lowering property values and degrading the schools.

“This isn’t racism,” he said. “It’s reality. It’s time we got out of

the Job Center business.”

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who made a motion to delay a decision on the

center, said the center has been successful.

“People do not understand the importance of dignity in job seeking,”

she said. “My grandfather survived during the Depression by soliciting

jobs in shipyards. . . . This is about doing the right thing.”

The city’s administrative services staff members recommended that the

council keep the center open but impose further restrictions, such as

excluding dayworkers who do not live in Costa Mesa and placing greater

emphasis on checking identification.

Current city estimates are that 37% of those who use the center are

not Costa Mesa residents and only about 51% of the employers who hire

workers from the Job Center are based in the city.

Job Center supporters said they were thrilled with the council’s

decision.

“This is something the whole community will benefit from,” said Paty

Madueno, a member of the Orange County Congregation Community

Organization, St. Joaquim’s Church and a resident manager at Costa Mesa

Family Village.

“This is about the hands that peel the potatoes, chop the tomatoes and

wash the lettuce that goes to your table,” she said. “Everybody deserves

the right to put food on their table.”

Allan Mansoor, who expressed his opposition to the center, said the

sensible approach to eventually close the center is simply to reduce the

need for the center.

“Ultimately, we need to close the Job Center,” he said. “But this

problem did not come about overnight and is not going to be fixed

instantly. The problem of loitering can be greatly reduced if we take the

right steps.”

The most obvious way to reduce the need for the center, he said, “is

to stop allowing people from other cities to use our taxpayer-funded

center.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .