Restrictions on Job Center weren’t meant as cure-all

I brought the issue of the Costa Mesa Job Center forward at a recent

City Council meeting. My reason for doing this was simple. I wanted

to reduce solicitation on city streets and at the same time increase

the likelihood of Costa Mesa residents finding work.

According to staff reports, 37% of the people using the job center

come here from other cities. At the same time, 30% to 40% of the

total people using the job center are turned away each day. In other

words, there are plenty of Costa Mesa residents who are looking for

work but are turned away each day. By eliminating use of the center

by people from outside of the city, we would probably not have to

turn away that 30% to 40% each day who probably end up on the

streets. In other words, the job center would still be at full

capacity.

As for the Pilot’s claim that “those from other cities would

congregate in those streets and parks and, in turn, defeat the

purpose of the job center,” I sincerely disagree. For one, the job

center started small and has grown tremendously, yet we still have

solicitation at our street corners, stores and yes, even some in the

parks. It has clearly not solved the problem, it has only moved it.

As Mayor Gary Monahan said at the council meeting, people have

incentive right now to come to our city to use our job center. It is

unlikely they would come here just to stand on a street corner. And

as I already stated, people already do solicit on our street corners.

The solution for that is enforcement of our no soliciting ordinance

in terms of solicitors and employers.

Our taxes pay for the job center, therefore it should benefit the

people who live here. If people live and work here, they are more

likely to spend their money here. If people come here to work and

live elsewhere, that is where they will spend their money. Will

limiting use of the job center solve all of the problems? No. Is

limiting it a step in the right direction? Absolutely.

* ALLAN MANSOOR is a Costa Mesa city councilman.