Working to get better

Now that the managers of the city’s designated day labor center can stop worrying about a shutdown for at least another year, they say they can focus on improving it.

The Cross Cultural Council, which has been managing the job center for seven years, is a nonprofit organization that dedicates itself to bridging cultural differences.

“We’re very happy to put this to rest,” said David Peck, president of the Cross Cultural Council. “We can stop worrying and spend time making the site better.”

A slowdown in productivity due to protests from the Minuteman Project ? whose members see the site as fostering illegal immigration ? has been frustrating, Peck said.

The group began overseeing activity at the site in 1999 after the city suggested regulating it would cut down on problems, Peck said.

“We’re trying to help homeowners, contractors and laborers come together,” Peck said.

It is illegal to solicit work in Laguna Beach except at the Day Labor Center.

About $50,000 a year is spent on the labor center, of which $20,000 is provided by the city, he added.

The funds go to support two paid coordinators, as well as English lessons which are taught at the center.

Some 600 workers pass through the center each week, about half of whom get jobs, Peck said.

Irma Ronses, a support director for the site, coordinates contractors and laborers to ensure fair practices.

“It’s a safe place to do business,” Ronses said.

Disagreements between laborers and contractors are occasionally brought to Ronses, but things are much better than before the center was regulated, she said.

Ronses keeps files on every contractor.

Arriving at the labor center before 6 a.m., workers will come from as far away as West Covina for work, said Timothy Ronses, a construction worker and Irma’s husband.

The workers, who get paid about $8 to $10 per hour, are skilled in landscaping, dry wall, roofing and concrete.

About 80% to 90% of the jobs are in Laguna Beach, he added.

Timothy Ronses, who believes that the day laborers provide an essential role in the economy, does not feel it should be a crime to hire undocumented workers.

“It would be a blow to the construction industry if they couldn’t hire illegals,” Timothy Ronses said.

Though the workers at the center are nearly all Latino, Russians, Jamaicans and even out-of-work U.S. Marines have sought work at the center, organizers said.

“Whatever needs to be done we can do it,” Timothy Ronses said.

cpt.14-daylaborsidebar-BPhotoInfo3P1ST7M520060714j200z9ncCredit: DON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT Caption: (LA) The Day Labor Center in Laguna Canyon will stay open for another year at least.