Labor center to receive grant

Protesters spoke out Tuesday against a city grant for the Cross Cultural Council, which financially supports the Day Labor Center in Laguna Canyon.

The grant was one of 31 unanimously approved by the council, culled from applications submitted by local organizations for community assistance funds. Funding is derived from rent paid by the Festival of Arts for the use of Irvine Bowl Park.

“My grandparents were legal, my parents were legal and I am legal,” said Michael La Riche, one of eight speakers who opposed the $22,000 grant to the Cross Cultural Council. “We need to take a stand or we will become a Spanish-speaking country.”

In response, resident Niko Theris said Spanish was the language of this area before English.

South Laguna resident Bill Rihn said he wanted the council to at least reduce, if not eliminate, the allocation for the Cross Cultural Council, which operates the center.

“It makes an unfair advantage for people who don’t follow the law,” Rihn said.

Laguna Beach resident Eileen Garcia claimed the day labor site was the highest funded of the grants and the only one to get 100% of its request.

Mayor Toni Iseman noted that the Boys and Girls Club of Laguna Beach and Friendship Shelter also were awarded their full request.

In earlier comments made during the public communication period, Garcia also opposed the notion of the city buying the land from Caltrans, particularly in light of her pending litigation against the city.

In addition to the grant to the local group, the city pays Caltrans $400 a month rent and maintains the portable restroom, City Manager Ken Frank said.

“Why are we doing this?” Frank said. “It is not a question of whether the council endorses or doesn’t endorse the day labor center.

“The city cannot preclude people from looking for work on a public right of way unless it provides a place for them. The way the courts are ruling, we have to do it.”

Frank pointed to Lake Forest, which had passed an ordinance prohibiting people from soliciting work on public streets.

“Basically they outlawed day laborers and they had to rescind it under the threat of legal action, which they knew they would lose,” Frank said.

“It is frustrating because opponents of [Laguna’s center] do not seem to understand the limited options the city has — which is no funding and no supervision and no restrooms,” Frank added. “They don’t know what it was like before. You don’t see anyone here from North Laguna or Crescent Bay opposing the center. They love it.”

Even without controversy, parceling out the community assistance funds is no easy task.

“We have $213,000 to spend and requests, I suspect, of $500,000,” Mayor Toni Iseman said.

Mayor Pro Tem Jane Egly and Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman served for the third consecutive year on the grant sub-committee. Their recommendations totaled $207,200.

“We left $6,300 for adjustments,” Kinsman said.

That was gobbled up in a hurry. No surprise.

Grants were bumped up $1,500 to the Friends of the Library, the Chamber of Commerce, Laguna Beach Live! and Laguna Relief and Resource Center, which already had the second highest grant of $18,000.

The Community Clinic received $14,000 of its $25,000 request. Sally’s Fund was awarded $12,000. The Boys and Girls Club of Laguna and the Friends of the Sea Lion each got $10,000.

Iseman said for $10,000, plus the nominal rent paid for city-owned land, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center should include Laguna in the name.

South Coast Medical Center Foundation received $7,000 on a separate 4-0 vote. Councilmember Elizabeth Schneider, executive director of the foundation, recused herself.

Funds transferred from the allocation to South County Senior Services Inc., which is not headquartered in Laguna, increased the award to the Laguna Beach Seniors by $2,500.

The council reserved $300 for unfunded emergencies.

A complete list of grants is posted under on the city’s web site, www.lagunabeachcity.net, under Item 13 on June 19 City Council meeting agenda.