Story Of The Year - 2006: Job hunts move to corner

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the seventh in a series of the top stories of each year since 2000. Look for the 2007 story of the year Tuesday.

Unemployed workers in search of odd jobs have moved to the street corner outside the site of the old Costa Mesa day labor center, which the city shuttered in 2006.

With the economic downturn and the closure of the job center, many laborers have trouble finding work and, in turn, support for their families, said Chrissy Brooks, an activist who works with Mika Community Development Corp., a nonprofit group that helps immigrant communities in Westside Costa Mesa.

The normal citizen is less comfortable going to the corner than they are going to the job center, so there are fewer jobs for them, Brooks said.

“They’ve gone to working four or three days a week to none,” Brooks said.

Critics of the city-subsidized labor center, at the corner of West 17th Street and Placentia Avenue, complained that it cost taxpayers too much money when private job-placement services could serve day laborers.

Mayor Allan Mansoor, who supported closing the center, feels the city made the right decision.

“Running a job center is not a function of government, and with unemployment as high as it is we should not be providing a place for those here illegally to find work,” Mansoor said. “Those that are here legally can utilize private businesses such as Labor Ready at zero expense to the taxpayer and also taxes are withheld instead of cash under the table.”

Costa Mesa spent about $100,000 a year operating the job center, which placed only about 30 people a day, and there were problems with people loitering in the area, Mansoor said.

“Now that it is closed, there is a tax-revenue-generating business in its place and we have had some success in addressing some of the problems through law enforcement,” Mansoor said. “I have also yet to hear any job center supporter or Realtor tell me that they want a job center in their neighborhood because they know it has a negative impact.”

Costa Mesa police made 11 arrests in September during an undercover crackdown on people soliciting work on Costa Mesa street corners.

Ten of the arrestees, all men, also were suspected of violating federal immigration laws.

The men were quickly deported, many of them leaving families behind with no means of financial support, said Brooks, who has worked to help the families of the deported men.

Volunteers have stepped in provide some of the families Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas presents, Brooks said.

Police conducted the sting operation after receiving complaints about immigrants soliciting for work on street corners. Officers drove an undercover car to search for people soliciting motorists for work on city streets, a violation of municipal code.

“I think the frustrating part is that when they were on the corner looking for work, they were at least doing enough to get by and care for their families,” Brooks said. “We need a path for these people to work legally.”