Last week Los Altos moved ahead with an ordinance banning customers from picking up day workers on street corners. Although some don't view the ordinance as directly affecting the loitering problem, we see it as a definite step in the right direction.
Mountain View, however, has yet to move on a similar ordinance. Its participation is vital because the day-worker problem affects both communities.
Mountain View and Los Altos have been working together on the issue in the wake of numerous complaints spanning several years. A task force representing both cities suggested an ordinance similar to San Jose's, which has been successful. This ordinance makes it illegal to offer street-corner workers jobs. Supporters of the ordinance hope the presence of police looking to catch people in the act will deter the day workers. The same ordinance virtually cleared the streets in San Jose along with the presence of a job center.
We have one here in Los Altos with St. Joseph the Worker Center, which has operated the past three years at the corner of Jordan Avenue and El Camino Real. The center, however, is small; a merger earlier this year with St. Vincent De Paul Society may lead to greater utilization.
Meanwhile, the Mountain View City Council has held off on an ordinance because members wanted to see whether St. Vincent/St. Joseph could first resolve its facility needs. Their logic is that the Los Altos ordinance will force workers to loiter in Mountain View, given the limited abilities of the small day worker center.
Still, Los Altos has waited long enough. Merchants like Leslie Edwards of Pip Printing have protested a long time, seemingly in vain, as she watched some workers sleep in her parking lot, urinate on her walls and harass her customers. The ordinance may bring some relief. Further, its 60-day waiting period for enforcement allows the worker center additional time to find larger quarters.
We reject the suggestion that somehow Los Altos is pushing the day worker problem onto Mountain View. It has been Los Altos that has acted on the problem by housing the job center and drafting an ordinance. The next move is Mountain View's.