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Published on 07/21/1999 All articles from this issue

LA Council prohibits on-street hiring

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos City Council has moved ahead with an ordinance to prohibit on-street hiring.

While targeted at the dozens of day workers who hang out along El Camino Real near San Antonio Road, it also will include "charitable car washes or roadside flower vendors," said Los Altos Police Chief Lucy Carlton.

The council approved the ordinance at its July 13 meeting. Enforcement will begin at the end of September.

This is 60 days later than usual, to allow time for the Los Altos-based St. Joseph the Worker Center to find larger quarters. Currently, even if all the workers were off the street waiting for employers, there is not enough room.

"If you don't have a place to go, we will not have the success (with the ordinance) we all want," said Councilwoman Kris Casto.

Ten day laborers presented their concerns, through a translator, to the council.

"The first thing is to find a larger center," said Jose Cruz, a Mountain View resident. "The second step is to educate. It is a different culture, and it does need education," he said.

The cities of Mountain View and Los Altos have been working together, at Mountain View's invitation, for nearly a year to create solutions for the groups of day workers on local corners.

The two cities agreed an ordinance was needed and that it should be the same, passed at the same time and enforced equally by each city's police.

Mountain View put its ordinance on hold while the center looked for larger quarters. Currently a committee has reviewed 50-plus possible sites, said Elizabeth Fitting, executive director of the center. Now the list is whittled to 20-some.

Meanwhile, Los Altos is going ahead with its ordinance.

"Mountain View has not carried forward with its part of the agreement to support an ordinance," said Los Altos Councilman Francis La Poll.

Some suggested an ordinance in Los Altos ahead of Mountain View would force workers across El Camino Real into Mountain View.

"We're not trying to shove them over there," said Los Altos Mayor Lou Becker. "We need to look out for our business. We've worked with Mountain View with very good faith, and we're just going ahead with our side," he said. Becker served on the joint-city day-worker task force.

Council members expressed frustration that other cities are not doing more to offer solutions to the day worker problem.

"There are only two centers on the Peninsula - San Jose and Los Altos," Becker said. "Los Altos has been a leader in solving the problem. But it's time to do something," he said.