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Published on 10/06/1999 All articles from this issue

City begins day-worker enforcement on El Camino

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Special to the Town Crier

Instead of the 50 to 100 day-workers who typically gather on street corners along El Camino Real in Los Altos, last Friday there were none.

On Thursday, the Los Altos Police Department began enforcing a new city ordinance that forbids soliciting work between people in vehicles and workers in the public right of way.

Enforcement began with fliers, in English and Spanish, explaining the program and encouraging workers and employers to go the St. Joseph the Worker Center on El Camino Real at Jordan Avenue.

Police found only two workers on Thursday and none on Friday.

"We're not sure where they've gone," said Capt. Cliff Balch of the Los Altos Police Department. "We had assumed they would go across the street (into Mountain View), but we didn't see many over there, either," he said.

City signs went up Sept. 29 along El Camino Real and Sherwood Lane, noting the "no solicitation" areas.

"Maybe the signs have had some effect," Balch said.

The city's goal was not just to get the workers off the street, but to encourage them to go to the worker center, Balch said.

But they weren't down there either.

"I don't know where the workers are now," said Ana Solorzano, site manager of the Worker Center. "Maybe they went to other streets," she said last Friday.

At the center, "we have the normal number (of workers)," Solorzano said. "We had around five new people (workers) every day this week. I think we will be busier," she said, as workers and employers learn to come to the center.

Word was out to the workers at least a week before the enforcement was scheduled to begin. "Most are walking across the street already," said Chief Lucy Carlton, in a Sept. 28 interview. "There are only a few on our side (of the street). Hopefully we can do more with education."

A year ago Los Altos and Mountain View began a joint-city task force to find solutions for the large numbers of workers who gathered along El Camino Real. Complaints from businesses were on the rise.

The task force agreed that the answer was two-fold: a two-city ordinance to get workers and employers off the streets; and an expanded center where they could go. Los Altos went ahead with its ordinance. But since the center has been unable to find larger quarters, Mountain View has held off on adopting its ordinance until more space is found.

Los Altos was criticized for moving forward. "We're not wanting to just push the problem into another jurisdiction," Balch said.

The concern was that an ordinance in Los Altos would exacerbate the problem in Mountain View by driving workers across the street.

That doesn't seem to be the case. At least not now.

The day-worker center is located at 4898 El Camino Real, Suite 300, above the Big and Tall Shop. For more information, call 962-1902.