gaithersblog.net

Sebastian Montes, in a rare off-cycle Gazette article, writes:

The Rev. David Rocha, the day laborers’ lead advocate, and the Latino nonprofit Casa de Maryland say they have the county’s blessing to direct the men to another parking lot not far from the Route 355 site they had been using.

The county holds a lease on a vacant building at 17 North Frederick Ave., a location they had originally hoped would become an official employment center for day laborers.

It’s a site city officials earlier this month rejected as a possible location.

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz said Wednesday morning that he has not been notified by the county that it supports the plan.

‘‘I do not believe that is allowed. It would not be acceptable,” he said. ‘‘At this point, that building does not have a use and occupancy [permit] for anything … and I do not believe that you can use a lot for any purpose other than what is approved” for.

It would be easier to take this seriously if the County would comment directly. The “blessing” is at least as likely to be a misunderstanding between Rocha and someone in the County, or Rocha’s mischaracterization of what the County did say, as any official endorsement. Also,

The laborers and their supporters met with City Manager David B. Humpton for 30 minutes this morning. The Rev. Mark Brennan of St. Martins Catholic Church offered his church at the corner of North Frederick and Summit avenues as a possible solution.

He said temporary trailers could be put on the grounds to accommodate the 50 or so laborers who gather each day looking for work.

Humpton thanked Brennan for the offer, but said the City Council had already rejected the idea of a temporary site with trailers and didn’t think it was likely to change its position.

Brennan said he planned to pursue the idea anyway.

Where was this offer from Brennan a year ago, or even five months ago, when he was blasting the day labor task force for suggesting that the local faith-based community should be involved in running any center?

The planned protest by day laborers appears to have been, in the end, pretty low-key:

Keyonna Summers writes in the Washington Times:

“The workers held a meeting and concluded that they did not want to risk arrest,” said Kim Propeack, a spokeswoman for CASA of Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group. “I think that people are afraid of being arrested, and certainly some people have immigration issues related to that. But I think that the workers are a really strong community to the extent that the members wouldn’t want to create unrest. They want to create a strategy that supports everyone.”

[…]

No arrests or citations were issued at the lot, where 50 to 100 men — many of them Hispanic illegal aliens — had gathered to look for work for years.

Residents complained that some of the men drank, urinated and trespassed on their property as they looked for work.

Nancy Trejos writes in the Post:

Few of the 75 to 100 day laborers who have regularly congregated at the parking lot for the past three years were present this morning because they feared arrest, said those laborers who did turn out. The dozen or so laborers present were joined by seven ministers and priests from local churches and officials from CASA of Maryland, a non-profit advocacy group for immigrants.Police officers watched quietly as the clergy and day laborers prayed and waved signs that read “To Work Is Not a Crime” and “Dignity for All.” A throng of newspaper and television reporters, photographers and camera operators surrounded them.

The scene was hectic, but no arrests were made. After a prayer vigil, the laborers and their supporters marched to city hall to demand a meeting with a city official.

I’ve had some feedback on my previous theme that it was a bit too difficult to read on some monitors. So I’m going to try out this new theme, and there could be a few more minor changes as I tweak a few things. Additional feedback is welcome.

Several stories this morning about the planned enforcement of trespassing laws at the Gaithersburg shopping center:

From the Gazette:

Day labor site gets shut down
City police to begin trespass enforcement today
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006

Police this morning planned to begin enforcing trespassing laws at a Gaithersburg parking lot where day laborers have gathered to find work for three years.

Police said they expected that in most cases workers would be dispersed, not arrested.

An AP story, found at WTOP:

Gaithersburg Police to Enforce Law at Day Labor Site

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - Gaithersburg city police planned to enforce trespassing laws Wednesday morning at a shopping center where day laborers gather, a move that comes after efforts to find a permanent site for the workers fell through.

Police hoped to disperse the roughly 100 people who gather at the shopping center parking lot each morning to wait for potential employers, said Cpl. Randy Wagner, a spokesman for the Gaithersburg police.

Generally the AP story had it right, but I had two problems with it:

“Any time there has been an offer for property, it has been nixed,” said Kim Propeack of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition.

Yes, often by the worker advocates themselves.

Gaithersburg has rejected nearly 30 attempts to find a permanent facility. As a result, workers have gathered in informal groups, usually along heavily traveled Route 355.

This might be a bit less misleading if it said “Gaithersburg property owners have rejected nearly 30 attempts by the City government to lease space for a day laborer site”. It isn’t that the City hasn’t been trying, it’s that no one wants to have it on their property.

In the Washington Times,

Day laborers told to stay out of lot

By Keyonna Summers
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 20, 2006

Dozens of day laborers who have gathered for years in a Gaithersburg parking lot must find a new place to seek work beginning today because the lot’s owners have asked police to shut down the site.

The lot, owned by S&B Partnership, is at 117 North Frederick Ave. between a shopping complex and Grace United Methodist Church. Laborers had been allowed to loiter there daily until 9:30 a.m.

“Residents said that the people who gathered in the lot were wandering around the neighborhood [and that] they had safety concerns, that people were urinating in their yards,” said Paul Meehan, the lot’s property manager. “We’d like to be good neighbors to the neighborhood, and we’d like to work as best as we can with the city.”

The times story makes the problem more clear:

Since then, about 30 property owners have blocked the plan by refusing to lease space for a center, and residents have complained that two other potential sites for the center were too close to homes and schools.

Channel 4 has video and a story:

Gaithersburg Day Laborers Face Arrest
Police Ask News Crews To Move

[…text from AP story…]

Police even approached news crews on the parking lot Wednesday morning and asked them to leave, NBC4 reporter Tracee Wilkins said.

Channel 7 and Channel 9 are both carrying the AP story, and the Washington Post doesn’t get it.