The following is a guest blog from Gaithersblog reader Cathy Drzyzgula:
The Sentinel (again) has a balanced article on day labor centers. Seems the county hasn’t had an easy time finding a site in Langley Park for a new center. The article also addresses the fact that workers do not uniformly use the down county centers. I guess this time the county is checking to make sure the building is sound before committing to a lease. First a little background, back in August the Gazette had this story:
After several years of scouting sites for a day laborer center closer to the Takoma⁄Langley Crossroads, city and county officials hope they have finally found a spot to address the more than 200 day laborers who congregate there daily.
The center is tentatively planned for 6,000 square feet of basement space at the Langley Park Shopping Center, said Penelope Guzman, Latino affairs liaison for the office of Jack B. Johnson (D), Prince George’s County Executive.
Now, 3 months later this is the situation reported in the Sentinel:
CASA de Maryland, an advocacy group for immigrants, hopes to soon open a day-laborer center in Langley Park using county funding. It would give Perez and other workers a place to wait for employment, take English classes and learn computer skills.
Prince George’s county has set aside $91,000 for the renovation and lease payments of the site, while the center would be run by CASA de Maryland, said Penelope Guzman, Latino Affairs liaison for the office of County Executive Jack Johnson. The proposed site is a 6,000 square foot basement beneath a shopping center at the northwest corner of the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard that has a back entrance where employers could pull in and out easily from New Hampshire Avenue.
Pending negotiations with the site owner and feasibility studies by architects, CASA de Maryland will start renovations on the rundown basement soon and open the center within nine months, said Kim Propeack, director of community organizing.
It hasn’t been so easy for the county to get this going either:
A Langley Park center has been in the works for several years. Officials have also had trouble finding an appropriate location, giving up on a previous site at University Boulevard and Riggs Road after not hearing from the property owner in over a year, said Guzman.
Regarding the non-use of the center by workers, even William Hanna admits there are issues with this:
If the center opens, there is no guarantee that all day laborers would use it, said William Hanna, a professor at the University of Maryland and coordinator of The Langley Park Project. Many employers prefer not to go through the registration process and workers compete for jobs in parking lots near centers already open
At the Silver Spring center on University Boulevard, about 60 workers arrive daily, 10 of which are usually hired, said Herman Perez, quality control specialist with CASA de Maryland. Several blocks up the street, many more day laborers congregate in a large parking lot surrounding a 7-Eleven.
Seeking better chances in getting a job, some workers risk being picked up by employers who do not go through the required paperwork. Many worry they will not be called on to work if they have to wait their turn at the center, said Herman Perez.
If a center is opened in Langley Park, police would encourage employers and workers to only do business through the center, said Guzman.
When I visited the Silver Spring center they had a morning drawing lottery. If you drew a high (bad) number, you might as well leave and look for work elsewhere. In Wheaton the list was first-come first-served, so again, it only takes a short time for workers to assess their odds of finding employment at the center on any given day. In both cases there was no reason at all to come to the center after around 9:30 a.m. as there was zero chance of getting a job. In contrast, the Herndon center drew lottery tickets all morning long, so every worker had a chance at work for the whole time.