In an editorial in today’s Washington Post regarding the challenges facing Ike Leggett, the Post whines,
He also faces an immediate challenge on the issue of decent treatment for immigrant workers from the city of Gaithersburg, which has refused to build a day-laborer center for dozens of its own residents whose work is clearly in demand locally. All eyes will be on Mr. Leggett to resolve what has become a venomous dispute between the county, which insists that Gaithersburg accommodate the workers, and the city, which remains recalcitrant. By acting firmly and soon to establish a center — preferably within Gaithersburg’s city limits — Mr. Leggett can send an early signal that he is in charge.
I guess that to the extent that the Post read my previous response — they certainly had the opportunity to, as it is (or was, at this writing) even linked off their own website — they didn’t listen. So, let’s try it again:
- Gaithersburg was never — ever — going to set up a day laborer center. By the agreement with the County, Gaithersburg’s only responsibility was to find a location for one and to help with getting the location fixed up; the County was supposed to lease the center and hire the contractor to staff it. The City made a mistake with the first location by running through the process too fast, without any public input. Once people understood what was being done, it became clear what was wrong with the proposed site, and the City agreed to run through the process one more time, this time with public involvement. The City, at least, knows how to admit when they make a mistake, and make a good effort to correct it.
- Although the process was long and a bit messy, the City never — ever — refused to allow a Center to operate within the City limits. City staff worked long and hard to find a place, but were rebuffed at every turn — most often by the property owners, who didn’t want this activity on their properties. But they were sometimes also rebuffed by the day laborer advocates, who didn’t like some of the sites. In the case of another proposed site, neighbors effectively demonstrated why it would be a bad location.
- After that long, arduous effort, the City did in fact find a location for a center, securing a letter of intent to lease from the property’s owner. The City Council voted in favor of allowing that site to be used for a Center. However, the County — yes, the County — was unable to follow through with a lease for this location and thus the deal fell through.
- Thereafter, the City was faced with more months of looking for a place that the County might be able to lease — a place that, in all probability, was never going to be found. During the months-long search, the requirement was very well publicized, and it occurs to me that if there was any property owner anywhere in the City who was interested in leasing for this purpose, they would have heard about the opportunity by now and come forward to offer such a lease. But there was nothing. Nobody really wanted to lease for this purpose.
- The perimeter of Gaithersburg is very irregular, and there are pockets of County all around the edges of the City, and even little County enclaves within the main boundary of the City. With the County’s bizarre insistence that the center be located within the City limits, all these possible locations were excluded from consideration.
I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that no day laborer is likely to care whether the land they stand on to solicit is governed by the City or by the County. This just isn’t going to be part of their thinking; I would think they would mostly care if (a) the employers come, and (b) they don’t have to travel too far to get there. So why should the County care, and why — this I really just can’t understand at all — why on Earth should the Post care? Walnut Hill Shopping Center, for example, is a half mile closer to the North Summit apartments where it is claimed that many day laborers live, than is the Festival shopping center where the County tried, but failed, to lease a storefront. Walnut Hill even has, last I looked, a couple of empty bays right next to an MVA express — what could be more convenient? And yet, the County will not agree to ask the owner of Walnut Hill Shopping Center if they would lease for this purpose, simply because it is not in the City limits.
The only explanation I can come up with for this behavior is that the County is playing some sort of “who’s your daddy?” game with the City, and the laborers are getting caught in the crossfire. This is bad politics and bad policy, and I certainly hope that Mr. Leggett and Mr. Firestine are smart enough to realize this.