Update: Another Gaithersblog reader reports having observed some construction activity today in the County service park, in the lot where the Liquor and School Food Services are located. A pile of earth is being moved, a fence has been removed, and a new driveway appears to be under construction. Aparently the Channel 9 heliocopter was hovering overhead for at least twenty minutes, possibly to observe this construction activity.
Through a couple of sources, I’ve been hearing murmurs that the location of the County day laborer site is pretty much a done deal. One reader sent me an email that contains the following paragraph:
On Thursday Jan 18, County Exec Ike Leggett will present a plan to put trailers as a temporary Illegal Day Labor Site on Crabbs Branch Way near Shady Grove Road across from the Grove Shopping Center. It is the parking lot of Montgomery County Facilities for the Liquor Board and Montgomery County Public School System Food Services. The site is scheduled to open Monday through Friday 6:00 AM to 9:30 AM Monday through Friday.
I have been unable to confirm this information, but I’ll toss it out for what it is worth. Also, in last night’s Mayor & City Council meeting, Stephen Schreiman, Director of the Maryland Minutemen, made a statement regarding developments in the day laborer situation. The following text was transcribed from the video of last night’s meeting, and is essentially the same as the text forwarded to me by Brad Botwin:
I’ve been informed by a reliable source that on Thursday morning Ike Leggett will be holding a news conference to announce the locations of his illegal day laborer center somewhere near the intersection of Shady Grove Rd. and Rte. 355. It is Ike Leggett’s intention to move forward with this proposed illegal day labor center without public input, a shady, back room deal.
Had Ike Leggett bothered to conduct any research at all he would have quickly discovered that this property is part of the county-approved Shady Grove Sector Plan. Working closely with the County Park and Planning staff, citizens of Derwood and the surrounding neighbors spent years developing a thoughtful sector plan mix providing for housing, industrial and commercial use. Ike Leggett has tossed all this work aside with no consideration to pay off a political debt to his friend Gustavo Torres and CASA de Maryland.
We understand that Mayor Katz will be meeting with Ike Leggett in a closed door session on Friday morning to discuss this back room deal. Mayor Katz, the citizens of Gaithersburg had public hearings on this issue and the citizens of Montgomery deserve no less. The Mayor and Council should give Ike Leggett a lesson in open government by denouncing this back room deal.
It is undesirable to have a day laborer center in Gaithersburg with public hearings. What makes it less undesirable to have a day laborer center in Montgomery County without public hearings? Mayor Katz should not be an accomplice by meeting with Ike Leggett in this manner.
Now personally, I do think that the location and operation of this site is an issue for the County to deal with, as long as it is located outside of Gaithersburg. I also agree that the public should have an opportunity to comment on this site, although I must say that if the site does turn out to be in the County service park on Crabbs Branch, it will be about as isolated from residential neighborhoods and sensitive retail establishments as is likely to be possible in the areas surrounding Gaithersburg. Clearly, as the County moves forward with the Shady Grove Sector plan, the Day Laborer site would need to be moved along with all the other facilities found along Crabbs Branch, which will create an entirely new set of issues.
However, there remains the issue of how to handle the continued unsupervised assembly of day laborers within the City, and I believe that the City still needs to pass the anti-solicitation ordinance as well as to work with the County to find ways to direct and possibly transport Day Laborers to any new County-run site. This would be a good topic of discussion for Mayor Katz’s meeting with Ike Leggett.