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Despite the opening of the CASA de Maryland-run day laborer center on Crabbs Branch Way, and despite repeated assurances that the day laborer center would work, despite the City’s anti-solicitation ordinance, day laborers continue to assemble at the Duvall Center 7-Eleven.

Photo Courtesy Clark W. Day Photo-Graphics

One wonders, of course, why these laborers would prefer not to use the CASA-run site. Surely it isn’t because they have no way to get there, because CASA is running a special shuttle service, at least for the first couple of weeks:

For the first two weeks, Casa will shuttle the workers the 2.5 miles between the parking lots in Gaithersburg and the new center. The city has nixed the notion of giving the workers bus tokens and plans to erect signs at the primary informal lot to guide workers and employers to the new center.

Could it be that some of the day laborers actually prefer not to deal with CASA and the center’s rules? Could it be that some of these workers had failed to follow CASA’s rules and CASA kicked them out? Could it be that the limited number of jobs available at the CASA center — together with the limited number of employers who want either to comply with CASA’s rules or to have any official documentation of the fact that they have been hiring illegal immigrants — acts to create an environment wherein spreading out to multiple sites in the area allows the laborers to increase their chances of being hired for the day? Could it be that the risk of being treated poorly by an employer is outweighed by the cost of dealing with CASA and the CASA-run hiring center and the risk of not getting hired at all? Could it be that they just feel more comfortable in the 7-Eleven lot?

The County’s Planning Board, in approving the Derwood center, expressed clear concern that day laborers would not willingly restrict their solicitation to the center’s premises, although they did seem mostly concerned that yet another informal hiring location would pop up at the Grove shopping center:

Monitor the Shady Grove Shopping Center and provide police enforcement to assure that this location is not used as an alternative for workers and employers to meet.

I guess that the Duvall Center location is already considered a loss and not worth the effort to try to do anything about?

In fact, the County Police have explicitly stated that they plan on making a special exception to their hands-off approach for the Grove and other locations near the new labor center:

There is worry, however, that if workers stray from the site, the nearby community will consider the center a failure.

‘‘We don’t want to give them a reason to say the center isn’t working,” said Diane Tillery, community services officer for the county police’s Sixth District.

Tillery, who has played a central role in the situation since late 2004, wants to prevent impromptu hiring sites in Derwood like the ones that have tended to pop up near the county’s formal centers in Silver Spring and Wheaton.

The Grove shopping center — which includes a gas station, a fast-food restaurant, a supermarket, a liquor store and a day-care center— is only a few hundred yards away. And a Home Depot nearby on Shady Grove Road regularly draws workers, Tillery said.

But officials at Casa, which runs the Silver Spring and Wheaton centers, say they are committed to forming a ‘‘trusting relationship” with the workers, said Christy Swanson, Casa’s direct services director.

‘‘We don’t force the workers to use our center, that’s not our job,” Swanson said. ‘‘… But if the employers are using the center, there won’t be a problem.”

So, endevoring to make sure that the day laborer center works to bring order and safety to the day labor market in the area isn’t CASA’s job, it isn’t the job of the Police, and it isn’t the job of the State’s Attorney. Really, it is no one’s job. The center will work or it won’t work; the laborers can use it or not and the employers can use it or not. What we have is just an odd sort of Laissez-faire approach to allowing a black market for labor to persist even as the County dumps hundreds of thousands of dollars into their Potemkin Laborer Center, that undoubtedly impresses everyone except those who actually bother to look around.

Photo Courtesy Clark W. Day Photo-Graphics

District 6 has finally gotten last week’s crime report posted. The summary lists four robberies, five aggravated assaults, two commercial burglaries, six residential burglaries, fifteen thefts from vehicles, four stolen vehicles and one sex offense.

Some notable reports:

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at 18411 Hallmark Court on Tuesday 4/3 at 2200 hours. The victim had just gotten off of the bus on Flower Hill Way and was walking down the foot path when the suspects approached and beat him. They took the victim’s backpack and it and the contents were all recovered, except for $80 cash.

  Suspects: eight B/M’s, NFD

• An adult female claimed she was sexually assaulted somewhere on Route 270 on Wednesday 4/4, between 1840 and 1915 hours. She was walking on Route 270, near Route 121 when the suspect pulled over and offered her a ride. After they drove down the road, the suspect pulled over, asked the victim if she would “do anything for a ride”, and then he asked for a ‘hand-job’. When the victim refused, he started to fondle her breasts. She jumped out of the vehicle and he drove off. The victim flagged down an officer around the Montgomery Village Avenue exit.

  Suspect: W/M, 30-37 yrs. old, 5’7”-5’9”/170-200 lbs., ruddy complexion

• A strong-armed robbery occurred in front of the South Lake Elementary School, at Contour Road and Horizon Run Road on Friday 4/6 at 0005 hours. The victim was walking and the first suspect approached and asked for money. He refused, but seeing money sticking out of the victim’s shirt pocket, the suspect hit him and then snatched the money. She fled to the suspect vehicle, driven by the second suspect and they fled towards Route 270.

  Suspects: H/M, and H/F, NFD

• An aggravated assault occurred at the Sport & Health, 700 Russell Avenue on Wednesday 4/4 at 2315 hours. The victim is an employee and was in her vehicle when the suspect approached. He refused to move and she blew her horn. He yelled at her to get out of the vehicle and displayed a black handled knife, and told the victim he was “ready to die”. When the suspect heard the approaching police sirens he fled on foot. The suspect came back the next day to try to talk to the victim and he was arrested for trespassing at that time. He did have the knife on him at the time of the arrest.

  Suspect: Mustapha Bamber, B/M, 18 yrs. old, 5’8”/250 lbs., shaved head, of 18 N. Summit Drive

• The aggravated assault at 9208 Bluebird Terrace on Thursday 4/5 was committed by the victim’s girlfriend. The victim was stabbed and didn’t make the report until he went to the hospital. Despite him not wanting to press charges, the suspect was arrested.

  Defendant: Kim Baylor, B/F, 39 yrs. old, 5’11”/130 lbs., of 9208 Bluebird Terrace

  Bluebird Terrace is near Goshen Rd, between Centerway and Emory Grove.

• A citizen was possibly a victim of a scam at 19662 Framingham Drive. The subject had previously done ‘odd jobs’ for the victim and on 3/10, came to her house and installed gutter guards without her authorization. He asked for $80 for installing them and she told him she only had $20 and considered the matter settled. He came back to the victim on 4/6 and told her she owed him the ‘balance’ of $60. She refused and he left. The same subject was possibly seen in the area of 18520 Grackle Way on 4/10. A citizen called and said he was walking around the area carrying a ladder and was trying to get gutter cleaning jobs. He was last seen on foot towards Quail Valley Drive.

  Subject: ‘Johnny the gutter guy’, W/M, 50’s, 5’10”/160 lbs., brown & grey hair, possibly mustache, has ‘rotting’ teeth

  Framingham Drive is near Goshen Rd, north of Centerway.

• The Goshen Elementary School was broken into on Wednesday 4/4 at 1605 hours. An employee saw the suspect pry a 2nd floor window and enter the school. The employee confronted him and the suspect said he was there to play basketball. The suspect fled on foot and a witness who saw him running provided the limited description.

  Suspect: Juvenile, B/M, 12 yrs. old, thin, possibly a Forest Oak MS student

• An aggravated assault occurred on N. Summit Drive on Wednesday 4/4 at 2253 hours. The victim claimed two B/M’s were fighting in the parking lot and when the victim tried to break it up, he was stabbed by the suspect. The suspects fled in the suspect vehicle. It should be noted the victim was intoxicated and uncooperative.

  Suspect: B/M, black T-shirt, black jeans, NFD
  Vehicle: brown Honda Civic, NFD

• A Gaithersburg officer saw a suspect climbing into a laundry room window at 531 S. Frederick Avenue on Thursday 4/5 at 1950 hours. The suspect gave a false name and said he was there to see a person in the building. He gave three different apartment numbers and was arrested on the scene.

  Defendant: Isaac Jackson, AKA ‘Baldy’, B/M, 50 yrs. old, 6’/220 lbs., mustache/beard, has priors for assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, burglary, theft and CDS, of 16 W. Deer Park Road

• An attempted burglary occurred at 18400 block of Guildberry Drive on Thursday 4/5 at 2015 hours. The suspect knocked on the victim’s door but when the victim looked through the peephole, no one was seen. She heard scratching at the door and opened it up. The suspect attempted to push his way in and hit the victim. The victim called out, implying there was someone else in the apartment, and the suspect fled to the waiting vehicle.

  Suspect: H/M, 18-21 yrs. old, 5’6”-5’7”/150-155 lbs., shaved head, black hooded jacket, tight blue jeans Vehicle: white Isuzu trooper, no tags, dark tinted windows

  Guildberry Drive is just west of the intersection of Rt. 124 and Snouffers School Rd.

• Graffiti vandalism was found at the top level of the Olde Towne Garage, on Tuesday 4/3. Black and red spray paint was used to write some unintelligible words, and also “IVADER” with the letter “S” below it.

• Graffiti vandalism was found on four vehicles and the fence at a construction site at Diamondback Drive & Key West Avenue sometime between 1630 hours on Tuesday 4/3 and 0630 hours on Wednesday 4/4. White and black spray paint was used but the words were unintelligible.

• Graffiti was found on a wall and rear door of the Emory Grove Center, 18100 Washington Grove Lane on Monday 4/9. The officer indicated it could be gang-related but there is nothing in the report to describe the graffiti.