Gaithersburg defers anti-solicitation law; residents want recall

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Naomi Brookner⁄The Gazette Gaithersburg resident Demos Chrissos speaks out on the day laborer issue during the opportunity for public comment at the city council meeting at Gaithersburg City Hall.

Once it became clear that the council would defer the fate of the controversial anti-solicitation ordinance, last night’s meeting devolved into open heckling and verbal tirades against city leaders. The group of outraged residents, mostly from Olde Towne, at one point stormed out of the meeting in disgust.

‘‘They’re gutless. They know what the right thing to do is, but they’re looking for political cover,” said resident Dan Searles after as the group discussed the recall outside City Hall. ‘‘This is a time for real people, real adults, real leaders, to stand up. And they refuse.”

‘‘What their decision tonight shows is that the mayor and council are inept and irrelevant,” added Demos Chrissos, who does not live in Olde Towne. ‘‘I don’t think that the lack of leadership in this city could be any clearer. ... Spineless is the only way to put it. They are spineless.”

In voting 4-1 to defer a decision on whether to adopt the ordinance, city officials said they wanted to wait until after Katz had a chance to meet with County Executive Isiah Leggett to discuss the day-laborer issue. They hope to get that meeting scheduled this month.

Most of the irate residents at Tuesday’s meeting live near the informal gathering spots along Frederick Road where dozens of men — mostly Latino, many of them illegal immigrants — have congregated since the summer of 2004 to wait for work.

Neighbors of the locations say they have had to deal with ongoing nuisance crimes such as loitering and public urination.

A recent spike in violent crime in Olde Towne is adding to the anxiety.

The majority of the council supported the ordinance last night, but felt it had to go hand-in-hand with the county finding somewhere to put a day-laborer center. Most of the council also worried passing the law would jeopardize the city’s tenuous relationship with the county in that effort.

‘‘I think it’s going to create more problems than it’s going to solve,” said Councilwoman Geri Edens. ‘‘I understand why we’ve explored this ordinance and I think it’s good that we have, I’m just not sure it’s right to go forward with this at this point.”

Edens and council members Stanley J. Alster, John B. Schlichting and Michael A. Sesma were also concerned about questions of the proposed law’s constitutionality and the ability of police to enforce it without discriminating.

The council held a public hearing on the proposed ordinance in November. City Manager David B. Humpton said it was important to consider the measure even though the city had given up its search for a location for a formal day-laborer center.

Many who testified at the hearing, including some in the county business community, opposed the ordinance as racist and discriminatory. Others said it was necessary.

Most of the residents at last night’s meeting had expected the council to endorse the measure and became angered when it was deferred.

‘‘The mayor told us he was committed to passing this ordinance. And we trusted him. And we waited — we waited all the way to January because we had his word that they were committed to passing this,” said Olde Towne resident Mike Stumborg.

Several groups — including the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and the immigrant advocacy group Casa of Maryland — have voiced strong opposition to the law, suggesting they might sue if it is passed.

None of those groups were represented Tuesday night.

Councilman Henry F. Marraffa Jr. was alone in his conviction that the city must move ahead with the law, arguing that the city can pass the law while letting the county take the lead on finding a site for the center. ‘‘We can’t just be waffling forever and ever and ever on this,” he said, drawing applause. ‘‘We don’t have to wait for [the county] ... before we say we’re taking a stand. ... Our first concern is our property and our citizens. We can modify it, but at least we’ve taken a stand.”

Marraffa made a motion to put the law to a vote, but he did not receive a second. Alster moved to defer the discussion; that motion passed 4-1.

The angry residents raised the specter of a recall in the fall, but held off to give city leaders time. After last night’s inaction, they said they are ready to pursue a recall.

‘‘We waited to give these guys a second chance to see if they would do even anything. And they’ve done nothing. How much longer can or should we wait for them to lead the city?” Stumborg said Wednesday morning. ‘‘The five of them [besides Marraffa] didn’t even have the backbone to allow it to be voted down so that the people of Gaithersburg could see where they stood. It’s spineless, unconscionable, shameful and shows no leadership. And it sends a message to the county that Gaithersburg can be walked all over.”

Several of the residents were members of a city-appointed task force that studied the day-laborer issue last year, including its chairman, Prentiss Searles, who won wide praise for even-handedly navigating the task force through the contentious issue.

The ordinance was one of the task force’s key recommendations.

As City Attorney Cathy Borten advised the council Tuesday night, other municipalities in the country that have passed similar laws have had more success upholding the laws in court when a center has already been established.