City throws in the towel on day-labor center

Officials will ask the county to take over the search for a suitable site

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette Day laborers gather at the guardrail along Route 355 in front the county-leased building at 17 North Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg.

City Manager David B. Humpton told the mayor and City Council Monday night that he wants to ask the county to take over the search. And on a night that saw most public speakers railing against the center, Humpton’s remarks met strong support from most council members.

‘‘I think it’s time the county does have to step up and think a little more broadly about what we’re doing,” said Councilwoman Geri Edens. ‘‘I also agree we need to do what we need to do to alleviate the situation at 17 North Frederick [Avenue].”

Laborers have gathered for years at sites on North Frederick in hopes of finding contractors to hire them for a day’s work.

Monday’s decision indicates a huge shift in the city’s long and difficult struggle with how to handle the several dozen day laborers who routinely gather. Most are Hispanic men, many of them are illegal immigrants. The city has searched for a day-labor site for six months, but was rebuffed at more than 30 locations.

County officials declined to comment Tuesday, saying they would wait until they receive notification from city officials.

‘‘We want to see something officially from the city, make an assessment and go from there,” county spokesman David Weaver said.

The city also wants to shut down activity at 17 North Frederick, the county-leased building where day laborers currently gather each morning.

‘‘The gathering of workers at 17 North Frederick Avenue must come to an end as quickly as possible, and we are exploring the legal and⁄or zoning actions available to us to achieve that goal,” Humpton said during his report Monday night.

The day laborers moved to the empty building’s parking lot in September when city police started enforcing trespassing at a nearby parking lot, where day laborers had gathered for three years. The city asked the county to not let the workers gather there, but the county refused.

The city is also moving forward with an anti-solicitation ordinance that would prevent day laborers from looking for work, though some council members have said the ordinance is aimed at increasing pedestrian safety. It would be the first such law in the county, and violators would face misdemeanor charges.

Gaithersburg Councilman Michael Sesma said he was concerned the ordinance might hinder some fundraising events.

‘‘We have a number of activities which are actually kind of traditional in small towns and cities like this,” he said. ‘‘I want to make sure such things as Girl Scout cookie sales or whatever such activities as that do not become the victim.”

City Attorney Cathy Borten said the ordinance primarily focuses on where these activities occur, and that ‘‘you usually don’t find Girl Scouts in the median of a highway.”

A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Nov. 20.

Humpton also declined the offer to use a field across from St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church at 201 South Frederick Ave. as a temporary alternative, noting ‘‘that such a site will have an impact on the surrounding residential areas, and both Gaithersburg High School and St. Martin’s parochial school.”

Council members also opposed the field, though Sesma stressed the need to find an immediate alternative.

‘‘We should offer whatever solution we can in terms of a temporary solution. Folks who find their trade this way are still going to be here, they’re in the community. And we’ll have to deal with that reality as well,” he said.

Most church representatives, many of whom are part of a new coalition working to find a solution, were not at Monday’s meeting.

The Rev. Simon Bautista of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, a longtime laborer advocate, admitted that the churches absence was Monday was a ‘‘huge mistake” and said many were reeling Tuesday morning.

‘‘It’s a shame that the city is handing over all responsibility, leaving the day laborers at 17 [North Frederick] without any kind of alternative. This is a way to say to them, we don’t care about you anymore, just go somewhere else,” he said.

The coalition, which also include day-laborer advocates, plans to meet Monday to figure out a way forward, but speaking for himself, Bautista said the total sum of the city’s decisions Monday night show a ‘‘lack of humanity.”

‘‘I’m not sure where that will leave us, but it seems like where you have to think of disobedience as an alternative.”