By Linda Taaffe

A group of local day laborers asked a federal court last week to prohibit the city of Los Altos from enforcing its no vehicle solicitation law until a lawsuit challenging the ordinance is settled.

Attorneys from Morrison & Foerster and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund representing the Workers Commission and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul filed the motion April 23, claiming the workers are likely to win their case against the city and that the continued enforcement of the ordinance during the pending lawsuit has caused workers irreparable harm. The threat of a citation has scared away some potential employers looking to hire day laborers, attorneys claimed.

The motion states that the lawsuit filed against the city Feb. 20 to repeal the anti-solicitation law is likely to succeed because laborers won a similar case in Los Angeles County in 2000 after the Chirla court found Los Angeles County’s anti-vehicle solicitation ordinance unconstitutional.

“It is really an incredible waste of city resources to require that plaintiffs file this motion,” said Thomas Saenz, vice president of litigation for the Mexican-American fund. Established law requires the city to prohibit the ordinance while the case is pending, he added.

“Since even before filing this lawsuit, we’ve been trying to work with the city of Los Altos to get them to suspend enforcement of the ordinance and support a new day worker center,” said Anna Erickson White, a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster. “Although the day workers tell us that many of their employers are residents of Los Altos, Los Altos has refused to be part of the solution to the problem. Because the ordinance continues to hurt the day workers’ ability to find work, we had no choice but to ask the court to enjoin its enforcement.”

City officials passed the no-solicitation law in 1999 based on safety issues, Mayor Francis La Poll said.

Local day workers filed the federal lawsuit against the city of Los Altos after the Los Altos City Council refused to repeal the anti-solicitation law, which limits day worker activity on the streets by prohibiting potential employers from soliciting workers from their vehicles in specifically zoned areas.

Day workers said the No Vehicle Solicitation Ordinance is allegedly a violation of the workers’ free speech rights under the United States Constitution, particularly since the closure of St. Joseph the Worker Center eradicated the only alternative forum for day worker solicitation expression in the city last October. St. Vincent de Paul previously operated the worker center in Los Altos, which connected day laborers with potential employers before losing its lease due to overcrowding.

Day laborers planned to set up an interim worker center today at the Calvary Assembly of God Church at California and Escuela avenues in Mountain View.

The Mountain View City Council gave workers the go-ahead to set up a temporary center in the site’s multipurpose room March 26 until the city can secure a permanent center elsewhere, said John Rinaldi, a volunteer attorney with the day workers.