By Editorial

While we fully support the formation of a local permanent day worker center locally, we think the current no-solicitation ordinance designed to keep workers off sidewalks doesn’t really accomplish that goal. And it should.

The council last week approved amended wording that defined “congregation” as a group of five or more people loitering at a specific place for an unspecified period of time. These places are subject to being deemed no-solicitation zones, meaning motorists cannot stop and offer these workers jobs.

While Mountain View’s since-rescinded no-solicitation ordinance applied to all its streets, Los Altos’ applies only to areas designated by signs as no-solicitation zones. The current ordinance only establishes the ability to create more small zones, merely moving loitering workers from one place to the next. This is no solution to the problem: people hanging out at street corners for hours at a time.

In addition to the complete lack of accountability and possible abuse of the workers, allowing loitering for work does not force workers into the far better alternative: using the worker center and getting on the path to permanent employment.

A worker center allows for documentation and accountability of its users, in addition to providing resources such as English classes. The St. Joseph the Worker Center, which closed last October, was a victim of its own success, drawing an overflow of workers to a place too small to accommodate them.

We hope the council will work with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, not only to find common ground in the lawsuit filed against Los Altos, but to help find a location for a new worker center. How much better for Los Altos leaders to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

St. Vincent de Paul supporters are still looking to invalidate the ordinance (a Federal judge was set to rule on the ordinance yesterday), but Los Altos should actually broaden its law to include the entire city. This could be done concurrent to the opening of a new, permanent center to force workers to use it.

While we sympathize with the workers’ plight, we have little tolerance for those who are here illegally. There are clear-cut paths to take for those seeking legal entry and ultimately, citizenship. Those who circumvent these paths are competing for work with those who are here legally. Los Altos police should be working with federal authorities to crack down on undocumented workers. Otherwise, 10 years from now, we will still see people begging for work on Los Altos street corners.

Instead of backing out like Mountain View did, Los Altos has simply dug in with its no-solicitation ordinance, shoring up any ambiguous wording to justify keeping day workers off city streets.

Last week, the city approved wording that affirmed passing motorists who stopped to pick up waiting laborers were a threat to traffic safety. Officials reason these solicitors, if you will, are causing cars to stop suddenly, running the risk of traffic accidents. Though such an incident has yet to happen, the fact that it could happen certainly is plausible.

However, the justification for the ordinance is not the same as the reason behind it. Purely and simply, Los Altos does not want the presence of these workers, most of them Latino, loitering on city sidewalks.

Those opposed to the workers’ presence blame St. Vincent de Paul Society for pressing a lawsuit against Los Altos, forcing Los Altos to fight it and wasting taxpayer money. It is a waste of taxpayer money, but in our view, it is Los Altos that is wasting it.

Let’s back up for a moment: these workers have been hanging out for years near the intersection of San Antonio Road and El Camino Real because Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents have continued to use their labor. There may be a question of legal vs. illegal residency but there is no question about the law of supply and demand at work here.

On the subject of harboring “illegals,” we head into some dicey ground here. One can assume many of these workers are here illegally, but to assume on the basis of their Latino heritage is just plain racist.