Indoor hiring facility on horizon for day laborers
By PATRICK KINMARTIN Daily Press Staff Writer
City Hall has spent $2,000 on portable toilets to deter people from relieving themselves in a neighborhood that has become a hub for day laborers.
Several portable toilets will be added to the stretch along 11th Street between Colorado and Olympic boulevards as part of a City Council response to complaints from residents who are fed up with the sight and stench of urine and feces in their neighborhood.
City council members for the past year have received e-mails messages with photos attached showing in detail what residents encounter when they walk through the area.
“It’s a good thing you can’t smell e-mail,” Councilman Kevin McKeown said. “I’ve been sent color photographs from residents of some of the deposits they’ve found on some of their residences. People have been using — out of desperation — the neighborhood as a bathroom.”
The toilets are a temporary fix while plans for a better hiring facility are being worked on for the area, which over the past few years has become popular for laborers looking for odd jobs and daily work.
Laborers have flocked to the area mainly because of its proximity to the Ace Hardware store on 11th Street. With many customers coming into the store to buy construction supplies, workers feel they have their best shot at being hired for day labor by being readily available nearby.
“Most of the work we do is construction,” said a day laborer who wished to remain anonymous. “A lot of people that want to hire come to (the area) for construction jobs and we have no problem doing that type of work for them.”
The area is close to bus stops which allow workers, many of whom don’t own cars, easy access coming from the freeway. On weekends, the area overflows with prospective workers.
“On a Saturday or Sunday, it’s hard to tell exactly how many are lined up out there,” said Edith Ramirez, a manager at the Salvation Army store on 11th Street. “They’re all lined up waiting for some type of opportunity.”
But what some see as opportunity, others see as a nuisance. Besides the human excrement, the stretch along 11th Street is often littered with empty shopping carts, plastic bags and other debris.
“I’ve seen people duck behind a car, kneel on the grass and start urinating into the street,” said a local resident who wished to only be identified as Mark. “It’s really disgusting.”
“I’ve seen people duck behind a car, kneel on the grass and start urinating into the street.” — — ‘MARK’ Local resident
Some disgruntled residents are not only tired of the bathroom situation, but also that the workers are allowed to be in the area at all. Some of the workers are illegal aliens and nearly all of them work for cash that may not be recorded with the IRS.
“Putting portable bathrooms up doesn’t solve the problem,” he said. “They shouldn’t be allowed to use the bathroom here or do anything else.”
There have been few complaints about the workers themselves, McKeown said.
“I don’t think you need a green card to poop,” he added. “The issue here is the neighborhood.”
McKeown and Councilman Bob Holbrook have been working for years on a “more dignified” hiring facility, possibly even an indoor center for the workers to wait in. The center, however, may be a few years off because of the city can’t afford to provide one. The City Council last week closed a $16.1 million budget deficit and next year’s budget shortfall is expected to be $20 million.
McKeown believes the portable toilets will provide a temporary answer to the surrounding community’s concerns. Although he is unsure when and where they will be placed, he is hoping local businesses create room for the toilets.
“Our society almost encourages the availability of super cheap labor,” he said. “In some ways this is a tacit agreement we’ve made.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 24, 2003. Read the original PDF.