Another way suggested to clean up day labor eyesore

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

The city of Las Vegas has tried just about everything to shut down the long-standing "employment agency of last resort" along Bonanza Road between Martin Luther King Boulevard and D Street.

The poor and downtrodden gather every weekday in that seedy section of town in front of businesses such as a Christian homeless shelter and a daily newspaper, some waving and leaping into the path of oncoming cars and trucks, hoping someone will stop and hire them for menial tasks.

The latest salvo in the battle will be fired Monday when the City Council introduces a proposed ordinance to once again try to legislate the transient stop and other such sites out of existence.

The bill, sponsored by Councilman Gary Reese, makes no mention of the city's plans to use $10,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to construct a day worker station on Nevada Department of Transportation land at Bonanza and H Street.

However, a memo from the city attorney's office that accompanies the bill does address that proposed alternative to the current situation.

"It will be shaded, with a couple of tables and port-a-potties -- I think they will be tickled to get a place like this," Reese said.

"It will be beneficial to the workers and employers because it will give them a centralized location, and it will benefit area businesses that don't want people standing in front soliciting work."

However, the bill by itself outlaws "soliciting or accepting" any employment from a public sidewalk. And that measure, on its surface, raises questions of constitutionality.

"On first glance there appears to be significant overbreadth problems with this," said JoNell Thomas, a partner in the law firm of Gentile & Thomas who specializes in First Amendment and criminal law. "It appears too large in scope. It may go too far."

Thomas also is a member of the board of directors for the Nevada office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The ACLU has not taken a position on this ordinance, but this is the type of issue we address at a board meeting," she said. "We don't take on every issue, but we do look at matters when rights are at stake.

"Personally I'm concerned because this targets our poorest citizens."

Thomas also expressed concern that the day labor station is not mentioned in the ordinance. It is conceivable that the ordinance could pass and that the station either is never built or is put into operation then closed while the ordinance and its potential high fines remain in effect.

"It appears that one thing is not contingent on the other thing happening," Thomas said. "These people also face a $1,000 fine for doing something they would rather not be doing but have no choice."

Over the years, the city's vagrancy ordinances have been tested in court, and some of them have been found to be unconstitutional.

Reese says he is comfortable with the city attorney's wording of the bill.

"I'm satisfied because we are creating a place for them, not taking away their right to get day work," Reese said. "I believe this is a solution to a problem that is only getting bigger and bigger."

The bill, according to a memo to the council from City Attorney Brad Jerbic, aims to "address the chronic day laborer traffic/pedestrian problem on Bonanza Road and at other locations."

The pertinent line of the bill reads: "No person shall stand in a roadway or on a public sidewalk for the purpose of soliciting or accepting employment, or other business from the occupant of any vehicle."

Neighborhood Services Director Sharon Segerblom, whose office put the day labor station plan together, feels it is a much-needed service.

"We are trying to address a safety issue," she said. "We are not trying to stop people from working or put another layer of bureaucracy in their way."

Segerblom noted that no city worker will be assigned to oversee the area, but said it will be cleaned daily. The portable toilets will be installed on a two-week trial basis and be monitored for damage, she said.

"I believe this plan has a better chance to work than past plans because it is a team approach by the city, NDOT and Metro," Segerblom said.

The war over day laborers' use of Bonanza has been waged for decades.

In the 1980s, those seeking work along Bonanza routinely were rousted by police. When such operations resulted in critical media coverage, Metro switched to friendlier tactics. One doomed-to-failure attempt included police simply warning people not to gather on the busy street.

The city passed an ordinance in 1988 banning parking on both sides of Bonanza and D streets, hoping to discourage contractors and others from stopping to pick up workers. Predictably, that too failed because the vehicles didn't stop long enough to get ticketed for illegal parking.

Since the onset of the problem, police and city officials have said their main concern is traffic and safety.

"When people stop to hire a worker, others run across the road with disregard for other vehicles, creating a very dangerous situation," City Manager Larry Barton said in an Oct. 16, 1988, SUN article, when he was deputy city manager.

Reese and Segerblom's similar statements Thursday indicate that little has changed in about a decade.