Day labor bill gets panel’s OK

Tuesday, June 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A Las Vegas City Council committee has recommended passage of a proposed ordinance that will make it illegal to solicit work on a city street.

However, a representative of the city's staff said at Monday's meeting that the bill is "not designed to preclude" poor people from getting day work, but rather to "make it more safe."

Neighborhood Services Director Sharon Segerblom made those comments in reference to a day labor center the city plans to build at Bonanza Road and H Street in the heart of an area that has become known over the years as the "employment agency of last resort."

However, the proposed day labor station, mentioned in the city's backup materials in support of the bill, is not included in the proposed ordinance aimed at stopping job-seeking activities on Bonanza Road between D Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard and at other arteries.

When no one from the public presented testimony against the measure, Councilmen Arnie Adamsen and Gary Reese recommended it for passage at Monday's City Council meeting.

Concerns, however, have been raised that passage of the ordinance is not contingent on the day labor station being built or remaining in operation. Should it close or never open, the ordinance and its potential $1,000 fines would remain in effect.

Reese, a co-sponsor and driving force behind the bill, said the fines would be assessed against those who stop to pick up the workers, not the poor.

However, to that end, the city passed an ordinance nine years ago banning parking on both sides of Bonanza, hoping to discourage contractors from stopping to pick up cut-rate workers. That measure failed because the vehicles didn't stop long enough to get ticketed for illegal parking.

For decades, Bonanza Road has been the traditional place for many to gather to seek work, even when state-operated facilities catering to day labor were located nearby.

The workers wave and often jump into the path of oncoming cars and trucks, hoping someone will stop and hire them for menial tasks. Since the late 1980s, city officials have expressed concern for their safety as traffic gets heavier on Bonanza.

However, critics have contend the city's real goal is to remove the blight of vagrants seeking work in front of area businesses, the owners of which continually complain to council representatives.

City officials argue that the latest measure is not an attempt to outlaw day labor because the city plans to use $10,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to construct the day worker station on Nevada Department of Transportation land, which will encourage day labor.

However, the bill by itself 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."

As a result, the omission of the day station from the bill or a clause stating that the measure would sunset if the station never opens or is closed has caused some to question the city's intentions.