Chandler frets over day laborers

The planned opening of Loop 202 in Chandler this spring is creating a sense of urgency among city and business leaders to rid the downtown of day laborers.

Officials expect the freeway will turn Arizona Avenue into a new gateway to Chandler, and people would think poorly of the city by seeing dozens of day laborers gathering daily along the street.

"If you don’t know anything about Chandler and you’re driving through and see that, it is disturbing," said Becky Jackson, president and chief executive officer of the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. "I’ve had friends who have visited me and are just amazed that they are allowed to do that."

Vice Mayor Phill Westbrooks on Friday requested the city staff and City Council research the day laborer prob- lem and form a committee of downtown stakeholders to find a solution. He said his actions were prompted by residents and business owners who regularly complain about the situation.

"It seems unsafe for the people who are loitering," he said. "And it doesn’t look good, frankly, that you have people loitering on one of the main streets that connects right into the downtown center, which we’re trying to enhance and increase the businesses, increase the people living in the downtown area, to make it a thriving downtown square."

City leaders and private investors have sunk millions of dollars into redevelopment projects downtown in the last several years.

Lisa Huebner, owner of the Arizona Mesquite Co. and a board member of the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, said townhomes, office and retail space planned downtown would be for naught if the city doesn’t do anything about the situation.

"What they are trying to push is that this whole area is being revitalized," she said. "Am I going to want to buy a brownstone and walk around downtown if there are people standing on the street?"

Huebner and other business leaders said the city has turned a blind eye to the issue because of fallout from a roundup of illegal immigrants in 1997 that resulted in civil suits against the city and marred its relationship with the Hispanic community.

"I feel like the reason we have a loitering issue and things aren’t being enforced is because the city was sued several years ago and now things are hands-off," Huebner said. "I think the city won’t do anything about it unless we as a community force them to step up to the plate."

Chandler police Sgt. Mark Franzen said the laborers are within their rights to stand on the public sidewalk at anytime for as long as they like so long as they don’t block pedestrians. Chandler, like Mesa, Tempe and Gilbert, has no law against loitering.

Laborers such as Sergio Gonzalez said they stand on the street for work to earn money for their families and aren’t hurting anyone, including local businesses.

"We’re not causing any problems," he said. "We’re not smoking. We’re not drinking. No drugs. Nothing."

But Clay Pedersen, who owns Muscle Car Garage, 191 S. Arizona Ave., with his brother Clint, said he and his employees have seen day laborers urinate on parked cars, damage a parked vehicle during a fight and use drugs as they wait for work. He said the laborers don’t usually bother him or affect his business, but their presence does look bad.

"In our type of business, we have a lot of business owners, NFL players, affluent people who come here and have a perception about where we’re at," he said. "Some of it, I think, is a product of the neighborhood."

Desert Viking Development owns a large portion of the commercial property downtown and has plans for a major redevelopment project in the next two years. Desert Viking partner Niels Kreipke agreed something needs to be done about day laborers.

"If there’s a designated area where people can find work at, I think contractors and day laborers would go there," he said.

The Light and Life Day Labor Center, 501 S. Arizona Ave., opened in May 2003 to do just that. But the center has been largely unsuccessful.

Sylvia Salinas, who lives on Arizona Avenue near downtown and whose husband, Javier, is a day laborer, said the men don’t use the center to get work because identification is required.

"It’s a place to go to work, but only if you have papers," she said. "If their papers are no good, they won’t give them a job."

Salinas said the men don’t bother anyone by simply standing on the street.

"I’ve never heard of anyone complaining about the men," she said. "Some of them have families to support. If they don’t want all of these people to stand out here they should build a building so they can all go there and get some work. You can try to get them off of the street, but it’s no good because there’s no help for them in Chandler."

Westbrooks said the solution lies with the community as a whole, including the faithbased community, businesses, residents and the city.

"If I knew (the answer) I’d probably be a millionaire because just about every city in the southwest has this problem," he said. "All of the border states have the same problem. This is not just a Chandler problem."

Jackson added, "There needs to be a solution prior to the freeway opening."