Day labor center envisioned

Ricardo Velasquez was perplexed when he heard about Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's idea to require people to get a permit in order to hire day laborers.

"Why would they do that?" the 27-year-old day laborer asked in Spanish while scanning traffic Thursday morning along Bonanza Road.

He smiled when told that the city hoped such a plan would reduce both the number of people picking up day laborers and the number of workers willing to wait outside for work.

"If you get rid of one, others will come," he said.

Goodman publicly floated the idea last week, suggesting that such a permit could be offered for $5 and would last an extended period of time.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada attacked the idea, saying such a requirement would be unconstitutional.

On Thursday, Goodman distanced himself from the proposal, saying he had just "tossed out this idea" to start a conversation about how to handle day laborers.

Instead, he said, the city is looking at creating a center where day laborers could go to seek work rather than standing along valley streets.

The workers are a common site near home improvement stores and nurseries and along certain streets, such as Bonanza. Businesses complain about the workers congregating outside, littering and harassing customers.

"I've seen them jump into customers' cars without even asking," said Steve Salomon, manager of Moon Valley Nursery on Eastern Avenue just north of the Las Vegas Beltway. "Someone comes in looking to buy trees, and all of a sudden they've got a couple guys in the back of their cars. They get freaked out about it."

Salomon said that up to 40 men gather near the nursery each day, often trespassing onto his property and leaving behind piles of trash.

Police also deal with complaints about the workers.

Day laborers sometimes shoplift from nearby businesses, urinate in public or hold up traffic, said Jose Montoya, a Las Vegas police spokesman.

Police generally warn or cite the workers. Some are arrested for trespassing.

Velasquez claimed he twice has been ticketed for trespassing even though he was standing on public sidewalks.

A center for day laborers might help everyone concerned, Salomon said. "They could stand in a line, and people could come through and pick them up."

Clark County and Las Vegas police officials also have been exploring the idea of creating a center for such workers. The strategy is one that dozens of U.S. communities have tried with varying success.

Don Burnett, the county's chief administrative officer, said the county recently sent a staff person along with Las Vegas police officers to look at a work center in Kansas City, Mo. "We're trying to gain a better understanding of how other entities have responded, how they're funded and managed," he said.

The idea of opening a work center for day laborers has been bandied about regionally for the past few years. But questions about how such a center would be funded, where it would be located, who would operate it and other concerns have stymied past talks.

Some day laborers said they would go to a center as long as it was conveniently located.

"It's better here because we're near the freeways," Marcelino Ortez said in Spanish as he stood Thursday morning on Bonanza, hoping to score a day of landscaping work. "Trucks drive right by."

But some workers might be suspicious of joining a center, especially if they are in the country illegally and are required to give identification or proof of legal residency.

Nevada state government already has a Casual Labor office intended to draw day workers and employers into a safer and more organized environment. But state officials say the center, at 1001 N. A St., hasn't had much success in attracting the newer population of immigrant workers.

"We are required to ask an individual who applies for services if they're a citizen," said Ron Fletcher, Southern Nevada's chief of field direction and management for the state's Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. "If an individual indicates they're not a citizen, we're required to ask for authorization to work in the U.S."

The Casual Labor office matches workers with employers needing help with a number of odd jobs, from assisting movers and warehouse work to landscaping and construction.

Such a center also helps protect workers from being taken advantage of, Fletcher said.

"You hear stories about individuals not being paid as promised," he said. "But we know who the employer is, and the employer is on record as having taken an individual."

Both Ortez and Velasquez said they have been stiffed. Now, Ortez said, "I don't get out of the car until I get paid."

Ortez, who makes up to $450 a week as a day laborer, said most of the workers don't cause problems. "We're here to work, not bother anybody."

Goodman said Thursday that he knows that most day laborers simply are trying to make money to help support their families. "They're not robbing anybody," he said.