Taxpayers question shelters for migrant workers

Officials in Maryland and Virginia increasingly are using taxpayer dollars to build pick-up sites for day laborers to keep them from loitering in front of convenience stores and street corners as they wait for work.

The initiative has sparked a disagreement between advocacy groups that support migrant workers and many taxpayers and neighborhood associations who think the shelters are too expensive and cause traffic congestion.

“We’re faced with a choice of doing nothing, which would mean that people would just scatter through town, or doing something,” said Paul Ferguson, chairman of the Arlington County Board.

There are an estimated 50,000 day laborers in the Washington area, activists say. Most of them have the required legal documents to work, but some are here illegally, they say.

Arlington County officials plan to spend up to $140,000 to erect a day shelter at 27th Street and Shirlington Road, where workers can gather while they wait to get work. Takoma Park officials spend $60,000 a year to operate a similar facility. Montgomery County officials spend $140,000 a year to keep one open in Silver Spring.

Meanwhile, officials in Herndon have set aside $37,000 and plan to vote next month on whether to change the town’s zoning laws to allow a shelter to be built there. Officials in Fairfax and Prince George’s counties are looking at potential pick-up sites in their areas.

Some critics say the government shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars on shelters for migrant workers unless officials are sure that the workers pay taxes. Often, contractors pay the workers in cash, a type of business transaction that enables workers to avoid reporting income on their tax returns.

“They’re spending tax dollars, but I don’t know that the workers pay taxes,” said Alfred O. Taylor, president of the Nauck Citizens Association, which represents about 1,600 residents who live near Arlington’s planned shelter.

Mr. Ferguson said he understands those concerns. “That’s not something I condone,” he said. “It’s my hope that people are paying their taxes and that employers are keeping accurate records and giving their employees [appropriate tax forms].”

The issue in Arlington pitted public television station WETA against county officials and social service providers.

Last month, station officials complained to the County Board that the shelter would create a hostile environment for station employees. The shelter is going to be built on a county-owned parking lot currently used by station employees.

Station manager Sharon Rockefeller did not return a telephone call seeking comment this week. A spokeswoman for WETA said that the station has softened its stance on the shelter since the county approved the project on July 29.

“We mostly had some traffic concerns,” said Cecily Van Praagh, a spokeswoman for WETA. “First thing in the morning, this isn’t the easiest place to drive. But we’ll see how it goes. The county has voted on this. We respect the political process and their right to choose the location.”

WETA executives had wanted the shelter to be built farther away and recommended a site at 27th Street in front of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center, which will be overseeing the shelter. The county board members rejected that proposal because they said the location would put the workers closer to residential neighborhoods.

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