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.

Critics say they are angry with the county’s decision to spend money on something that is not a high priority. The shelter is expected to open in October.

“I don’t like the idea of spending $140,000 on a shelter when we can’t get money for code enforcement and things people in this area really care about,” Mr. Taylor said. “We don’t get much money spent down here as it is. And now that they’re finally spending here, a day shelter wouldn’t have been high on our list of priorities.”

Mr. Ferguson disagreed: “The situation exists. There are people looking for work and people looking for workers. We could pretend it’s not happening, or do something to provide shelter and an orderly pick-up spot.”

The shelter will be open from 6 a.m. to noon, and will house a portable toilet, a water fountain and a bulletin board for job postings.

“For the workers who care, we will do everything possible to find them work,” said Louis S. Ramos, executive director of the center, which provides services mostly to the Hispanic population. “The other ones, the ones who just show up to party, we’ll remove them.”

Mr. Ramos said the facility also will try to keep workers from getting shortchanged by keeping track of contractors who don’t pay them. “Contractors who cheat workers will know that they can’t use the pavilion if that happens,” he said.

But Wayne Hise, a Herndon resident who opposes plans to build a shelter in his town, said dishonest contractors always will find many workers on the streets. “If you’re a contractor who doesn’t care about the safety of these people, who’s going to pay them $3 an hour, you’re not going to go to a controlled area to find them,” he said.

Day laborer Jose Rubiez, 38, said the shelter in Arlington will help him and his colleagues in their search for employment. “It will get everybody off the street,” he said.

Across the street, however, business owner Thomas Croker said he doesn’t think the shelter will prevent workers from going back on the streets if they don’t find work.

“I don’t think this is the answer,” said Mr. Croker, president of Arlington Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. “My female employees can’t go outside to get lunch without getting whistled at, and my customers are scared and confused when they pull up and see all these men hanging outside.”

Arlington is one of many local communities that are trying to keep migrant workers off the streets.

Takoma Park spends about $5,000 a month to operate its shelter. Officials said about 100 laborers gather between 5 a.m. and noon every day to find work.

“We can’t force the workers to go there, but a lot of them do,” City Manager Rick Finn said. “It’s taken a while to make the contractors understand that if they want labor, then they’re going to have to go to the temporary site to get it.”

Town officials opened the shelter in the 6300 block of New Hampshire Avenue last year after receiving several complaints from business leaders about migrant workers loitering at convenience stores and on street corners, Mr. Finn said.

Similar complaints led officials in Montgomery County to build a shelter at 734 University Blvd. near Piney Branch Road about 10 years ago. In addition to providing a gathering place for workers, the center offers job training services.

“There were a lot of complaints about people looking for work at the 7-Eleven up the street,” said Francisco N. Pacheco, director for employment services at CASA De Maryland, a nonprofit group that receives $140,000 annually from Montgomery County to run the facility.

“That’s a problem that you’ll find anywhere across the country.”

There are about 60 day shelters that are funded by municipalities across the country, said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the Los Angeles-based National Day Labor Organizing Network, which represents the workers.

Mr. Ferguson said an advisory committee made up of taxpayers, WETA officials and local business owners will present a report on the shelter six months after it opens. “If it’s not working, then we’ll have to consider other options,” he said.

Fairfax County officials said they will study Arlington’s facility as they consider their own project. “We’ll want to learn all we can as communities deal with this issue,” said Supervisor Penelope Gross, Mason District Democrat.