COSTA MESA : City Wrestles With Future of Disabled 3

Chris Fiskling earns $2.81 an hour picking up trash at the Rea Community Center. Sometimes he spends his day raking leaves or sweeping the parking lot.

He was lucky to find the job.

There aren’t many employers willing to hire Chris, who is autistic. But under a special state sponsored-program designed to help developmentally disabled people, Chris, along with Ron Shaw and Joaquin Carson, are each able to earn a salary of $8.43 a day.

Until this week.

Their jobs are in jeopardy because the Costa Mesa City Council last week slashed the $2,600 set aside for their salaries; the city is trying to close a $6-million gap in its $61-million budget. The small program was one of hundreds of budget casualties, ranging from seven laid-off firefighters to the cancellation of the annual children’s Halloween party.

But since last week’s action, dozens of people have offered money and support to keep the three gainfully employed. In fact, four people have offered to pay the entire $2,600 needed to cover their yearly salaries. Although the paperwork isn’t yet straightened out, it looks as though Fiskling and the others won’t lose their jobs after all.

“The public supports this and really wants them working,” said Debra Marsteller, executive director of the Vantage Foundation, which runs the employment program. “They do a good job, and it is necessary. There is a lot that needs to be done around here.”

While their jobs are secured, Marsteller said she hopes the city will not turn its back on the workers. She wants the city to accept the donations and pass them along to Vantage, who then pays the workers. Besides, she argued, they are still doing work for the city.

Although city officials admit that if the crew were let go, existing staff members or part-time people would have to be hired to replace them, the city is not anxious to accept the donations.

“When you are laying full-time people off, it is hard to justify some of those (Vantage) expenditures,” said Keith Van Holt, director of community services. “We would just soon not have the donations come to the city.”

With their jobs still in doubt, Fiskling and Shaw took to their regular rounds on Thursday, oblivious to the efforts going on to keep them there.

Carrying white buckets and wearing work gloves, they set off sprucing up the fields at the Rea Center. They picked up castaway bottle caps and plastic bags as a group of children flew a kite nearby on the grassy lawn.

Fiskling, 37, who lives in a group home in Irvine, proudly showed off a sticker of George Washington he found near a bush. Earlier, he discovered a cup with bright pink and blue characters on it and a green and yellow whistle.

He has a knack for finding things that others somehow miss, said Joe Rosati, their job coach. Sometimes he doesn’t want to throw them out.

“You toss it?” Rosati asks Fiskling, who reluctantly deposits it into his bucket. “Thanks so much. That is great.”

There was a time when Fiskling couldn’t handle a job. He was very self-abusive and had a hard time coping, Rosati said. Today, he doesn’t do any of those things. “He has gone from living in an institution to a group home, to doing things he really enjoys,” Rosati said. “Like shopping and his job.”

Earlier last week, Fiskling bought a California Angels hat during an excursion downtown. He also collects Disney memorabilia, which he keeps in his bedroom. He uses the money he earns to buy these small treasures.

“Like you or me, they have become dependent on their jobs,” Rosati said as Fiskling and Shaw took a break. “They really need them.”