What is the logic behind Job Center closure decision?

Like many in the community, we are having trouble understanding the

logic behind last week’s decision to shut down the 17-year-old Costa

Mesa Job Center.

Proponents of the move -- the council majority of Mayor Allan

Mansoor and Councilmen Eric Bever and Gary Monahan, who voted for the

closure -- say that the problems that made the Job Center necessary

in the late 1980s largely have been handled and that other recent

council decisions about potential redevelopment of the Westside

reduce the need even more.

“I just think after 17 years, since we’re investing so much time

and effort into the Westside, I think it’s time to move forward,”

Monahan said.

But each and every day, about 100 workers -- a group largely made

up of Latino men -- gather at the Job Center looking for work.

According to city reports, about 30 of them get work. And all it

costs the city is $102,000 a year, which is not only a bargain but

also a boon when compared to what parts of the Westside, most notably

Lions Park, were like before the Job Center opened.

Day laborers looking for work crowded the park, loitering about

all day. Parents, understandably, were reluctant to take their kids

there. Other day laborers gathered in areas where they did not have

trash cans or restrooms, and the expected results followed. There

were pockets dotted throughout the Westside where the quality of

life, for residents and business owners alike, was worse than it

should have been.

We understand that some think that will not happen again. We

simply don’t agree. We don’t see how the situation will not revert to

what it was in the past when there are still 100 people a day seeking

work. We hope it does not, but those 100 people are not going to

disappear when the Job Center closes on June 30. They still will be

looking for work -- only now, they will be waiting in Lions Park and

on city streets.

And when they are waiting, when they are loitering, it will cost

the city far more money than $102,000.

Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley told the council before it

made this decision that he would have to redeploy his officers to

watch the day laborers and handle any related complaints from

residents. We don’t see how he’s going to be able to do that for less

than the $102,000 the Job Center cost.

So much for a fiscally conservative Costa Mesa City Council.

Again, we do hope we’re wrong. We would like nothing better than

for this decision to be the right one, for the city to save $102,000

and for the workers to still be able to find work but without causing

any of the old problems.

If we’re right, though, and all the old problems arise, we have a

suggestion: Mansoor, Bever and Monahan should personally go down to

Lions Park and enforce any loitering laws. For free.