MAKING A PLACE FOR WORKERS STORES WOULD BE FORCED TO SHELTER DAY LABORERS.

Byline: Dan Laidman and Rachel Uranga Staff Writers

Los Angeles would become one of the first major cities in the nation to require big home-improvement stores to create shelters for day laborers under a recently drafted city ordinance that takes aim at regulating the controversial issue.

The move comes as city leaders seek to aid a growing number of laborers who gather at such stores to solicit informal construction jobs and to quell rising community concern about loitering, security and other effects on neighborhoods.

``This multimillion-dollar business ignores the fact that these problems are created by the stores,'' said City Councilman Bernard Parks, who has proposed the ordinance.

But critics say such regulation - which would require stores to create shelters that provide `a minimum level of amenities,'' including access to drinking water and toilets - could simply lead to larger problems, and community activists and others say it does little to offset their concerns.

``It's an incredible issue for urban California,'' said Fernando Guerra, a lobbyist for Home Depot and professor who heads Loyola Marymount University's Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

Guerra, who said he was speaking for himself and not Home Depot, said that designated shelters might drive some day laborers away because of factors like competition for jobs. That could cause other problems, he said, which could require police enforcement and lead to legal issues.

``I'm not against day labor sites, because they actually offer amenities and some assistance for day laborers,'' Guerra said. ``The question becomes, how do we make them work, and this ordinance does not address that at all. It says, hey, do a day labor site; we've washed our hands.''

Day labor is a complicated issue, and the ordinance is a first step rather than a catch-all solution, said Principal City Planner Jane Blumenfeld.

``We were trying to create a vehicle for negotiating solutions,'' she said. ``This shouldn't make it onerous.''

At the Home Depot in North Hollywood on a recent Friday morning, about 25 men waited for work on Sherman Way just beyond the store's gates. When customers would leave the parking lot with some workers, a security guard would usher the rest of the men back onto the street.

``We get here at six in the morning,'' said worker Jesus Castillo. ``Sometimes we wait six, seven or eight hours for work.''

They spend that time on the sidewalk, where there is limited space to sit or lean against walls. Home Depot lets them use the bathroom, which the workers said they appreciate, although the walk across the sprawling parking lot is long.

Castillo and several of his fellow workers said waiting on the sidewalk is fine, but they would welcome the proposed ordinance to have a dedicated spot with drinking water and shelter from the weather.

But the gathering of day laborers outside of stores such as Home Depot has become a growing controversy in communities including Sunland, where activists are seeking to block Home Depot's plans to open a store on the site of a shuttered Kmart.

``When we open that door, day laborers will be right here,'' said community activist Jescik Amarian, adding that she's so concerned that she's thinking of moving because her house and tree-lined street abut the proposed site.

``I feel bad for laborers, but it shouldn't have to be this way. ... People shouldn't have to look for jobs on the streets. They are running the risk of (creating) insecurity and violence.''

The concern mirrors that in hundreds of areas across the country - a problem that has divided communities and brought accusations of racism and even lawsuits.

``People are afraid of day laborers, but few try to talk to them,'' said Pablo Alvarado, director of National Day Labor Organizing Network, which represents thousands of workers.

``When people realize that day laborers are men with families, trying to bring food home, the human connection will be established; they will no longer see the worker as a criminal but a human being.

``The people have the right to congregate on public property, looking for work, offering their service. It's protected free speech.''

But anti-immigrant groups such as Save Our State have picketed several Home Depots in Southern California recently, calling the hardware retailer a friend of illegal immigration and a magnet for blight.

Many say longtime efforts by cities to prevent laborers from soliciting have done little.

A Los Angeles County ordinance restricting pickup labor was struck down in 2000 and a federal court recently sided with laborers, ruling against a Glendale law prohibiting curbside solicitation.

A district court judge ruled the law unconstitutional, calling it too vague and a violation of workers' right to free speech on public property.

Trying another tack, the Los Angeles' community development department opened a day laborer program for the city that now extends to seven sites and cost $1.7 million including ones in North Hollywood and downtown.

Home Depot officials said they have yet to review the recently proposed city ordinance.

``Day laborers are not a Home Depot issue alone,'' said Kathryn Gallagher, a spokeswoman for Home Depot. ``It's a community issue. It needs to be a community effort. We are happy to sit down at the table and be part of the solution.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com