VAN NUYS : Homeowners Oppose Day-Laborer Plan

Plans to establish a permanent pickup site for day laborers in Van Nuys drew fire from nearby homeowners, who urged city officials to move the location to an industrial area.

About 150 workers now congregate at the corner of Roscoe Boulevard and Balboa Place waiting for work. The city plans to fence off the area and hire three employees to register the men. Medical examinations, legal services and English classes would be available while they wait for work.

Area merchants have called for a permanent pickup site, complaining that day laborers harass customers and put a damper on business. But most of the 60 residents who attended a meeting at the Van Nuys Recreation Center last week opposed the city’s plan.

“In this area, those people stand for illegality,” said Joan Kelley, 50, of Van Nuys, who lives a block from the pickup site. “Putting them behind a fence is flaunting it in my face,” she said.

Kelley and other residents complained that day laborers urinate on their lawns and take up parking space on residential streets.

Luis Escobedo, an outreach worker for the Los Angeles Day Laborer Program, told residents the city would try to find a way to minimize their concerns, but he said 75% of the day laborers are in the United States legally and the city is committed to providing a site in the Van Nuys area.

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., recommended that the city consider a site in a more industrial area, such as along Woodley Avenue between Saticoy Street and Roscoe Boulevard.

Escobedo said city officials would study such suggestions before meeting again with the community.