Via , the LA City Council has voted unanimously (all 15 of them!) to force certain stores to provide shelter, water, and toilets to “day laborers”, which WE ALL KNOW means illegal immigrants, who are loitering around.
LOS ANGELES — Big-box, home-improvement stores in Los Angeles will have to set aside space for day laborers under an ordinance passed by the City Council on Wednesday.
When the ordinance takes effect — the mayor has to sign it, and most city laws take effect 30 days afterward — it will apply to stores such as The Home Depot that have 100,000 square feet or more, or any structure where 250,000 square feet or more of warehouse floor area is added.
The shelters must be easily accessible and include drinking water, bathrooms, tables, seating and trashcans. The stores may be required to work with Los Angeles police in developing a security plan, according to the unanimous vote by the 15-member lawmaking body.
People who live near Home Depot stores have complained of day laborers drinking beer, urinating in yards or other unseemly behavior.
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a nonprofit group started in Northridge in 2001, supports the new requirements.
“It provides for safe and dignified hiring locations where contingent workers can defend their basic rights. It carefully balances the interests of business, residents, day laborers and their employers,” said the group’s executive director, Pablo Alvarado.
Makes perfect sense. These assholes – who are illegal immigrants – are pissing in people’s yards and drinking beer during the day, and we’re forcing private companies to fund provisions for their dignity. For their basic rights. Good God.
:
Coming soon: Parking lot operators must provide condoms, spermicide, and an on-call gynecologist for the hookers that walk the streets within one blocks of their lots.
Not that far-fetched.
UPDATE: 14 Karat did it again.
Anyone want to bet that Home Depot and other affected big box stores will relocate out of LA?
the best way to solve that is to add a “day laborer support” tax to every purchase and see how long it take for the citizens to beat the council to death.
Whether they call it that or not, they’ll have to raise prices. If I was the company I’d have a big banner – “Now 10% More Expensive! Thank your local City Council member today!”
And then have a contact number for the city council
So these “day laborers” are going to take care of these locations after their built, right? They’re going to be responisble and keep it clean and safe, since Home Depot is going to be nice enough to be FORCED to build this for them, right? Right?
A little self-reliabililty? Anyone? Bueller..?
so,will the socialist council re-imburse these stores for the expenses?
Correct me if I’m wrong…but I think the City will have to pay for the space as a “taking” under eminent domain. I would sue the ever-lovin shit out of that council. Douches!
If anything, the companies should only provide the space and construction materials; the day laborers can provide the labor themselves to build and maintain them.
May I suggest these shelters be constructed based on this pattern, in a nice flourescent orange? With INS on speed dial?
Are you effing kidding me????!!!!?? No way. I’m so glad I don’t live in California anymore. Yes, call me a racist. God Damn California liberals. These people are here ILLEGALLY!! Out here in Vegas, it’s hilarious when the cops roll up the day laborers take off running. I don’t care call me racist. My grandparents came over from Mexico-LEGALLY, became citizens, worked their asses off in the fields and NEVER ONCE took a handout from the government, while raising SEVEN kids (you know how those damn catholics are–no birth control *rollseyes* ). This just burns my ass.
Geez, Ace, stop giving those lunatics more ideas!
Is there any way to save my stupid state from itself?
very sad that we go out of our way to take care of illegals and ignore our own legally belonging here citizens and their problems
It would be awesome if Home Depot, Lowes, etc. packed up and left LA, but I don’t know the corporations’ opinions on illegals. It seem like Home Depot must be OK with illegals, since they have let them loiter outside their store for years. For all I know Home Depot and Lowes could be saying “Hey city council, that’s a great idea!”
And how long before some of those people start actually living there? And how will they keep out the ones who are just bums, and not really looking for work? And who is responsible for these people if they start fires, or get into fights? The stores should close down and move now, they won’t be able to afford to stay open and make a profit.
Just my opinion.
I wonder if I could put those illegals to work reading The Old Man and the Sea for me, and then writing a book report about it?
Kind of guarantees that every new location will be 99,999 square feet. And that’s probably what the existing locations will do – lower their retail footprint to less than 100,000 square feet. I’d much rather put up a wall and hang a “for lease” sign that put up a wall to make room for the day laborers.
When the day laborers drink their beer in the new facilities will that make it a club? Next thing you know, they’ll be getting visits from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
I believe that the appropriate response to this government bilge is , “Blow me”. And the if the dickheads try to screw with the big box retailers some more, they’ll just pull up stakes, leaving a gutted, waterless, powerless building for the illegals to live in.
Will the last sane person to leave California please turn out the lights?
physics Geek asked:
oops. Too late.
My initial suggestion is to conduct an atmospheric test of a at , and another one at , but that would be, like, mean.
and you know some will, because they already do on the job site, once the sheetrock’s up and the bulding is a little warmer than outside. I remember bedding in the closets on more than one occasion.
Eric E.
Cool geek joke WIN!!
“BobG Says:
And how long before some of those people start actually living there? And how will they keep out the ones who are just bums, and not really looking for work? And who is responsible for these people if they start fires, or get into fights?”
No kidding. Once the first fight turns into a homicide, who do you think would be left holding the liability bag for failure to provide “adequate security”? I can bet it would not be LA City Council!
If I am smart enough to see this, you better believe the corporate legal beagles at HD, etc., are too. This should be interesting…
Coming soon: Parking lot operators must provide condoms, spermicide, and an on-call gynecologist for the hookers that walk the streets within one blocks of their lots.
Hookers? Oh, I’m sorry, but we prefer the term “Lay-borers”. Please make a note of it.
You know, where I live, we have these things called “Temporary Services”, where people sign up and get assigned work, including Day Labor. You know – someone makes a living by providing a place where companies can come and hire people for short-term work. Some people will try and claim that Day Laborers are not all illegals, but if less than half are illegal, it would make sense to create one of these agencies, and THEY could take care of these peoples’ needs. They could even probably rent space from the Home Depot and such places.
14 Karat:
*insert Wayne’s World parody here*
One half of the shelter is constructed similar to a cheap roadside rest stop. A few metal picnic tables and a two-holer outhouse. The other half is plush office space for the INS agents, with free donuts or whatever INS folks enjoy, so they will spend all day there, every day. Maybe a few jail cells, too.
The weird thing is I think Home Depot and others tried to do something like this once but got shot down for being “racist.” What was happening was these people were generally hassling the customers as they were leaving.
The real reason some opposed the idea? It made it too easy for INS to find them. So maybe there is an upside to this, the INS will know right where to go and look.
I know it’s mean and racist of me, but here is how I learned to handle the pushy folks outside of Home Depot.
Pushy person: you need some help installing?
Me: Om ack mit fries dat?
Pushy person: You don’t speak english?
Me; Eng-ilsh? (shakes head)
Go ahead make up your own language.
WTF???? OMFG!!!!
Yes, this is so so so so so wrong. If the city council thinks this is so important then why don’t they cough up some funds, buy some land, and build the shelters themselves?
Oh great.
These so-called “day laborers” creep me out every time I have to drive by the group that hangs out near my local Rite-aid. The leer and make rude noises and drink out of paper bags. I can’t imagine that they get that much work, there’s always a little herd of them out there.
I live near the border, and the Border Patrol is a fixture in our little town. And yeah, I’m a racist since in the six years we’ve lived there illegals have stolen my car from in front of my house, left a campfire burning in the mountains that started a wild fire that resulted in us being evacuated, and led the Border Patrol on a high speed chase resulting in a rollover accident on the road in front of our house. Five illegals in a Ford Probe, 3 killed instantly, the other two life-flighted out of there in critical condition. So glad my taxes could pay for their helicopter ride.
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to add the Border Patrol to my speed dial on my cell phone, so I can give them a call when I see a group of illegals strolling down the road.
Kripes I hope the asshats on our City Coucil don’t hear about this. They just imposed a 20 cent per bag tax, uh, fee, on all grocery bags – to save the planet and for the chilllddddrrreeennn.
And dealing with anyone bugging me for work, I say “No.” If they persist, I take a cellphone piccie, act like I am e-mailing it, smile and walk off. They don’t bug me again.
It’s like when Chicago tried to force “living wage” laws on the big retailers: Target decided to put their store in the suburbs, instead of the neighborhood where people wanted to work. So, of course, they’re racist. I can see a whole lot of people doing their shopping outside the jurisdiction of the LA City Council. Which might be the “out” that Home Depot and Lowe’s are looking for.
Our cities aren’t dying; they’re being killed by idiots like the LA City Council.
This is so wrong; however, I am not a racist. Unless thinking that the mindless wonders who decreed this are absolute morons makes me one.
I’m surprised that the city council didn’t require a big-screen television be provided.
Oops.
I have no doubt that The Great Teleprompter Reader supports this and would make it a federal law if he could. And what is truly scary is that a large portion of the country would support his effort to do that.
Andrea Says:
Are you effing kidding me????!!!!?? No way. I’m so glad I don’t live in California anymore. Yes, call me a racist. God Damn California liberals. These people are here ILLEGALLY!! Out here in Vegas, it’s hilarious when the cops roll up the day laborers take off running. I don’t care call me racist. My grandparents came over from Mexico-LEGALLY, became citizens, worked their asses off in the fields and NEVER ONCE took a handout from the government, while raising SEVEN kids (you know how those damn catholics are–no birth control *rollseyes* ). This just burns my ass.
Like your grandparents, my wife legally immigrated here, became a US citizen, and became a hard-working, tax-paying American. To those who advocate for illegal immigrants, there seems to be a word that describes people like my wife and your grandparents – CHUMPS! Why go through the effort to come here legally? Why work and pay taxes where there’s free stuff to be had?
That does it. I’m becoming an illegal immigrant from Canada. I’ll say “eh” a lot. I’ll eat poutine. I’ll watch hockey – whatever it takes to take advantage of this new system. As Trudeau is my witness, I will mooch off of Home Depot.
Why can’t illegals ever be hot looking girls who practice good hygiene? Then maybe I wouldn’t complain so much about the shit dropping crowd of shit eating illegals that always hang out at a nearby corner here waiting for work.
One of these days I’m going to install a chain of rusty foot long spikes across the hood of my car and have a little fun.
I think I am going to become an illegal immigrant TO Canada. I love hockey and Sasquatch. I can learn to call people ‘hosers.’
The hopey feely insanity seems to be spreading.
You know, just about every super-Wally World I’ve seen has a kind of satellite station for the local PD.
If I were Home Depot and/or Lowe’s, I’d build satellite stations for the INS in these shelters. Oh, and I’d make them completely enclosed, so I could have anyone smoking arrested for trespassing.
Alternately, they could build them like greenhouses – all plexiglass walls and roofs – with no A/C. Comply with the letter of the law, but make them unusable.
I would go beyond mere city council requirements and include security sign-in and cameras they must walk past to enter the facility. After all, one cannot be too safe when it comes to protecting our day laborers.
Additionally I would ensure I provide free office space for visiting INS officers – probably behind the wall where I would hang the one way mirror in case the day laborers wanted to comb their hair or check their smile.
That screamingly silent void you are noticing is the sound of Tully completely flipping the fuck out.
[Somewhere, one hand is clapping]
Clearly these shelters, as prescribed, are both discriminatory and exclusionary (that’s RACIST) and woefully inadequate. What are these poor aliens to do at these shelters – just sit there? How about some plasma screens tuned into Telemundo. What’s to be done with day laborers of another sort, Muslims for example. Shouldn’t foot baths, prayer rugs, and an arrow pointing to Mecca be included. RACIST City Council. Unfeeling Angelinos. Bastards!
I was Home Depot assistant Manager for a few years, and honestly, the only thing they really worry about is turning merchandise. They make an extremely small profit margin on the stuff they sell, so “turns” are the only way they stay in business. As it turns out, a lot of the customers at Home Depot are Hispanic Contractors, and since HD doesn’t ask for a social security card at the door, the thinking is pretty much treat everyone like a paying customer.
It’s not HD’s responsibility to deal with the immigration issue, whether it being selling to illegals or providing restrooms for them, it’s a fucking crime that the Government is passing on that responsibility.
As for illegals, I fucking hate them. I really fucking hate them. I think we need to come up with a plan to rid ourselves of them. But it’s no sense in just saying: “get out”, the law already says that and it doesn’t work. We need an accountability program where illegals are registered, put to work, taxes collected from, a fine paid, and then after a few year, they are sent back home. It’s the only way we’ll reduce the number, the fucking chaotic method we are using now is an utter failure. We should listen to McCain on this, even if you hate him, his idea will work and reduce the flow of illegals, reverse the tide, and actually make progress.
That screamingly silent void you are noticing is the sound of Tully completely flipping the fuck out.
I’m lost in memories…the memories of why I never settled in California, and why I later left the area of Berkeley East (a.k.a. Boulder) despite its extensive natural beauty.
Oh yeah, that was it.
Wanting some people to follow the law? How very racist of you! I hope you change…and make barry o proud.**
All kidding aside, if I owned a place and they told that to me. I’d be out of there. Hell I’d make sure I leave owing taxes. Fucking morons. When the hell can we vote CA. OUT of our country? mexico wants it so fucking bad, fine. Let them deal with all the stupid bullshit they do, and all their own people already living there off someone else’s hard work.
** sorry, I was trying to make it hope and change, but just couldn’t get there in a snappy way.
The only problem with your plan is that you have to refuse to learn or speak the language.
Maybe we can just kick out Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, the western half of Riverside, the southwest of San Bernadino, and San Diego counties, since that’s where most of the are.
You know, I just spent my vacation in California last week, and it came in two distinct halves. The first, spent in awesome Yosemite was just incredible. The second half in San Fransisco, just awful. The city is just filthy and smelly, and I was expecting a bunch of flamboyant gay people to “people watch”, thinking it would at least be entertaining. Nothing, nada, not a single thing about San Fransisco was “gayer” than New York or New Orleans, it was just really really filthy, and smelled like rotten fish. Alcatraz was cool, but then again, I think we can all agree that our National Parks are one of the only good things about the Government.
Sexist city council! How about a little respect for night laborers?
Well it might not be TOO bad, after all the illegals are leaving on their on accord according to the gooberment wizards…. Ahem.
This is just a taste of the shit sandwich we call local and county government out here. The level of incompetence boggles the mind.
I just read this:
I love what I’ve seen of the US so far, but please remind me never to go anywhere near California.
I think this is just desserts for a lot of these businesses. They brought the immigrants here, now they have to provide for them. IMO, it would be a really nasty, but legitimate, punishment by LA to make this ordinance only apply to businesses that have ever knowingly hired illegal immigrants.
I live in Los Angeles. I will take a firm bet that Home Depot and the like don’t really object, won’t make a fuss, and consider this the cost of doing business in LA. The city has merely handed them a bill for somewhere around $30 to $100K just as a guess for the cost. In fact, in order to look compassionate, HD probably will have some official spokesperson approve of the arrangement. HD knows that running a place that sells both cheap materials and cheap labor is a feature, not a bug.
The outrageous part you may not have heard was the defense of the measure made on radio by one of our city “supervisors,” perhaps it was Yaroslavsky. He said that this had nothing to do with tolerating illegal aliens. Heh heh.
14 karet’s on to the solution.
Post signes in english and spanish at the newly constructed day laborer site, a temporay tent with with a water hose, and signs in english and spanish saying day laborers are welcome *if* they have legal doucmentation to work in the US, otherwise INS will be called.
Bet that the tent doesn’t get used much?
Ummm…Rachel: Did you actually read the article in question? Because I think you (and your readers) might have missed a couple of little bits like this one:
So in this case, the City Council is actually defending the rights of the private property owners, namely the residents who are tired of having their shrubs pissed on.
Then there’s this:
So if the management of Home Depot seems to be okay with this, why is this an issue?
Or how about this one:
IOW, They either knowingly allow the day laborers to solicit business there or they willfully turn a blind eye to it, probably because they know customers are more likely to buy their products at HD if they can also hire a laborer there at the same time.
Sorry, but this is not a case where the big bad gummint is sticking its nose into someone’s private business. This is a case where a private business is allowing these day laborers to use their facilities, which is causing a detrimental effect on the neighborhood and all the city council is saying is that if Home Depot profits from the day laborers (they do) then maybe they should bear some of the burdens, too, rather than forcing those burdens on the residents of the neighborhood.
geeeez Martin, leftwing nutjob much?
When a government, at any level, starts telling a business to put in special facilities for non-customers … it’s gone even further out on a limb than the handicapped access laws. At least those are for customers. Home Depot isn’t going to complain, much, because they don’t want to upset leftwing nutjobs … who probably have never been in a damned Home Depot. And besides, they are just going to pass the cost of doing business along to the people who do shop there.
Protecting private property owners? Gimmee a break. They could easily do that by enforcing the friggi’ laws against trespassing, public indecency, and loitering … and most of all, the friggin’ IMMIGRATION laws. That would protect the private property rights of both the shrubbery owners AND Home Depot (which, surprise, surprise, surprise, is PRIVATE property).
I hoep you’re being understanding and proactive and putting up portable facilities near your home, just in case someone might need to use a facility instead of your fence.
Pete: A for enthusiasm. D- for reading comprehension.
Home Depot wants the illegals there. Home Depot likes the illegals there. Why? Because it helps them make more money.
Customer comes to HD, buys a bunch of paint, and, coincidentally, hires a crew of illegals to paint his house. All in one trip. Now, if he goes to Lowes (which doesn’t allow this) then he has to make a 2nd stop at the day labor center.
Meanwhile, the day laborers at HD are throwing trash in the yards of the people who live in the neighborhood (you know, the law abiding taxpayers?) and urinating in their bushes. People ask the city council (their elected representatives) to do something about it by putting the cost of taking care of the day laborers back onto the people who benefit most from them. And best of all, Home Depot agrees with this policy.
And I’m the nutjob?
It’s knee-jerk reactions like this one that give conservatives a bad name.
Ummmmm Sorry, Martin I think you’re missing the big picture here. And that centers around the word ILLEGAL.
If HD is so inclined to cater to these “day workers” and the Bleeding Hearts in LA City Council back them in those efforts, they are part of the problem here, as they are providing INCENTIVES to the Illegals.
For Example, If I help you rob a bank by driving the get away car guess what? That makes me an accessory to a CRIME. It’s called Aiding and Abetting.
There is no difference here; If Home Depot And the LA City Council, are Aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, they are breaking the LAW….In fact, instead of building shelters and port O Johns..Home Depot should be calling ICE, and the LA City Council should in fact be tasking the local PD to tackle the problem of said ILLEGALS not giving them incentives.
Get it?
See, you are missing the point, too. If there’s a villain here, it’s not the city council, it’s HD who is deliberately catering to the day laborers.
Read the article. This doesn’t happen at Lowe’s or at other stores, it happens at HD because HD allows and encourages it.
So now the local residents go to the city council and ask the city council to do something about the problem. And the city council says “since HD is benefiting from these day laborers, then HD should take care of them.”
That’s how government is supposed to work: Concerned citizens ask the government to help solve a problem and government does it.
Some of you guys are so knee jerk with the illegal immigration stuff that you can’t see anything else. The city council is not the bad guy here. It’s Home Depot that is causing the problem, so I see no difficulty in having Home Depot pay for it.
Furthermore, Home Depot is actually okay with this (probably because even with the cost of the day labor centers, they will still enjoy a significant boost in sales.)
Actually, if you want to vent your frustration on the people “causing” this problem, these “day laborers” would stop hanging out at Home Depot completely if they weren’t getting hired for jobs. So Joe and Jane Q. Citizen who hire the illegals (with full knowledge that they are illegals) because they can get them cheap are the real cause of the problem.
Maybe I’m kind of knee-jerk against ILLEGAL immigration because my daughter is dealing with the fact that my second grandson, 9-years-old, has had his Social Security number taken over by someone named “Sanchez.” And SHE has to take care of it, SHE has to deal with the county and the school and Social Security, and the illegal just waltzes off, doing who knows what with his future. It’s only been since March, and he STILL doesn’t have a new Social.
We don’t have this problem with Home Depots here in the Richmond, Virginia, area, they run them off.
Sorry, but this is false in a particularly insidious way. Human beings — even “day-laborers” — have free will. Elementary reflexes aside, nothing “causes” us to do anything. HD is not the “cause” of the problem. The people who hire illegals are not the “cause” of the problem. Illegals are the cause of the problem. It doesn’t matter that they’re meeting a demand; they still retain full, undivided responsibility for their actions in coming to this country in violation of our laws (and, in this case, behaving like barbarians when they get here). The New Kids on the Block are meeting a demand, too, but that doesn’t make their reunion any less evil.
What people here are saying must all be taken in light of this basic fact. If Home Depot’s neighbors are complaining about the behavior of crowds of illegals and complain to the City Council, then the City Council should send the police to Home Depot’s neighborhood more often. While there, the police should arrest the troublemakers, check their immigration status, and deport them. End of story. In this way the full burden of the illegals’ bad behavior falls directly where it belongs: on the illegals.
No?
you can talk yourself in circles as much as you want, Martin (are you ON the council perchance?), but the fact of the matter is that the local government is not enforcing the law … which says ILLEGAL aliens need to be reported to ICE. They’re then forcing a private property owner/business to go further in breaking the law and coddle the illegal aliens. I don’t give a crap whether the shoppers use illigal immigrant services, or whether HD “likes” the illegals there … the article is about the morons on the city council … and it sure sounds as though they’re as biased against the law and in favor of non-taxpaying illegal immigrants as the idiot mayor.
And me … I’m just a racist, because I think that all immigrants should be legal, and all criminals should be jailed or deported (I choose the latter to save on taxes)
In the spirit of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, I’m willing to sell the parts of CA that Eric E delineated back to Mexico for whatever we paid for it (in 2008 dollars) plus 15% interest compounded like a mortgage. I’ll even throw in Chicago or the New England “sanctuary city” of their choice.
But I want cash up front. Or oil. And they have to take Nancy Pelosi AND Barbara Boxer.
Martin, the solution to illegals trespassing on private property is to declare open season, no bag limit. In fact, anyone here illegally should be declared outlaw: they are outside the law’s protection. Don’t like it? Go Home!
Lest you think, Martin, that my lack of a response is agreement with your asinine post..It’s not, you are flat out 100% wrong.
But alas, I try to not argue with tree stumps I just get frustrated and the tree stump does well..nothing. So, having said that, “Here’s your sign”.
Have a Good day!
Martin,
New barns attract rats, but I have yet to see a barn plan that included a rat comfort area!
The hero’s at silly Hall in Edmonton (Alberta) just passed a bylaw that bans graffiti on public or private properties. How did these councilors from an alien planet decide to do eliminate this menace?
Why fine the home or business of those who have been victims 250 bucks to remove it before they receive the fine. While having a city program that gives out spray paint to poor youths for an arts fest. By the way the crook who defaces property is left alone, there is no program to target them.
Now they want a place to shoot up heroin of their own with all night washrooms. Its not enough I pay for needles & bleach found latter in kids playground sand. That cloths are given to them, than discarded like a snake when the seasons change. For the addicted indigents, Indians & Illegal’s now demand the right for free housing as well as there welfare checks. Yet we are in a boom, with a real unemployment rate of -5%. We lack the population to sustain our growth, yet these park lice won’t work for 30 bucks an hour. They pick bottles or day labor.
I can’t wait till this insane era is over, its enough to drive you spastic. Everything is the inverse of reality, if your a government Ho.
felicity wrote, quoting Home Depot response:
“This is a broader social issue that goes beyond Home Depot, and the solution is certainly more complicated than placing mandates on businesses,” said company spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher.
I doubt very seriously that Home Depot gives a rat’s about the “broader social issues” of illegal immigration, or wants it dealt with in any serious fashion. They’re only squealing now because they’re being asked to underwrite some of the true cost of the “cheap” labor that directly or indirectly benefits them. Would they really simply tolerate customer harassment and the bad PR in adjacent neighborhoods if the presence of the laborers wasn’t a net benefit for them? No, of course not. They would have long since demanded that the state protect their business by proper enforcement of relevant laws.
No, the city shouldn’t be telling businesses to build shelters for laborers. But if, as appears to be the case, Home Depot tolerates and encourages the presence of illegals, it needs to re-arrange its business model and exercise a bit more civic responsibility.
Well, geez, guys. The senior manager of government relations for The Home Depot is named Francisco Uribe. Any tell-tale clues there?