City Council votes 3-2 to nix the Job Center

Alicia Robinson

Workers looking for short-term jobs will have to search somewhere

other than the Job Center beginning July 1. The City Council voted

Tuesday to close the center, a clearinghouse on the Westside that

pairs day laborers with contractors in need of employees.

The council also opted to limit the Job Center to Costa Mesa

residents and businesses as of April 15.

“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,”

said Councilman Gary Monahan, who initiated tonight’s vote.

Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley voted to keep the

center open, while Monahan, Mayor Allan Mansoor and Eric Bever voted

to close it.

The Job Center has been controversial since it opened in 1988. At

the time, it helped clear up a problem with workers hanging around

Lions Park.

Some residents worried that closing the Job Center will be a step

backward, causing the same loitering problems that led to the

center’s creation.

“Protecting the safety of our streets and sidewalks is a city

responsibility,” said Bill Turpit, who lives near Lions Park, before

the council voted. “If it closed, it will put those hundreds of

people back on our streets, and I don’t think it’s fair to impose

that additional burden on the Westside.”

Former Costa Mesa Police officer Dave Brooks suggested that the

closure will force the police department to shift its resources to

address loitering. And Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley agreed.

“We would be drawing those resources from other activities that

would be prioritized differently,” Hensley said.

The three councilmen who voted to close the center -- including

Monahan who told the Daily Pilot in 2002 that while he did not

support spending public funds on the center, he did not want it to

close -- cited recent efforts to improve the Westside as a reason to

end the city’s support.

“With the revitalization of the Westside, I think, ultimately,

there will not be a need for it,” Mansoor said.

Current and former council members have suggested closing the

center or limiting it to Costa Mesa residents, and it was among

programs considered for the chopping block during budget talks in

2004.

In the last fiscal year the city spent $102,967 to run the Job

Center, which is staffed by two part-time employees of the parks and

recreation department. A city report showed an average of 110 people

visit the center each of the six days it is open, and about 34 of

those find jobs each day.

“I truly believe we need to have a Job Center,” Foley said. “We

have a reality that is not going away tomorrow, the next day, or even

next year.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].