An abbreviated version of the following article was published in February 2007 in the Mt. Wilson Observer (now the Mountain-Views Observer). I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve contacted city officials about the continued violations of the Sierra Madre Municipal Code as it concerns the legal use of Memorial Park. I’ve spoken at city council meetings about the matter. And I’ve written numerous editorials about the loitering about and soliciting work by the day laborers in Memorial Park; violating our local laws with impunity right next door to city hall and the police station!

I thought it might be informative to reprint my article in its entirety as a reminder to residents how short sighted and ineffectual our city official have been since I first complained about the matter after my wife was sexually accosted and verbally abused by day workers in the park. The crime of assault was committed right under the noses of those we depend upon to safeguard our community. As I have said repeatedly, Memorial Park is a place for recreation and other permitted events; it is not an outdoor employment office for day laborers.

It seems our public officials continue to refuse to take back Memorial Park for the recreation use of our community. I’ve spoken numerous times to the Sierra Madre City Council about the illegal use of Memorial Park by day-workers loitering about and soliciting jobs. I’ve spoken privately to Councilmen John Buchanan, Don Watts and Kurt Zimmerman. I’ve even talked to Police Chief Marilyn Diaz.

Everyone I talk to gives me same excuse for the city not enforcing its laws. I’ve even mentioned the licensing of day-workers and those who hire them. But their answer is always the same: “The city’s policy is basically to ignore the day-workers as long as they aren’t being a nuisance or breaking the law.” The city has “limited resources” and can’t afford to squander them on a bunch of poor people looking for work.

That’s the point! They are a nuisance and they are breaking the law. And they’re doing so intentionally, blatantly and with apparent impunity. Memorial Park is the one place within the City of Sierra Madre where lawlessness rules. And no one at City Hall or the Police Department seems to care!

When I received the response to my “Citizen Complaint” earlier this year from then City Manager John Gillison, I was told my “complaint” was without merit. I was told to basically get on the program and forget about the day-workers in the park. Attached to Mr. Gillison’s letter was a lengthy memorandum from Chief Diaz. She said basically the same thing. The day-workers aren’t a nuisance and they haven’t broken any laws—except looking for a job—so ignore them. Get a life!

I received these on January 10, almost a month after I filed my complaint. When I called Mr. Gillison a week afterward he told me a written response was being prepared by the city and that I should receive it within a week. I also asked Mr. Gillison if he wanted to comment on the day-worker issue but he declined, saying only, “I don’t want to discuss such a controversial matter in the paper.”

I was told by both Mr. Gillison and Chief Diaz that my complaint was only the second one they were aware regarding the day-workers since they began working for the city. Both offered lame excuses about the city’s “limited resources” and the police department’s “lack of manpower.”

I know this is all old news to most of you. However, for those few of us who grew up in these parts, the day-worker problem really dates from 1986 when President Ronald Reagan signed the Simpson-Magnoli Amnesty Bill into law. Since then, each year more and more day-workers have turned up in Memorial Park looking for work.

No where in the federal Amnesty Law is it mandated that cities violate or set aside their municipal codes to accommodate the invasion of poor seeking employment? Here again is the Sierra Madre Municipal Code:

Title 12, Chapter 12.24 defines “Public parks, recreation centers and public places.” Section 12.24.010 makes clear that “every park, playground, public recreation facility and such other public places as are owned and operated by the city for the general benefit of the public for recreation, park or playground use.”

Section 12.24.050 (A) states it is illegal for any person: “To engage I loud, boisterous, threatening, abusive, profane or indecent language, or engage in any disorderly conduct, behavior tending to breach the public peace…”

Section 12.24.050 (D) states it is illegal: “To engage in commercial activities of any nature without written permission granted by the parks and recreation commission…”

Section 12.24.100 (E) (1) states it is illegal: “To use any portion of a park or recreation facility for personal profit, private business or enterprise or provide for any sale or service to others without specific written permission and authorization from the parks and recreation commission…”

Finally, Section 12.24.110 provides for the enforcement of the Municipal Code as it applies to Sierra Madre parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities. (A) provides: The recreation director and/or any authorized representative of the parks and recreation commission shall, in connection with their duties imposed by law, diligently enforce the provisions of this chapter.” (B) provides: “The recreation director and/or any authorized representative of the parks and recreation commission and the police, shall have the authority to seize any person acting in violation of this chapter, and to seize and confiscate any property, thing or device in the park, or used, in violation of this chapter…”

No other city in the San Gabriel Valley allows its parks and recreation facilities to be used for the hiring of day-workers. Neither should Sierra Madre. If you want to take back Memorial Park and reclaim this important part of our community heritage, call City Hall at 355-7135 and make your voice be heard.

(Please read the reprint of Jane Doe’s article “Cost of Cheap Labor Not So Cheap: 1995—2007”. It puts the day-worker problem in the context of the decade-long struggle over the legal use of Memorial Park. And it also raises many of the same questions about the city refusing to enforce its laws that I have written about. Please also read my never before published article “Memorial Park—Problems & Solutions”. Covering some of the same ground as Jane’s article, it goes one step further offering legal solutions that could and should be immediately implemented. It also warns of the serious consequences the city could face by not enforcing its laws.)