Does Bever Want The Job Center Back?

DAY LABORER FORUM
The Daily Pilot this morning brings us an article by Alan Blank that discusses a forum in which Costa Mesa Police Chief Chris Shawkey participated that apparently addressed the subject of day laborers. The article, HERE, doesn't tell us who the other participants in the forum were, but quotes Shawkey and Mayor Eric Bever extensively - Bever and Wendy Leece attended the forum.
BOGUS PHOTO
According to Blank, Shawkey apparently told a story about an email he recently received which complained about loitering day laborers and used a bogus photograph - one taken years ago - to illustrate it's point. Shawkey is quoted as saying, "People are out there trying to generate issues that aren't even there."
FABRICATED ISSUES NOT NEW
Gee, no kidding, Chief! I've been saying that for years. There is at least one "activist" (that word just seems too benign when describing this guy) in our town who has a long and dark history of fabricating issues to inflame residents against our Latino population. "Marauding" soccer players at Paularino Park comes to mind. Although I don't know this reference by Shawkey was about him, I sure wouldn't be surprised.
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
Further bolstering that thought is his blog entry, HERE, published at the crack of dawn this morning which leaps to solicit current photos of loitering day workers as specific locations around town. He was in such a hurry to pound out this entry and use "Return to Reason" as an epithet that he mis-identified the author of the Daily Pilot article as his father. Methinks thou doest protest too much... Beware of skulking "improvers" with cameras as you stop at your local 7-11 lest you be recorded for posterity as a "loitering day worker"!
LACK OF JOB CENTER HURTS ENFORCEMENT?

The Daily Pilot article, as you will read, also carries an interesting quote attributed to Eric Bever. When addressing Costa Mesa's approach to managing day laborers he is quoted as saying, "Our strategy is lacking some regards. Closing our job center detracted from our ability to enforce," If that quote is accurate, Bever is acknowledging what I've said since the closure of the Job Center was first proposed - that it provides an effective method to manage and control the day laborers in our city. It solved a problem back when it was opened in the late 1980s and became a model program other cities followed, including our neighbors in Laguna Beach.
BEVER WANT

So, Mayor Bever, are you REALLY saying that we should open the Job Center again? That will certainly make for an interesting plank in your re-election campaign platform.
Labels: Bever, Job Center