Council’s ability to compromise is admirable, fair

There’s strong lesson in this week’s decision by the City Council to

give the Job Center more time to live. The lesson is that when forces

of change work in concert rather than in opposition, so much more can

be accomplished than by the politics of division.

And that goes for both sides in this debate.

Many in favor of the Job Center’s closure labeled their opponents

“anti-improvement,” or “out of towners” or worse.

Many of those who saw the Job Center closure as folly labeled

their opponents “racists,” or “small minded” or worse.

It was a name calling free-for-all that accomplished little.

But the City Council rose above the fray Tuesday night, and we

salute them for that.

At the urging of Councilwoman Katrina Foley, Mayor Allan Mansoor

and Councilman Gary Monahan agreed to back away from their previous

decision to shut down the Job Center by June and gave proponents time

to make the facility better and less costly to taxpayers.

Councilman Eric Bever, who had sided with Mansoor and Monahan

previously, unfortunately dissented.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon also dissented but because she believed

the compromise didn’t give the center enough time.

If proponents of the center are successful, though, it will live

much longer, just not in its current state. And that’s a good thing.

Private funding is being sought -- some has already been secured --

and a different location may be found.

Costa Mesa, by many accounts, became a model when it created the

Job Center in 1988, and numerous cities followed suit to avoid legal

challenges by job solicitors that their 1st Amendment rights would

potentially be violated by police crackdowns.

But perhaps the city left well enough alone for too long, letting

problems fester, without making efforts to improve or move the

center.

If that is what is accomplished, we’ll all be better for it.

Monahan and Mansoor’s stated goals have been for the city to get

out of the Job Center business and quit spending taxpayer money on

it. If that is accomplished and a better location is found, everybody

wins.

But heed the lesson.

The compromise didn’t come by drawing lines in the sand or name

calling. It didn’t come by rehashing the oft-repeated idea that the

Job Center is a “magnet” for “illegals.”

The truth is that the center was created to move day laborers out

of the parks and other gathering spots and into a concentrated site.

The argument that it is a “magnet” is a fallacy perpetrated by

those with other motives.

And by the way, the citizenship status of those day laborers runs

the gamut and includes those born in the U.S., those with legal

residency, documented workers with visas, and yes, those who are here

illegally. While the tag “illegal” applies to some, it is not an apt

descriptor for all day laborers, and it is unfair and inaccurate to

classify them as such.

We look forward to the day when those divisive arguments are no

longer part of the debate and when the debate becomes more about how

the city can make successful programs more successful, period.

We look forward to the day when Costa Mesa residents refrain from

fragmenting themselves into neighborhood enclaves and instead

encourage the City Council to make decisions that help the entire

community, a community that includes day laborers.