NIMBY Group Loses Anti-Day Worker Center Appeal

The Day Worker Center of Mountain View has safely operated an award-winning program that serves the latino immigrant population of that city since 1996.

But that hasn't stopped neighbors of a new location for day worker support from appealing the Center's conditional use permit. They even summoned help from a right-wing extremist group called "Judicial Watch" that has sued other California cities for supporting day worker centers.
Judicial Watch carries topic on its website such a "Open Borders Puts Public Health at Risk" and "Mexican Incursions, Border Violence Exposed".

The good news is: the City Council decided unanimously on May 12 to allow the center to use the property, turning down the local Not In My Back Yard group's appeal.

An outspoken opponent of the new location for the Center, Brad Kellar, told the Mountain View Voice that Judicial Watch is concerned that the Day Worker Center facility may support undocumented workers and employers of undocumented workers. He added that local cities may be using citizens' tax dollars to support these activities. In appeals to the City Council on May 12, members of the appellate group raised the specter of law suits against the city, attempting to use scare tactics in their desperation to get a veto of the Center's use permit. Kellar said that Judicial Watch has been following Mountain View and its Day Worker Center over the last year, and would be meeting with Mountain View residents as part of a campaign to "bust sanctuary cities".

Mountain View, though not an official "sanctuary city" has found that its residents clearly support the existence of the Day Worker Center. Participants at the City Council meeting of May 12 came out overwhelmingly in support of the city's zoning administrator's position granting the use permit for the location on Escuela Avenue.

The Day Worker Center of Mountain View is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization serving the day laborer community in Mountain View, Los Altos, and other surrounding communities. It is a community center for immigrants providing language classes and support. Both men and women day workers find temporary employment matches through the Center. Members of the Raging Grannies Action League attended the May 12 City Council meeting to speak and sing on behalf of the day workers, pointing out that that by preventing the exploitation of workers the Center serves the entire community.

Maria Marroquin, director of the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, said that Judicial Watch has already sued other California cities for supporting day worker centers and lost.