The City of Concord and the Concord Police Department took some steps to mitigate the Day Laborer problem; however, these actions have not been successful in eliminating the problems associated with the loitering Day Laborers.
Prior actions taken included:
2. In 1995 the City of Concord adopted the “Traffic Safety Anti-Solicitation Ordinance”, Concord Municipal Code (CMC) Article-X Sections 106-561 to 106-566 inclusive. This ordinance makes it unlawful to solicit or attempt to solicit employment from any person traveling in a vehicle along a public right-of-way. The ordinance also makes it unlawful for any person, while driving or occupying a vehicle, to solicit employment from a person whom is within the public right-of-way.
Enforcement of this ordinance is not practical and has had only a minimal impact on the problem. However, the acts of solicitation have moved from the public right-of way onto the private property parking lots of local businesses. The laborers and contractors alike have realized that moving from the public rightof- way, onto private property, gets around the provisions of the ordinance.
Enforcement of the Anti-Solicitation/Traffic Safety Ordinance is difficult because collecting evidence to prove both solicitation and the creation of a traffic safety hazard requires considerable resources. The Concord Police Department issued 18 citations under the Ordinance between 1998 and 1999. The Department estimates approximately 50-60 verbal warnings have been issued over the same time period. This level of enforcement, while active at time, did not caused a noticeable reduction in solicitation.
( ... to be continued ...)
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