Government
Aug. 6, 2002
Los Altos Law On Solicitation For Day Work Is Overturned
SAN FRANCISCO -The sidewalks of Los Altos are once again open for business, after a federal judge ordered the city to stop enforcing a local ordinance targeting day laborers soliciting work along city streets.
The ordinance violates the First Amendment right to free speech because it isn't narrowly tailored to promote the city's interest in keeping clear traffic and pedestrian lanes, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote. Fogel issued a preliminary injunction Friday stopping the city from enforcing the ordinance.
The order was cheered by lawyers representing the plaintiff, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Santa Clara County.
"The message is that this punitive approach that seeks to cite day laborers and roust them from the sidewalks of the city is not permitted under the Constitution," said Thomas Saenz, vice-president of litigation with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles, who represented the plaintiff.
"Cities ought to seriously look at other options," Saenz said.
Joan Gallo, a lawyer with Realty Law in San Jose who represented the city, said she was disappointed by the ruling. She said the Los Altos City Council would decide whether to appeal or begin settlement talks.
"I think it's a very reasonable thing for the city to prohibit that kind of solicitation on the sidewalk," she said.
Fogel encouraged the two sides to consult and find an alternative location for the solicitation, saying he would be willing to facilitate any talks.
The Los Altos City Council passed its ordinance in 1999 in response to a growing number of day laborers in the city. Between 50 and 100 workers gathered daily at El Camino Real, according to a report by a city task force, distracting drivers and causing cars to stop.
Concerned about traffic congestion and pedestrian access to local businesses, the city prohibited people in designated public right-of-way areas from "soliciting" any person traveling in a vehicle within the roadway.
The intent and effect of the statute was to prevent day laborers from soliciting work, Saenz said, and it was only enforced against day workers.
St. Vincent de Paul provides counseling and job training for the workers at its Worker Center, which became more crowded because of the ordinance. It sued, claiming that the ordinance violates the First and 14th Amendments. Society of St. Vincent de Paul v. Los Altos, 02-00847JF.
Fogel struck down the portion of the law that applies to pedestrians in the right-of-way but allowed the city to continue enforcing a companion law that prohibits people in cars from soliciting pedestrians.
The Los Altos ordinance is broader than the Phoenix day-labor ordinance upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Acorn v. City of Phoenix, 930 F.2d 591 (1991), the judge said. That statute prohibited active solicitation beside or in the roadway.
In contrast, anyone standing on a Los Altos sidewalk or driveway would violate the law by taking any action to solicit anyone traveling in a vehicle, whether or not it affects pedestrian traffic. In fact, he said, the statute appears to outlaw even the business owner who posts a sign on the sidewalk to promote his business.
Friday's ruling comes about a year after a Los Angeles district judge held a similar ordinance unconstitutional, although Gallo said there were significant differences between the Los Angeles and Los Altos ordinances.
Tyler Cunningham
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