SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE July 1, 2006
Carlsbad migrant camp is torn down CARLSBAD Empty, broken shells of makeshift huts are all that's left of where they once called home. Eriseo Gutierrez, 27, probably is renting a shared room in Oceanside by now. Miguel Ramirez, 38, may be living in another encampment in central Carlsbad. Ricardo Perez, 56, said he'd return to Mexico if he couldn't find a home. The three farmworkers were among the last people living in an unauthorized migrant camp off Cannon Road east of Interstate 5 last week. After the last couple dozen inhabitants had been given a month's notice to leave the site, police tore down the encampment shanty by shanty this week, Carlsbad police Cpl. Kevin Lehan said. The company that owns the land where the camp stood plans a cleanup of the debris soon. The removal of the camp and its inhabitants who say they live outdoors in such rudimentary conditions because they can't afford rent on farmworker or day-laborer salaries was another wake-up call, said volunteers who have been working to create farmworker shelter in Carlsbad since 2003. It's sad enough the men were moved, said Tom Maddox, a Carlsbad attorney and organizer of the Carlsbad Farmworker Housing Coordinating Committee. But what's tragic still more than that is that three years later we still don't have a permanent solution. That may change soon. Catholic Charities is scheduled to apply for a permit to operate two trailer homes for up to 20 farmworkers in an industrial site near Faraday Avenue and El Camino Real, housing committee members say. It would be a victory for the housing committee. The committee of volunteers has put in thousands of work hours trying to create semi-permanent housing for farmworkers who toil in fields around the city. Since 2003, the same year workers were last kicked out from the illegal camp despite protests by supporters, the committee looked at several sites to place trailers or to convert existing buildings into sleeping quarters. Although development in the city has pushed out long-standing migrant camps, there remain a few encampments around Carlsbad, officer Lehan said. The camps are monitored, he said, but the people living in them are usually left alone unless there is trouble. The camp off Cannon Road was dismantled because city volunteers scoping out new trails in brush near the site of a future golf course called the police after arguing with belligerent camp dwellers, he said. The fact that the camps exist is proof farmworker housing is needed for the workers drawn to the nearby strawberry and flower fields for jobs, say members of the housing committee. The committee helped push for zoning changes that make it easier for farmworker housing to be allowed in Carlsbad, and the committee came close a few times to finding a good site. But nearby homeowners protested, neighboring businesses opposed the effort and the committee fell short of funding. This time, Maddox said, the group is hopeful some type of shelter will be operating by the end of the year. The group is now partnered with Catholic Charities of San Diego, which already operates a homeless shelter in Carlsbad, La Posada de Guadalupe on Impala Drive east of El Camino Real and north of Faraday Avenue. Catholic Charities is close to turning in an application to the city for a permit to operate two trailers at the La Posada site, Maddox said. The director of Catholic Charities, Sister RayMonda DuVall, is traveling and could not be reached for comment. Up to 20 beds in the trailers could be available for farmworkers by winter, Maddox said. The group has raised $25,000 toward its goal of $100,000 to operate the trailers for a year. Meanwhile, Catholic Charities is also working with the volunteer group on a bigger plan: to build a permanent site with 50 beds, Maddox said. The groups could apply for up to $1.5 million toward the building from a $6 million fund the city holds in agricultural mitigation fees, the fees paid by businesses that convert land from agriculture to other uses. As soon as this month, parties could apply for that money, said senior Carlsbad planner Elaine Blackburn. Early figures suggest the permanent farmworker housing, which could be named Casa del Campesino, would cost at least $2 million, Maddox said. Critics, including some City Council members, have said housing for farmworkers could take away funds from other city residents. But the plan has also enjoyed support from some residents, churches, city officials and businesses who say farmworkers in Carlsbad are residents, too, contributing to the local economy. That's why housing committee member Barbara Perrigo is frustrated it's taken so long. We've been so stalled, she said. Perrigo argues that decent housing is a matter of human rights. Each Sunday, she said, she plans to visit the entrance to where the migrant encampment was, like she's done for years, and offer the men food and other donations. She will show up as long as men from nearby apartments and perhaps other hidden camps come by. Perrigo blames the cost of land, development, zoning laws, funding and an anti-immigrant climate for slowing the farmworker housing plans. It's been a real disappointment, Perrigo said. We're disappointed but we certainly have not given up.
|