AURORA — About 15 day laborers gathered at City Park on Wednesday morning to clean up streets and send a message that they are productive members of the community.
“It’s important for us to pick up the trash on the streets so maybe the people will think better of us,” Dimas Santos of El Salvador said in Spanish.
The event was sponsored by Centro Humanitario Para Trabajadores, a group that provides training and a place to gather off the street in Denver. It has been working with Aurora to help secure a safer place for immigrant day laborers to gather to look for work.
As it is now, dozens of day laborers meet every morning on Dayton Street just off East Colfax Avenue, where employers pull up in trucks looking to hire.
Local businesses have said the laborers are hurting their sales and city officials are worried about the safety of the laborers and others on the street. The city is also trying to showcase that area as an arts district and doesn’t really want them gathering there.
Raul Pazpastrana, organizing director for El Centro, said immigrant workers are sometimes lumped into the group of other immigrants who drink or do drugs near City Park.
“We want to make a point that we come here to work,” Pazpastrana said. “Everybody here rents, everybody here pays taxes. We are contributing to the city.”
On this day, the day laborers cleaned about four blocks of Dayton, from East 16th Avenue to East Montview Boulevard. They plan to do it on a regular basis.
“We do need a place that is safer,” said Dionicio Pelayo of Mexico. “Here on the street is not safe.”
There could be some good news coming on that front. A group of nonprofits is working with developer Doug Adams to secure a building on Montview near Dayton that could serve as a new hub for the day laborers, one that would include training facilities.
The nonprofits hope to cover 75 percent of the cost through grants, while Aurora would pitch in 25 percent to renovate the property, also from grants.
“This particular location is a win-win,” said Aurora Councilwoman Deborah Wallace, who represents that part of the city. “It’s on a main street, and you have the opportunity to gather off the street.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
