A cautious Sidney Katz said he’s not worried about his status as Gaithersburg’s mayor because of his support of a day laborer site in the city.
The City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to create some kind of facility “where someone could find work,” Katz said.
Whether other services are provided at the center is yet to be determined, but Katz said there will be supervision to ensure orderly behavior at the site.
On May 2, the mayor and two council members in Herndon were voted out of office in an election viewed as a referendum on their support of aday laborer site there. The election winners there promised no taxpayer funding will go to that facility.
Katz said he is not worried about those results.
“I believe an elected person needs to make certain our community is as safe as it possibly can be,” he said. “I believe this suggestion is the safest way we can proceed.”
Safety concerns in Gaithersburg focused on the daily gathering of up to 75 laborers in the parking lot adjacent to a church on Frederick Avenue.
“A few of those people have done various things,” Katz said. “They have made catcalls, made people feel uncomfortable at times.”
The recently created Maryland chapter of the Minuteman Project has drafted volunteers to monitor activities at two other centers in the region and have threatened to lobby against officials who support them.
“It stinks. It even smells worse after the president’s speech last night,” said Chapter President Stephen Schrieman. “The president wants to integrate them into society. These sites keep people isolated from society.”
He said the Minutemen oppose any site run by Hispanic advocacy group Casa de Maryland, which he calls a political group, not a charity.
