Huntington Town Board to close day labor hiring site

The Huntington Town Board said Tuesday it will close the much-debated day labor hiring site in Huntington Station in June when its contract with the site's operator, the Family Service League, expires.

Family Service, which has run the site the past three years, was notified by fax Tuesday. The site was established 12 years ago on a privately owned half-acre parcel at Third Street and Depot Road.

"It has become abundantly clear that the site, which was created in response to community suggestions more than a decade ago, is no longer serving its purpose," Supervisor Frank Petrone said.

The move comes as the board has been touting its efforts to revitalize the Huntington Station area. In recent years, residents have demanded the day laborer site be closed, saying they believe it contributes to area crime.

"It still seems like a national barrage of anti-immigrant sentiment that seems to be getting worse and worse," said Greg Noone, program manager for Thursday's Child, a Patchogue-based group that advocates on immigrant issues. "The more we marginalize this community the worse it will be, not better."

Petrone said the board could no longer justify funding for the site, which was set to get $79,000 this year, because a difficult economy has meant less hiring there. Town officials said the number of workers using the site daily was a range of 150-175 in 2007 and 60-180 in 2008, the latest figures the town provided, and has declined since then.

A statement from Karen Boorshtein, president and chief executive of the Family Service League, said, "We will be working with the men over the next several months to help them transition with the closing of the site."

The site is also partially privately funded by two foundations, which could not be reached Tuesday.

The letter was signed by Petrone and board members Mark Cuthbertson, Susan Berland and Glenda Jackson. Town board member Mark Mayoka, who said last week he was going to offer a formal resolution to close the site at Tuesday's town board meeting, did not sign the letter. At the meeting he offered such a resolution, but the request was not seconded.

Mayoka, the board's only Republican, said, "It's like a bullying tactic from a majority party to a minority party. The letter is not binding."

Petrone said the town's legal counsel said a resolution is not necessary.

Cuthbertson said he supports closing the site but added, "The problem is not going away. People are still going to be standing on the street corner looking for work."