Seattle JA Community Hopes to Find Common Ground with Day Labor Center
Their new neighbor touched off a debate on safety and anti-immigration sentiment. Now they are meeting to discuss their differences.
Over the years, Fumiko Groves has seen her Central District neighborhood transform. What was once a peaceful Japanese American enclave became a hotbed of violence and high crime starting in the 1960s. If the streets of the Seattle neighborhood could talk, it would tell stories of arson fires, assaults and home invasions.
A lot of JAs moved out, but Groves and her family stayed because her father felt the violence would eventually end.
"It was really dicey," said Groves, a Nisei, who still lives in a condominium in the Central District. "I don't think we walked anywhere. It was always safer to drive."
In recent years, the beleaguered neighborhood has won a respite from its high crime reputation. Residents now stroll past Buddhist temples, elderly care facilities and other various JA organizations that are remnants of what was once the heart of the Seattle JA community.
"Lately, it's been peaceful and quiet," said Groves, who is a panelist on a series of ongoing community meetings with a day labor center that plans to move into an area four blocks away from her condo. She fears the peace would be broken with her potential new neighbor.
"We're afraid for the security and safety [of the neighborhood]," said Groves, who along with some business owners and community members have voiced opposition over the arrival of Casa Latina, a non-profit organization that provides Latino immigrants with employment opportunities and other social services.
Now both sides are engaged in community meetings in hopes of finding common ground. But along the way, the JA community has been locked in heated debates that have spilled onto the pages of local newspapers.
"Some people see it as another example of the city coming down on this powerless group again by forcing this program into their neighborhood. Other people see it as an example of their own history - to be in the same position of being reviled by society," said Hilary Stern, executive director of Casa Latina.
Working Out Differences
Casa Latina knew there would be opposition. They were vehemently opposed in another location in the Rainer Valley area. So in 2006, when they identified the 2,900-square-foot office building on 17th Avenue and Jackson Street, they contacted community leaders, talked with their groups and mailed out informational post cards.
"We got a lot of support. Over half decided to write us letters of support," said Stern. "We were very excited to move in."
They planned a $3.5 million renovation and received $250,000 from the city council.
But then an oppositional petition and angry accusations poured in from residents, business owners and community members who said they were not properly informed of Casa Latina's intended move.
Casa Latina's current day labor center in Belltown has historically been the place to pick up day laborers for the past 60 years. In the mornings, day laborers crowd the streets and linger in the surrounding areas.
The loitering problem is indigenous to the Belltown area and not Casa Latina, said Stern. Once they move to their new location the problem will not follow. They also have plans to prevent it from happening in the Central District.
But some community members are not convinced.
"I'll be very surprised if there isn't a loitering problem," said Dale Kaku, who attends a Buddhist temple in the area.
Kaku, a Nisei, asked city officials if loitering persists in the new location, would the city get involved or cut program funding? "We have to deal with it," he said. He doesn't oppose Casa Latina's program, but he thinks it should be located away from residential areas.
"The Japanese community happens to be right in the neighborhood, you can't blame them for being concerned," said Tsuguo "Ike" Ikeda.
Different Opinions, Not Division
But above the din came accusations of anti-immigrant sentiment. Terse letters were exchanged in the pages of several local Asian Pacific American newspapers. Each side urged the other to see their points of view.
One columnist compared the Mexican immigrant experience to the plight of the Issei.
"It's turned into something completely different. I didn't expect this," said Groves, who maintains that the issue is safety. She feels disappointed that those who raised the anti-immigrant issue didn't present their opinions to the concerned residents and community members before turning to the media.
But Kip Tokuda, a Sansei, who held public office representing the Central District, said he heard anti-immigrant comments at a meeting he attended at the Japanese Congregational Church. The comments didn't sit well with him.
"If there were any one group of people to understand [discrimination] it's the Japanese American community," said Tokuda, who has personal ties to the future home of Casa Latina. His father once used the building for one of his drug stores.
Is there a divide in the JA community? No, but there are differing opinions, he said.
"The Japanese community, just like any other community, has differing opinions and I think anyone who says they speak for the entire community is ignorant," said Tokuda.
But fairness is fairness, he said about his concern over what he calls Casa Latina's initial lack of community process. "It needs to cut both ways."
Casa Latina and representatives from the community have been meeting to air out concerns. The second of six meetings on June 24 was a good start, said Ikeda, who worked in social services for over 30 years and encourages understanding and tolerance by visiting the current Casa Latina office.
"I think everyone looks at us in the context of their own experiences," said Stern. "It depends if they think their experiences are parallel to the Latino immigrant experience or separate from it."
The problem is perhaps much larger than Casa Latina and its surrounding community. Lately, news headlines and immigration reform legislation - which died in the Senate early June 28 - have made the immigrant community a scapegoat, said Junior Medina, office coordinator of the Pomona Day Labor Center in the outskirts of Los Angeles.
The center was established in 1998 because the city of Pomona passed an ordinance barring day laborers from congregating on the streets in an area that historically has been known as a day laborer pick-up site.
A group of professors and advocates decided to start an employment center not far from the original pick-up site to give laborers a safe place to find work. Despite its industrial location near a freeway and a home improvement warehouse, they also faced opposition from neighbors.
"They might have [had] misconceptions that day laborers use drugs and get drunk," said Medina. "That was one of the reasons why we decided to be in the Pomona Christmas Parade - to get the word out."
His advise to Casa Latina is to get more involved with the community.
"Be visible. Let the community know [day laborers] are out there looking for work not to rob and steal," said Medina. "The bottom line is they are here to work to feed their families."
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