Help wanted: Center puts call for assistance
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 07/7/06
BY CHRIS LUNDY
STAFF WRITER
LAKEWOOD — Three or four dozen concerned Hispanic men stood outside the municipal building last night. The presentation on the "employment center" canceled, they had no where to go.

Day laborers, many of them Hispanic, line downtown streets daily, waiting to be picked for work. Some shop owners complain about their loitering. Some residents want a place set aside for them, an employment center or muster zone. Others don't think the township should be catering to the workers, many of whom are here illegally.

A home for the area was found in the township's industrial park. Construction has already began at the Swarthmore Avenue site.

[color="Red"]The Township Committee sought out local help and found Charles Anthony, director of Under His Wing Inc., a faith-based, nonprofit organization. He was expected to run the center daily.

"A lot has changed in his own life," Deputy Mayor Raymond Coles said. Anthony had to "back out and withdraw his offer."

The committee put out a call for any nonprofit, religious or community group to take up the charge in his absence.

[color="red"][color="Navy"](Somebody wake me up, a deputy mayor is quoted in a newspaper asking for someone to come forward and help run a employment center to help illegal aliens find a job. What fucking planet am I on? -bud)
"

If Mr. Anthony is not able to, if someone else could take up the cause, they should get to us very shortly," Committeeman Charles Cunliffe said.

"You don't have to do a full proposal," Mayor Meir Lichtenstein said. Construction is moving ahead, and the township needs the future of the zone established.

Some residents who spoke last night were still concerned about the placement of the zone in the industrial park.

Lawrence Simons questioned the location after riding the Job Link bus, which brings the laborers to the site. The bus seats 40 people, and there are hundreds awaiting jobs. Riding the bus one day, he found the most full bus had 34 passengers.

"You can't put hundreds and hundreds of people in six seats," he said.

"We are not depending solely on the Job Link bus," Lichtenstein said.

He said not all the people who are waiting for jobs downtown live downtown. Some walk, bicycle, or take rides to get there.

Resident Alice Kelsey asked if the township had a back-up plan to replace Anthony with someone whether they are local or not.

The committee has performed extensive outreach to find someone to run the employment center, Lichtenstein said. ([color="Purple"]nobody else shares this assholes wet dream of help spic-a-ronies find work)

"The only group that came forward so far was Mr. Anthony's group," he said. He said he was surprised how some groups were unwilling to shoulder some of the responsibilities.

"As a worst-case scenario, there will be no employee center," he said.

NOTE: worst case scenario, how about best case scenario

Now for the important question folks, anybody else wondering why this guy backed out at the last minute?