Crack Magnet

Robert Jamieson's column today explores Central Area opposition to Latino day labor center CASA Latina's attempt to relocate from Belltown to 17th & Jackson. While the column is extremely well-timed and relevant, Jamieson's rush to chalk the whole imbroglio up to anti-Latino bigotry is, in my opinion, a bit simple-minded (and the insinuation that it's roughly tantamount to Japanese internment is absolutely ludicrous). At its core, CASA Latina is a wonderful program that seeks to put Latino immigrants to work in an above-board, humane manner. But as someone who walks by the current CASA Latina location on Western Avenue near the Viaduct virtually every day, the place is an unwitting magnet for the narcotics trade. I get offered crack or weed at least one out of every two times I walk within a two-block radius of the laborers -- not by the laborers, but by opportunistic small-time dealers looking to prey upon the workers' presumably delicate stations in life. All things considered, the area surrounding CASA Latina is an absolute freak show that most pedestrians avoid like the plague.

Is this CASA Latina's fault? No, but the reality of what occurs around the current CASA Latina outpost provides evidence that opposition to Central Area relocation is not as simple and bigoted as the portrait Jamieson paints in his column. Bottom line: CASA Latina needs to evolve from its double-wide, flag 'em down approach into a permanent facility more along the lines of what the Millionair's Club has got down the street on Western. There's no reason that can't happen - at 17th & Jackson or virtually any other location in the city.