The issue of immigrant day laborers has gained much attention in recent months in the Village of Farmingdale, as surrounding residents have complained that the workers are loitering on Conklin Street while waiting for landscapers and contractors to pick them up, and that the practice is creating a dangerous traffic situation.

In response to the formation of two shape-up sites - pick-up points for the workers - on Conklin Street, the mayor and board of trustees have beefed up traffic code compliance patrols in the area. The village has posted signs that prohibit standing or stopping between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. along the busiest areas of Conklin Street, and village code enforcement officials have issued numerous tickets. The village vows to continue to monitor the area.

Meanwhile, St. Kilian Social Ministries Outreach is aiming to help the laborers by opening a labor hall in the area, which would serve as a safe place for them to gather to be picked up for work.

"It's a sensitive issue. I don't deny that. But the day laborers are our neighbors. They live in our community. They contribute to our community, and what we are looking to do is provide a safe, permanent employment site, where they can find a job, where the contractors can come, where they can negotiate their fees, where it will be safe, it will be enclosed, so they are not standing out in the rain," said Lisa Molluso, director of St. Kilian Outreach. "And what we would hopefully like to do is grow this employment site, this hiring hall to provide educational services as well, to become an extension of our outreach program."

Msgr. Charles Swiger, pastor of St. Kilian Church, described the laborers, who are primarily undocumented recent immigrants from El Salvador, as hard-working people who are not aiming to cause problems, and deserve support. "All of these people, if you talk to them, are the nicest people in the world," he said. "These guys work more than you can believe."

Molluso added that the laborers are mostly family men who are working for very low wages to provide for their wives and children. She is working in collaboration with Catholic Charities, and the Workplace Project, a nonprofit Hispanic advocacy group on obtaining a grant to open the labor hall.

The outreach director has looked at two possible sites, and hopes to have a hall open within the next year. She stressed that the project needs much commitment from the community in order to be successful. "Outreach is committed," she said, adding, "It's going to take a lot of support from the community."

Farmingdale Mayor Joseph Trudden said the village supports the establishment of a labor hall. "We're trying to find them a building that has heat and air conditioning, and bathroom facilities, so that could get them off the street, and give them a place to shape up - preferably in a factory area where it's not going to be in a residential neighborhood," he said.

He added, "We encourage people to follow our laws about loitering, and drinking, and urinating in public. We've talked with the Nassau County Police Department - we have a good rapport with them - and we're hiring a new code enforcement officer to enforce those things. So, we're trying to work with them at the same time. We're trying to keep the quality of life in Farmingdale what people expect it to be."