Following a meeting of the Farmingdale Village Board of Trustees last Wednesday, where members of the board attempted to ease the concerns of local residents regarding the day laborers site located on the corner of Elizabeth and South Front Streets in Farmingdale, a predominantly residential area, the board decided to fence off the driveway of the location and place "no stopping" signs around the property so the laborers would have to congregate elsewhere.

"We always said it was going to be temporary," said Village Mayor Joseph Trudden, "and that night we decided to close the site. The people said...it's been a year and it's been long enough."

Since its inception last April, residents have expressed that they are less than happy with the site's condition and location. Some residents, especially those who live on Elizabeth Street, said that they understand that the workers need to congregate somewhere, but allowing them to do so on a residential street is not the answer.

"I think it's disgusting," said one resident at the meeting. "This is garbage; what's going on in my neighborhood."

Several residents complained about trash being left around the site, including food wrappers, soda cans and cigarette butts, as well as graffiti on the building across from the location and trucks parking in the lot for extended periods of time. Some said that the workers often urinate on or near their property, occasionally in their bushes. Other complaints included workers making comments when residents passed the site; most were concerned about their children.

"There is no reason my [young] daughter should have to be subject to something like that," one resident stressed. Other residents agreed, saying that often times they pass the site and hear whistling and workers calling out to them.

"Your wife and your daughter can't walk outside because someone's urinating on your lawn," the resident said.

"We agree with you," Trudden said at the meeting. "Come up with a solution and we'll do it, believe me."

Just hours before deciding to close down the site, Trudden and members of the board explained to residents that the workers have every right to remain on the property, that it's part of their first constitutional right to assemble on public property. "You're preaching to the choir," Trudden told residents, "we agree with you, but there's nothing we can do," he said, stressing again that the location is public property.

What appeared to be the residents' biggest complaint was that when the site was originally provided for the workers last April, it was said to be a "temporary" site, after the municipality's ticketing of trucks prohibited the use of the workers' prior location on Conklin Street.

"It is [temporary]," Trudden said, "we just have no other solution right now."

Trudden said that the Village had intended, following the meeting, to put up "no stopping" signs around the lot so the contractors could not stop on Elizabeth St. to pick up the workers, forcing them to pull into the lot. This decision came after residents complained of traffic problems near the site, which is stationed adjacent to the railroad tracks. The decision to put up fencing came after the meeting.

"The bottom line is that we didn't put up the fence to chase people off public property," said Village Clerk-Treasurer John Giordano, "we closed off [the driveway] due to traffic problems. What pushed it [the decision] was the increase of truck traffic," he said.

"We did not close down the street; all we did was block off the driveway, not the parking lot," Giordano added, saying that a majority of the property belongs to a private developer who intends to build a house on his portion of the property.

Prior to putting up the fencing, the 8th Precinct POP Unit issued advisories to the contractors and workers so they could arrange to meet elsewhere.

Giordano said that since the fencing went up, the workers haven't been seen assembling anywhere in the village, aside from those who have been picketing in protest to the village's action.

Several workers have been demonstrating since the fencing went up in opposition to the closing. Many have been protesting on Conklin Street, holding up signs which read "Mayor Trudden Let us Work," and most said that this situation is a result of prejudice. Workers have said that they do the jobs nobody else wants to do, and that they feel accepted only for their labor but not as people. Workers also said that Trudden had promised to find an alternate site for them prior to closing this one down, and that he had not fulfilled that promise.

"We'll try to help them," Trudden said, in regard to finding a new location, "but they don't belong in a residential area."