Vans Get Farmworkers to the Fields
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Granted millions of dollars in state transportation money, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are set to become the latest counties to join an agricultural ride-share program for unlicensed and uninsured farmworkers.
Each county was recently granted $3 million to purchase vans and cover the expense of operating the transportation program for three years.
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Ron Hughes, executive director of Kings County Area Public Transit Agency, said the farmworker program has grown by more than 20% each year, and now includes Kern and Madera counties. At the peak last year, Hughes’ agency had 120 vans serving growers and their workers in the five counties and expects to need 160 vans this year.
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But critics said the state should not be subsidizing a program that they believe benefits illegal immigrants.
“The reason we have the large-scale illegal immigration is that we keep coming up with ways to accommodate people who are breaking the law rather than enforcing it,” said Ira Mehlman, media director of the Federation of American Immigration Reform. “Another option is to just crack down on people who are driving without insurance and licenses.”
But transportation officials said the vanpools provide a legal, safe and less-polluting way for farm laborers to share a ride to work.
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In Ventura County, the Transportation Commission plans to use its Caltrans grant to purchase 30 vans and to operate the ride-share program through 2011, officials said.
With each van able to carry 14 passengers, a weekly $25 fare per rider is expected to generate enough for the program to become self-sufficient after three years.
Ensuring a stable and reliable workforce can only help local growers better compete, said Leslie Leavens-Crowe of Leavens Ranches in Santa Paula, which farms about 1,000 acres of avocados and lemons.
The Ventura County Transportation Commission is set to vote next week on whether to contract with a private company to operate its program. Santa Barbara County already has contracted with a nonprofit group, the Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers, or SMOOTH, to run its program.
Matt Dobberteen, a transportation official with Santa Barbara County’s Department of Public Works, said SMOOTH handles outreach to farmers and laborers, screens the driving records of volunteer drivers and ensures that those selected pass a medical exam and complete drivers’ training. The training includes details on collecting fares, program administration and how to report an accident.
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Email Gregory W. Griggs at greg.griggs@latimes.com.
(Posted on January 7, 2008)
Comments
If the government is intent on giving away the store, I`m almost ready to start fighting back, beginning with helping myself to as many potted plants as I can carry away from the outside of public buildings…
Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 5:41 PM on January 7
They’ll “inadvertently” hire an illegal to drive one of these vans, it’ll get in a wreck and ten illegals will sue for millions.
Posted by at 6:14 PM on January 7
Here in Canada, I can find produce from California on my store shelves, at prices competitive with vegetables grown within fifty miles of here.
Now I see why that’s possible.
Posted by at 10:21 PM on January 7
Somebody needs to file a class action suit against the cities for misappropriation of funds, and malfeasance. I’m quite sure it is illegal to use taxes to fund illegal activities, is it not? Providing rides to folks engaged in illegal activity IS an illegal activity in itself.
Posted by Bill at 2:47 PM on January 8