Solis’ divine intervention

I just got off the phone with a Home Depot spokeswoman who confirmed the company is in talks with Baldwin Park officials about a solution to the citys day laborer issue.

You might remember several articles I did a while back on this topic: one failed ordinance barring day laborers from soliciting work, a second failed attempt at another, slightly different ordinance barring day laborers from soliciting work, and a lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund that was eventually dropped.

Anyway, Councilman Ricardo Pacheco tells me they are trying to negotiated an agreement with Home Depot to build a day laborer center near the Puente Avenue home improvement store.

It sounds like they are still working out some glitches, but the parties are expected to meet in closed session on May 7 to possibly finalize an agreement.

Of course, some big questions still remain: whose gonna build it? Whose gonna pay for it? Whose gonna run it? And whose gonna assume liability for it?

Im sure those details will be ironed out.

As a final note, everyone tells me Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, got her little hands involved in the whole issue speeding up talks between Home Depot and the city.

As Pacheco put it: It took an act of Congress.

You can say that again.