Immigrant services agency Casa Latina is pulling out of a community meeting tonight in the Central District. The meeting is part of an ongoing mediation process with neighbors (pro and con) about Casa Latina’s intention to move its day laborer center to 17th and Jackson.

Casa Latina is refusing to participate in the meeting, which is at 5:00 tonight at the Douglas Truth Library 23rd and Jackson, because neighbors opposed to the relocation, organized as Save the Central District, are bringing in Judicial Watch—a conservative DC-based group famous for suing Bill Clinton—to speak against the day laborer center.

Judicial Watch has already threatened to sue the city for its financial support of Casa Latina, so Casa believes Judicial Watch’s participation compromises the integrity of the mediation process.

Here’s the deal:

Judicial Watch, which Casa Latina director Hilary Stern has called “nativist” and “racist,” is making the presentation to a community group that was convened to work through the controversial issue of siting a day laborer service center in the neighborhood, which is heated with racial overtones.

Judicial Watch, which successfully shut down a day laborer center in Herndon, Virginia by suing the city for financially supporting it, sent a letter to the city on September 13 demanding that Seattle stop funding Casa Latina.

The city allocated $250,000 to help Casa Latina relocate to the Central District, and the city also provides the immigrant services agency about $141,000 a year.

Judicial Watch compared the city’s support to funding prostitution. Judicial Watch president Thomas Fitton wrote, “For the city to use taxpayer resources in this manner is akin to a city operating its own ‘red light district’ or illegal drug market.”

Should be a testy meeting.

I’ve linked an e-mail exchange below (start at the bottom) between Alfred Shiga, a neighbor who’s against the day laborer center, and John Howell, who’s leading the mediation, discussing Casa Latina’s decision to boycott tonight’s meeting.

From: Alfred J. Mustey Shiga
Subject: Re: Additional Guest Speaker(s)
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 2:11 PM

Dear John:

I received a forward of your email regarding Monday's meeting (quoted below). Even though I feel as though I was not provided the consideration of a direct response, I feel your last email makes it important for me to make a statement to you and the GNA committee ("Committee") at large.

This message discusses the following issues: (1) CASA Latina's withdrawal from the Committee meeting; (2) Hilary Stern's inflammatory public statement; (3) The legality of CASA Latina's internal operations; and (4) The importance of a neutral third party facilitator.

1. CASA Latina's withdrawal from the Committee meeting:
I wish to state for the record that I and other Committee members are very disappointed that CASA Latina ("CL") and Hilary Stern et al. have decided to withdraw from listening to a speaker that was chosen by the members of the Committee.

Mr. Chris Farrell has national experience with regards to day labor sites, is a highly qualified speaker on this topic and was gracious enough to contribute his time to this discussion. Mr. Farrell is prepared and is uniquely qualified to directly speak to the statements and representations made by CL and its "hand picked" proponents that have thus far been patiently listened to and provided respect by all Committee members. Please recall, as I have previously mentioned, that ALL of the previous speakers to this Committee were selected by CL with little or no input from the Committee.
Please advise the Committee whether: (i) CL and Ms. Stern et al. have decided to withdraw from this upcoming meeting based on your recommendation; (ii) if not, please describe in detail any attempt by yourself, if any, to persuade CL and Ms. Stern et al. to attend; and (iii) if CL does not attend this upcoming meeting, whether you plan to reprimand such behavior.

CL's election not to participate in any fashion in this upcoming Committee meeting - not even willing to listen or join the discussion - draws into question the validity of the recent allegations that have been asserted against the City and CL by Judicial Watch ("JW"). If such allegations are false (as asserted by Ms. Stern), wouldn't CL and Ms. Stern consider this meeting to be a golden opportunity to rebut and prove wrong such allegations?

Also, please advise why you have asked Committee members to question their attendance to your previously announced, regularly scheduled and planned meeting? I trust that neither you nor CL are aware nor have participated in any plans to disrupt the proceedings of Monday's meeting.

It is my and the other Committee member's hope that the great effort, monies and time that Committee members, the City and yourself have expended thus far will be acknowledged and respected. We request that the same courtesies that we have provided to CL, Ms. Stern, Gary Segura and all of the CL board members and its "hand-picked" speakers.

It is my and other Committee member's hope that CL will not plan, organize, nor condone any disruption nor stage any protest to interrupt the Committee in its exploration of additional information regarding day labor sites and CL. Any such disruption would again indicate CL's contempt for the neighborhood, this GNA process and confirm CL's intent to confuse this issue with its false, contemptuous, non-productive and inflammatory cries of "racism", " nativism" and "anti-immigrant" sentiment. As per your charter as facilitator, and per your contract with the City, I trust that you will do everything in your power to help to preserve the order of Monday's meeting and to prevent any disruptions from taking place. If you are aware of any plans to disrupt this meeting, I am formally requesting that you please disclose such knowledge and your participation of the same to the Committee.

2. Hilary Stern's inflammatory public statement:
It is unfortunate that you have chosen to overlook Ms. Stern's recent statement quoted in a 9/21/07 Seattle Times article, where instead of rationally debating the facts of the JW investigation, she chose to deem their actions as a publicity stunt with no legal basis. "Theirs is clearly an anti-immigrant, racist, nativist agenda, which won't fly in a city like Seattle," said Stern. I would appreciate your comment as to if you feel Ms. Stern's inflammatory comments to the press have contributed to your statement that "..the circumstances have become highly charged." Please also disclose what type of public admonitions you plan to administer to CL, as you and CL have attempted to do to me and to any other persons who question the CL project. Does not Ms. Stern's statements to the media warrant some type of warning as a violation of the Committee's "ground rules"?

3. The legality of CASA Latina's internal operations:
In your September 21st message to the Committee, you stated that "The City, and its legal department, will respond to the specific legal charges made by JW. They are not within the scope of our group and will not be a topic for discussion." I find such statement particularly troubling for the following reasons:

During a Committee meeting, Ms. Stern was directly asked if CL obeys all federal, state and city laws, which Ms. Stern replied, "Yes, we do."

On a 9/18/07 KOMO TV4 News report Ms. Stern stated, "We (CL) do not encourage any illegal activity. Nothing we are doing is illegal. We are not an employer and we are not an employment agency. So. there is nothing that requires us to screen for employment eligibility."

If JW's allegations prove to be valid, then Ms. Stern's public statements would appear to have been made to directly mislead the public and the Committee. In addition, if it is found that Ms. Stern's statements are in fact false, would that not draw into question the truth/validity of all previous promises, guarantees and assurances that Ms. Stern has provided to the Committee with respect to CL's proposed move to the Central District? Moreover, if an organization is willing to subvert federal law (as has been asserted by JW), does that not increase the probability that CL will not adhere to any requirements as set forth by any GNA proposed by this Committee?

As you are aware, public safety is one of the primary concerns of the residents of the Central District neighborhood with regards to CL potentially moving to the neighborhood. Moreover, the importance of maintaining and improving the safety of the neighborhood has been made clear by the Committee. Thus, as a prerequisite to any move to the Central District neighborhood, CL should prove to the Committee that its internal operations strictly complies with all applicable laws (and CL should be required to maintain such compliance after their move).

Based on the foregoing, it would appear to be prudent for the Committee at a MINIMUM to listen to all facts and investigate such issues further. If the Committee were to ignore these issues (as you have recommended and attempted to dictate), it would be a failing of this Committee that would probably amount to negligent/reckless behavior on the part of the Committee members.

4. The importance of a neutral third party facilitator:
For whatever agenda you are trying to achieve, it appears from your continued and ongoing recommendations to this Committee that you believe that the Committee should work on less and inaccurate information, rather than a disclosure of all relevant facts and considerations. Based on your (i) actions at previous Committee meetings to attempt to censor information to be heard and squelch opinions and ideas of Committee members, and (ii) questionable judgment as to recommendations to the Committee (e.g., your recommendation that the legal charges against the City and CL should be ignored by the Committee, and your recommendation that Committee members should not attend Monday's meeting), your true role as facilitator of these Committee meetings is becoming increasingly unclear. Please advise the Committee whether your and the Cedar River Group's role is to be strictly a neutral third party, or a representative/agent of the City and CL (as it presently appears). If a fair and equitable GNA is to be reached, the Committee deserves and should require a facilitator that is truly neutral.

In closing, I also wish to again state that the execution of ANY GNA is NOT the sole intent of this Committee. This Committee's intent is rather to explore all of the issues involved with the location of this facility to the Central District, to determine if it will have an adverse affect on the neighborhood and community, and IF those affects can be mitigated and controlled, to execute a GNA to help CL jointly control those conditions with input from the neighborhood. This Committee's "job" is not to just sign ANY agreement proposed, no matter what its content, enforceability, nor relevance to the issues at hand.

I and the other members of this Committee look forward to your reply.

Alfred Shiga

From: John Howell < john@cedarrivergroup.com >
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:27:21 -0700

Subject: Next Good Neighbor Agreement Committee Meeting

Hello Committee Members,
Attached is an agenda for Monday's meeting, a revised first draft of the elements of a Good Neighbor Agreement that we discussed at our last meeting, and a summary of our Sept. 10 meeting. However, the circumstances surrounding Monday's meeting have become highly charged and I wanted to provide you with some information and explanation.

Last week several committee members and several individuals who have served as alternates through the course of our work requested that I consider providing time on our next agenda for a speaker who may offer a different perspective regarding the potential impacts of CASA Latina at 17th and Jackson than the committee has heard to date. After lots of thought and discussion with several other committee members I decided to set aside 30 minutes on the next agenda for such a speaker -as requested. This morning I learned via Alfred Shiga's email that was sent to all committee members that the speaker will be a gentleman from a Washington D.C. based organization called Judicial Watch.

Earlier this week Judicial Watch issued the attached press release. It threatens a law suit against the City of Seattle for its funding support of CASA Latina, and suggests that CASA Latina is operating illegally. The press release is clearly not about CASA Latina's move to a new location. It is about whether CASA Latina has a right to continue operation and receive public support. The release states, "Politicians in Seattle are using tax dollars to undermine the rule of law and worsen the illegal immigration crisis." The City, and its legal department, will respond to the specific legal charges made by Judicial Watch. They are not within the scope of our group and will not be a topic for discussion.

CASA Latina representatives have indicated that they will not participate in Monday's meeting. They believe that a presentation by a Judicial Watch representative is not consistent with the groundrules and goals established by our group - to create an agreement among the parties. Each of you needs to make your own decision about attending and participating on Monday.

I expect there will be press coverage at the meeting and a sizeable crowd. As I think we all can see, this type of environment will not be at all conducive to engaging in conversation about the good neighbor agreement. I will honor the agreement to allow an alternative perspective to be presented and discussed, but we will not continue the meeting beyond the presentation and discussion. I expect our meeting on Monday to last one hour

This action calls into question the willingness of the committee to adhere to the committee adopted groundrule - the "members agree to work in good faith toward achieving the goals described in the committee's statement of purpose, including.creation of an agreement among the parties." After Monday's meeting I will have conversation with each committee member regarding your willingness to return to our discussions about the good neighbor agreement and whether the process is worth continuing.

Just a reminder that Monday's meeting will be at the Douglass Truth Library, 2300 East Yesler Way, from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.