A Suitable Spot

Day laborers in Gaithersburg will finally get an employment center.

ASK COUNTY Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett's colleagues and friends -- he has no enemies to speak of -- and they will tell you that Montgomery's new leader is a master at making consensus materialize. Take, for example, the compromise-out-of-a-hat trick he revealed Thursday, when he announced that he had found a location for a controversial day-laborer center just outside Gaithersburg. All but extreme anti-immigrant activists should be satisfied with Mr. Leggett's plan, and it looks as though the county will, at long last, build the center. The county executive's accomplishment stands in sharp relief to the spineless dithering of Gaithersburg officials, who should not have had to rely on Mr. Leggett (D) to solve what was supposed to be their problem.

Day-laborer centers provide shelter, bathrooms and other basic needs to local workers looking for gainful employment. Though many of the workers are illegal immigrants, their services are clearly in demand -- and essential to the area's economy. But that did not prevent a rash of NIMBY outrage and anti-immigrant rhetoric when Gaithersburg proposed to base an employment center on a parcel that housed a disused water treatment plant. The city went on to survey dozens of other sites, all of which someone in the community found unsuitable, until the mayor and the City Council gave up and tossed the question to departing County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D). Mr. Duncan tried but failed to find a location.

Mr. Leggett's solution is to place the employment center on county property south of Gaithersburg. It's far enough away from the city's neighborhoods to placate residents but accessible enough for local day laborers to reach it -- five Metrobus lines serve the area. County funds are already available to build and run the facility. It's a nice fix to a fight that has pitted immigrant-rights activists against neighbors and anti-immigrant groups for more than a year.