Yeah, it's Columbus Day so there's not much action today. Through our regular blog reads, we happened upon this article in the NYTimes about day-laborers in Austin and Home Depot's thorny relationship with them. How ironic that people continue to hire day-laborers, but at the same time, don't like to be reminded of their existence. You can't have it both ways! Choice quotes:

In Austin, some homeowners and businesses say Home Depot should not foist its problems upon others by chasing the workers away, saying that the company should set aside part of its property for the laborers so that the daily tango between contractors and workers does not snarl the sidewalks and streets.

"I don't see what people are so bothered about - they're just looking for work," said Sabina Traviño, a child care worker who lives three blocks from the store. "It's better to look for work than to rob or make trouble. There are bigger problems in the neighborhood, like drugs and prostitution."
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Julien Ross, coordinator of the Central Texas Immigrant Workers' Rights Center, said Home Depot should "create a safe and dignified space adjacent to its store" at St. John's Avenue.

"This will not eliminate all the problems, but it will go far to minimize them," Mr. Ross said.

Robert Flocke, a spokesman for the Travis County Health and Human Services Department, which oversees Austin, said that creating a special workers' site at that Home Depot would be unnecessary because there is already a county-run day laborers' hiring hall a mile away. But many workers shun that site because they say not enough contractors go there.