Economy takes small hit from boycott

BY BRENT HOPKINS, Staff Writer
Daily News

Monday's immigration boycott and protest march knocked an estimated $52 million out of the Los Angeles economy, a fraction of the region's $1.2 billion daily activity, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimated Tuesday.

LAEDC chief economist Jack Kyser noted that the impact would be particularly felt in the Latino community.

"A lot of them live paycheck to paycheck, so this has a big impact on their lives," Kyser said. "The truck drivers were out, (the LAUSD) took a big hit, there were lost sales from the closed businesses along the route and probably extra costs for the city with overtime and for the MTA."

The truck drivers to whom Kyser referred made their voices heard particularly sharply at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with a 90 percent no-show rate Monday.

The Los Angeles Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimated that 70 percent of its small businesses felt some losses. Vice chairman Manolo Cevallos said the members he'd spoken to would be supportive of future shutdowns of up to a week.

"There was an impact, but it was worth it," he said. "Restaurants, mini-markets, shops selling bread, meat markets, clothing stores, clothing factories, the grocery business, flower shops - small Hispanic businesses were affected, but they're telling me that they'd do it again. They're showing loyalty."

Several San Fernando Valley-based manufacturers were able to juggle production and shipping. San Fernando-based Fabe's All Natural Bakery, which has nearly 175 workers, worked an extra day over the weekend, then took Monday off.

Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods in Pacoima brought a few people in to handle warehouse shipping, but closed its dog- and lion-food factories. President Joey Herrick said about half of his 60 workers attended the marches and that he'd be able to make up the delayed production fairly quickly.

"Let's hope they don't do it every month, but for one day, it was OK," Herrick said. "You're entitled to personal days, so if you let us know in advance, that's OK.

"It was inconvenient, but a lot of people showed up for the march, so we had to go with it and support our workers however we could."

brent.hopkins@dailynews.com

(818) 713-3738