INDUSTRY - Thousands of jobseekers, lured by the chance to land a job building an NFL stadium, descended on Pacific Palms Resort on Friday.
Their goal was anything but rest and relaxation.
Victor Montano, an out-of-work carpenter from Hacienda Heights, was one of them.
He came to the first Joe Jobs Expo to let event co-sponsor Majestic Realty Co. know he wanted to work to help build a stadium, and to offer his experience.
"I came to get a job, and to present to them what I am capable of," Montano said. "I could some day sit back and say, `I helped build that stadium."'
After years of helping to build small convenience stores, being one of the estimated 12,000 construction workers for developer Ed Roski Jr.'s planned Industry stadium would be a feather in his cap, Montano said.
"This would be a tier-topper," he said.
That was a common refrain among the hundreds who waited in a long line of drafters, carpenters and construction workers - men and women - who hoped to help find a job working on the project. That line led directly to Majestic Realty representatives, who took applications and explained the project.
But while the expo, co-sponsored by Majestic Realty Co., online bartering company JoeBarter.com and the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, was for weeks highly promoted with stadium imagery and ads, no one actually got a stadium job.
That reality wasn't lost on Tina Mistry of Cerritos.
"I guess, overall, I'm a bit disappointed, personally," the out-of-work information technology worker said.
While the event was promoted well and the stadium connection attracted many, the reality was it wasn't much different than other job fairs she'd been too, Mistry said.
But organizers, who expected 3,500 to attend the sold-out event at $5 a pop, said the expo was also a way to get the word out about the stadium to the local workforce.
The idea from the beginning was to attract the average Joe, a tie-in to Tom Daley's Covina-based Joe Barter, he said.
Daley got Majestic to agree to co-sponsor the event, and convinced even the Los Angeles Clippers to have a presence there, he said. Ultimately, major construction firms vying to win contracts to build the stadium, and several others, from Goodwill to North-West College, set up booths. There were also several workshops.
"It's all about the jobseekers," Daley said. "I'm just so excited to help out as many as I can in a controlled and positive environment."
Still, in relation to the stadium, jobseekers could only get as far as leaving their information and resumes with Majestic representatives
When jobs come online, event organizers and construction firm representatives said those who attended Friday's job fair would have a jump on others for openings.
Exactly when those jobs will come is anybody's guess.
While Roski has won entitlements and designed the project, he has not secured a team to play there nor financing for the project.
"It's all dependent on when we secure a team," said Taylor Talt of Majestic Realty.
That was fine with Jesse Castaneda of South El Monte, who said the stadium project will help reinvigorate the area's economy. With unemployment rates hovering at or near 15 percent in much of the San Gabriel Valley, an infusion of jobs from the stadium would be welcomed by many.
"There will be lots of opportunities for all the vendors and others," said Castaneda, who said he lost his job last year as a shipping and receiving representative at Pep Boys after 23 years. "This will be a boost for the economy."
When that happens and contracts are set, jobseekers would be notified about openings, organizers said.
In the meantime, businesses that could be awarded lucrative contracts haven't been exactly standing flat-footed.
"We're competing to win and to be the general contractor," said Alan J. Petrasek, senior vice president of San Diego-based Clark Construction.
Larry Kirkenslager, senior vice president of pre-construction for Fullerton-based SASCO, said his company has already been doing budget and cost analyses on elements of the project.
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http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_14202383
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