marjorie says...
I didn’t catch her name, but this woman spoke against the ordinance…and her reason was actually one I’d agree with in general:
The City Council is usurping our vote last October. So far the city council is not a dictatorship. Put the vote before the people again. Have the people decide, but don’t nullify our vote, don’t take away our vote, don’t make us feel like we’re sheep and you’re the shepherds.
Keegan King, League of Young Voters:
It sounds like a equitable solution but at the same time it seems that those who already give benefits a way to get around raising the wage.
Sandra Hahn:
I really am tired of all this priority being put on businesses and business owners…it means we lose our good low-wage workers, and what we have left over is well, the leftovers: the drug pushers, thieves, druggies, sex offenders…
Donald Schiff, Small business owner in Nob Hill and active Democrat:
This isn't going to affect me at all but I can't sit around when people are begging on the streets because they can't live on the minimum wage. ...This compromise bill is a bitter pill...one of the hallmarks of a good compromise is that no one is satisfied...but this is an agreement that people on all sides have agreed on and I think you should vote for it.
Carolyn Kay, American Association of University Women:
Practical ethics require that we do this...in the system we live in. As a white woman I ask where is my 30 cents? If I were Hispanic, I'd be asking where is my 37 cents? We don't have an equitable system, and it requires intervention.
Ann Cass, Retired Family Court Judge:
It was clear to me as a judge that low-income and the stress it causes was a major factor in the divorce rate in this community.
Alan Parkman, Retired Economics Professor at UNM:
One of the things about economics is that there is no free lunch. You pass $7.50 in Albuquerque, workers will come to this market and when there is more competition who are the people who will lose out? The most vulnerable will incur the cost of this legislation. The are others way you can do this...what you should be focused on are things such as earned income credits. There will be a tremendous disadvantageous affect for the most vulnerable.
Marjorie: Well, I tend to think workers who make less than $7 per hour aren't going to choose to drive an extra 20-30 miles for an extra dollar or two an hour. I don't buy this argument.