Posted on 01/18/2006 4:13:39 PM PST by LouAvul
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - Labor leaders in this left-leaning coastal city have launched a controversial campaign to raise the minimum wage to $9.25 an hour, $2.50 more than the state-mandated minimum.
Workers need the bump to keep up with the area's high housing costs, and businesses have an obligation to pay "responsible wages" when the state minimum isn't enough, city officials and community activists said at a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday.
The campaign has gained the endorsement of four of the City Council's seven members, but some opponents said it will drive businesses out and make it harder to attract new companies. If the drive is successful, Santa Cruz would join only a handful of other cities, including San Francisco and Santa Fe, that have their own minimum wages.
Supporters point to a University of California, Berkeley study that concluded that San Francisco's higher minimum wage of $8.82 an hour has raised prices throughout the city but did not trigger layoffs or business collapses.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I'm guessing the median house price is $400,000+. It's going to take more than $9.25/hr.
That always amazed me. The average home prices in these areas is ridiculous. Say it's half a million. I really don't buy that everyone there is making a quarter of a million a year, which is how much I personally would want to make before being comfortable making the kind of mortgage payment that kind of house would require.
Give these idiots time and they'll raise the minimum wage to a half million a year...
If the council had any compassion for the poor, they'd raise the minimum wage to $100/hr. They're just not true progressives. (Does this REALLY need a sarcasm tag?)
They'll need an even bigger bump when they don't have jobs.
UCSC= University of California Surfing Commies
UCSB= University of California Surfing Branch.
So, let's see. Workers need a government mandated minimum wage so they can afford the high housing costs caused by government mandated rent controls and building laws. Seem about right.
I spent the week-end in a beach house in Aptos (just up the coast from Santa Cruz). Lovely area, but very liberal. The beach house I stayed in normally rents for $3000 per week, so you can guess what it would cost to buy this little shack. My group did not pay this as we took a week that it was not otherwise in demand.
Don't those damn idiots realize that everyone who's salary is tied to the minimum wage even higher will get associated pay raises too. They just love to pay taxes.
If I were a business like a restaurant or a manufacturer requiring low-skilled workers, I'd lay off all my legal employees and hire a bunch of illegals off the books for way below the minimum. Exploiting them is suppposedly why it's good to let them flood into the U.S., so may as well go all the way.
Exactly! These heartless liberals need to raise their local minimum wage to at least $65/hr. Simply nothing more will do. If there is a single Republican he should propose just that, and for every argument against it he/she can just say, "But the same argument applies to $9.25/hr."
Last I saw the median price for single family home was ~$750,000. Condo prices were fluctuating between $400 - $550K
Biggest problem is that Silicon Valley generates something like ~7 jobs for each housing unit that can be built there. So end up with lots of (relatively) well-paid people with no housing available. They go to places like Santa Cruz to find housing. (Hint, hint – if you happen to be involved with income properties.)
I really don't buy that everyone there is making a quarter of a million a year, which is how much I personally would want to make before being comfortable making the kind of mortgage payment that kind of house would require.
OK. Many cases of wifey pulling in $85+ and husband pulling in $140+.
There’s your quarter of a million right there. Depending on industry and position I can show you people routinely pulling in $350 - $550K (single earner – not necessarily household).
That’s how they can live in a $1.8 million house and have a ~$150,000 Ferrari and a ~$400,000 Rolls Phantom in the driveway.
[Actually got screwed around and entered a (open – because the “gates” were down and the stonework was being redone) gated community. While getting turned around I spied the Rolls Phantom that I had previously seen in the Costco lot (that was amusing to me) AND the Ferrari f430 in the driveway that I had seen a few times rolling up and down Culver… did some checking and it’s ~$1.8 million single-family home. At least that’s what comparable properties in that area have sold for.
Have no idea who they are or what they do (nor do I really care) but there’s money out there. Lots of it. Are you getting your share? LOL]
when they reach $50/hour, I'll move there :)
Leftists refuse to grasp the meaning of minimum wage..
It is the wage that employers are willing to pay LOW SKILL employees -- whose contribution to the business isn't worth more than that....
The minimum wage was NEVER intended to provide a self sustaining income -- to say nothing of providing for a family.. Minimum wage positions are either entry level jobs for folks requiring more training or for part timers, teenagers and students....
If folks want more than minimum wage - they must make the effort to achieve the ability to demand a higher wage..
But then, they would have to cut back on the screwing around time.....
Santa Cruz is a lost cause.... The leftists and lesbians own the town...
Those wishing a better family enviornment beach experience, should drive 4 miles East and go to the much smaller and smarter beach town of Capitola.
Better Restaurants and bars -- on the water.
Parking close at hand if not a summer weekend....then one must use the reasonable municiple parking lot -- a 5 minute walk from the beach..
Semper Fi
Yeah that will qualify you for a 400,000 shack. Uh HUh
Perhaps raising the minimum wage is seen as a ploy to take some of the pressure off the housing market by taking more people totally out of the market.Those $8.00/hr producers will now be unemployed and have no income. For them appropriate housing now will be the park and various sidewalks and shelters.
At that point your Big Mac will cost you $39.95, more with fries.
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