Parks Place-I thought beggars couldn’t be choosers, but when it comes to the Rusty Hicks Union gang, they ain’t too proud to beg, well, more like demand, what perks they perceive to be rightfully theirs. (Photo: Rusty Hicks)
Last week, union members and their troops implored the Council to eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 1, 2020 (the City Attorney has been instructed to write the minimum wage ordinance and it has to be approved by the Economic Development Committee before it comes back to full Council for a vote).
This week, they’ve come back with their hands out, asking for minimum wage exemptions for companies with unionized workers.
Though I shake my head, I have yet to be astonished or surprised by the gutsiness of this group.
True, I voted in favor of increasing the wage (not without voicing several concerns) with good faith that we could move forward on policy that is, as I’ve said before, measured, spread over several years, surgical enough to benefit the truly needy, yet avoids benefiting those employees that are on minimum wage plus commission.
The ordinance should also concentrate on the city's economy and employees who are residents of the City of Los Angeles, truly balance the needs of both the business owners and the employees, and be accompanied by an extensive job creation program which may include both minimum wage and wages below minimum wage.
My amending motion, which was accepted, placed significant emphasis on the city's job creation efforts by enlisting the resources of the City's Economic Workforce and Development Department (EWDD) through its WorkSource centers to generate jobs at all income levels to compensate for the expected job loss to city residents by the implementation of this ordinance.City News Service reported that Mayor Eric Garcetti, "is open to studying an idea to exclude workers with collective bargaining agreements with their employers from the city's $15 minimum wage ordinance, but stressed it is not in the current draft expected to cross his desk soon."
At a budget signing yesterday, reporters from the Daily News, the LA Times, and City News Service were able to confront the Mayor about this issue and he flip-flopped faster than a flapjack. Read the comments here.
If this ordinance comes back to Council with this added Union sweetening, you won’t have to guess how I’ll vote. I disagreed and voted against this language when it was included in the recently passed hotel minimum wage ordinance.
Accommodations were made for transitional job programs like Homeboy Industries, Chrysalis, and LA Conservation Corps. Additionally, non-profit organizations with greater than 25 employees can apply for a waiver if their top executive earns less than five times the wage of the lowest-paid worker; or provide transitional jobs programs; or serve as child care providers; or are primarily funded by City, County, State, or Federal grants or reimbursements. I guess the LA County Federation of Labor feels they too deserve the same assistance, assistance from a motion they basically authored.They don’t want restaurants to utilize service charges since they fought tooth and nail to ensure tips aren’t included in the new wage ordinance, they want to sneak in paid sick leave without debate, and they want to keep the wage ordinance for hotel workers intact, this is just too much.
It doesn’t help that several articles have pointed out that a $15 an hour wage still won’t be enough to live on in LA. Curbed LA found living in nearly every neighborhood in the city is out of reach on that wage, and FiveThirtyEight said while $15 looks good on paper, in actuality it’ll feel closer to $10.
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In another issue that makes you go hmmm, or I told you so, Tuesday the City Administrative Office (CAO) finally released a report, wrapped up in a pretty little bow, detailing the options the City can employ in repairing sidewalks now and in the future since we've been sued.
From the report (and homeowners you won’t like it):
"In general, fronting property owners will be responsible for the maintenance of sidewalks in the public right-of-way, even when the cause of the sidewalk damage is a street tree. The City's resources are limited and the City does not have the resources to continue to retain the responsibility for repairing sidewalks damaged by street trees."Property owners also won’t like the fact that the City didn’t plant those trees wrecking sidewalks. More than likely, they were planted by the developer who built your house. Now, why the City recommended ficus trees, I can’t answer that-way before my time.
Most of the proposed plans are not new ideas. They’ve been sitting in various committees for about a decade collecting dust. This Council, and many Councils before, have stubbornly refused to discuss this issue for no other reason than being afraid to tell the public the truth: you gots to pay.
It is my opinion that the City needs to step out of the sidewalk repair game. There are so many unemployed trades, e.g. contractors, concrete pourers, etc. available to do this work who are cheaper, and more efficient than city employees. Property owners should be able to choose on their own which contractor they want to do the work. Just like with earthquake retrofitting, the City can’t pay the bills of a property that’s yours.
The City should solely operate in an inspection, approval, and permitting capacity.
If someone’s sidewalk does not meet safety standards and the owner refuses to repair it at city standards the City should be able to repair it to eliminate the liability then place a lien on the property.
There are many great ideas in the CAO'S report (please read it thoroughly) e.g. point of sale, point of permit, creation of sidewalk repair districts, eliminating the 1970-ish ordinance that moved the responsibility for sidewalk repair from the adjoining property owner to the city. If the city follows through with the CAO'S proposed plans this will be the first time in 40+ years the city will have a comprehensive and coherent sidewalk repair and tree removal program.
I knew, before kicking off my sidewalk repair program with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) in 2014 (my motion was first introduced in 2012), that if you wanted to get sidewalks fixed in the City, you had to take it into your own hands.
(Bernard Parks is Los Angeles Councilman for the 8th Council District. He is also former Los Angeles Police Chief. He can be reached at [email protected] )
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 45
Pub: Jun 2, 2015
