Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Good news for Roseville, St. Louis Park, Richfield. . .

We will soon find out whether Minneapolis values its businesses:
A Hennepin County judge on Monday overruled the Minneapolis City Council's decision to block a $15 minimum wage charter amendment, ordering that the issue be placed on the November ballot.

Judge Susan Robiner issued her decision more than a week after she heard arguments from advocates who gathered enough signatures to send the issue to voters. The City Council, following the legal opinion of City Attorney Susan Segal, previously had voted to prevent the proposal from reaching the ballot. A majority of council members said they believed the issue was not a proper subject for a charter amendment, the only type of action allowed to be put to a direct vote.
And the folks who think they'll be getting rich are mobilized:
Barring a higher court reversal, the judge's decision means supporters of the higher wage, including the groups 15 Now Minnesota, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, will have just over two months to convince voters that Minneapolis' minimum wage should be among the highest in the nation. Only a handful of other cities, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, have approved a $15 minimum wage.

Advocates said Monday that they are optimistic. They pointed to poll results they released last week that showed 68 percent of 400 voters surveyed said they'd vote in favor of a $15 minimum wage.
As the economists say, there's no such thing as a free lucha. We'll find out soon if the citizenry figures it out, or whether they get the H. L. Mencken treatment.

8 comments:

jerrye92002 said...

I'm curious what would happen if the local Chamber or some group (individual businesses would probably be torched) would offer a list of businesses that would close or move out if this passes, and how many jobs would be G-O-N-E?

Bike Bubba said...

You know, since welfare dollars are determined at the state and federal level, I can think of some great reasons states and DC might want to put the kibosh on high local minimum wages. Not that we're going to get preemption here in MN, but since the rest of us get to pay the bill for Minneapolis' foolishness, I think we ought to get a say.

jerrye92002 said...

Great thinking, but then thinking is a foreign concept to liberals. They envision that this great "good" comes with absolutely no cost or consequence, because they wish it to be so. Seldom does reality intrude upon their utopian dreams. And even when it fails, they succeed because their /intentions/ were good. "Oh, so sorry you lost your job, it must be those evil employers."

Anonymous said...

"Study: Downtown Mpls. restaurant taxes highest in nation"
http://www.startribune.com/study-downtown-mpls-restaurant-taxes-highest-in-nation/140774953/

That was back in 2012, judging from the crowd count at late night downtown riots it didn't have any effect at all. Leftist politicians have it all figured out; there is no bottom to the public's pocket.

Bike Bubba said...

Fred, that would explain why I found downtown Minneapolis to be something of a ghost town in terms of dining. It was really strange to see all those office towers, but street level was mostly dead.

I wonder if I'm allowed to notice that anymore. :^) And if it continues with a $15/hour minimum wage, five will get you ten that a lot of guys pack their lunch, to put it mildly.

3john2 said...

You know how this will play out. The fair-market jobs that can will move to the surrounding suburbs, and there may be those that live in Minneapolis that will commute to the lower paying jobs and then go home at night and wonder why their employer can't pay them the Minneapolis-minimum "living wage" that lets them continue to live in the more expensive city. Meanwhile the City Council will lament that the inner-ring burbs are not paying their fare share and are unjustly siphoning the productivity of Minneapolis residents away, and the Council will go to their buddies at the Legislature and demand a "regional solution" of reparations resulting in higher taxes on the 'burbs.

Mr. D said...

Downtown is one thing, Fred. How does it play out on Central or West Broadway?

jerrye92002 said...

You don't understand liberals, obviously. Everybody will keep their jobs and get $15/hour which will lead them to better lives, paying more taxes, and it won't cost employers one thin dime. How? Because that is what the liberals WANT to happen, and reality dare not intrude. When it finally does, it will somehow all be the fault of eeee-vil Republicans.