A piece by Greg David in Crain's New York says that the living wage bill introduced by Councilman Oliver Koppell is so diluted that it's "absurdly weak" because it would only affect about 4 to 5 projects a year. The article states that after "facing intense opposition and testimony from businesses, which showed how so many small firms could be considered as having received a city subsidy, the proponents have scaled back the bill so it applies to companies with at least $5 million in annual revenue and that received at least $1 million in subsidy." Mr. David goes on to say, "yet bill sponsor Oliver Koppell says he is willing to make even more changes to accommodate the complaints of opponents. Really? What would be left? The key is that Mr. Koppell and his allies aren’t sincere. They want to pass a living-wage law, any living-wage law, and then expand it year by year as broadly as they can."
GOK is weak, weak, weak too.
ReplyDeleteWe should just have a NYC Minimum Wage. Rents in NYC aren't the same as rents in Ohio, right? So why should the minimum wage be the same? Con Edison charges us more for electricity than any where else in the country... Tolls are more expensive here than anywhere else. Mass transit fares are more expensive here than anywhere else... Why should we have the same minimum wage as Texas? It seems perfectly reasonable that different regions would have different minimum wages to counterbalance higher costs of living.
ReplyDeleteHow about lowering property taxes Mr. Giuffre? Lower taxes to the point that the cost of living, will match the minimum wage. Why not offer that as a solution.....
ReplyDeleteJ.R. Dobbs is Bishop:
ReplyDeleteMost people earning minimum wage don't own, they rent, so lowering property taxes would be kaput. Hoping that landlords pass the savings down by lowering rent is a pipe dream. I'd rather exempt low-income earners from the city personal income tax. If you make under $35,000 a year, you don't pay the city income tax. People making minimum wage in NYC are paying a 2.9% income tax. Lift that and make the NYC minimum wage $8 per hour -- and we would see real relief for the city's poor. And poor people spend their limited income as soon as they earn it because they have to. It would help the broader economy.
Convoluting a flawed formula to get pennies into a lifetime is a sad use of energy by our elected officials. The Bronx was not in contention to build the Applied Science Campus. Every other borough had a working relationship and proposal submitted to the NYCEDC. Politicos like Oliver Koppell have elected to spend their time and energy making poverty, more costly with his Living Wage legislation. Equalizing earning power with a superior education should be a priority in the Bronx. When only a handful of Bronx residents gain admission to Bronx High School of Science, the Kingsbridge Armory should have been the new Applied Science Campus.
ReplyDeleteTheU.S. Postal Service is on the brink of insolvency!
ReplyDeleteThanks to these City Council pinheads, NYC politics is a vicious cycle of failure!
ReplyDeleteLike is junior partner Jeffrey Dinowitz, Oliver Koppell claims credit for lots of shit that he had nothing to do with.
ReplyDeletei'm sorry TC, but, who IS he?
ReplyDeleteG.O. Koppell = Bag of Wind
ReplyDelete