With pride and trepidation, SF will become first US city to top $10 minimum wage on Jan. 1

Monday – December 12, 2011SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America.

Come New Year’s Day, he’ll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum wage. The city’s hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24, more than $2 above the California minimum wage and nearly $3 more than the working wage set by the federal government.

It won’t put much more in Frias’ wallet. But it gives him a sense of moving on up.

“It’s a psychological boost,” said Frias, who is a 34-year-old usher at a movie theater and a security guard for a crowd control firm. “It means that I’ll have more money in my wallet to pay my bills and money to spend in the city to help the economy.”

San Franciscans passed a proposition in 2003 that requires the city to increase the minimum wage each year, using a formula tied to inflation and the cost of living. It’s just another way the progressive people of the City by the Bay have shown their support for the working-class in a locale where labor unions remain strong and housing costs are sky high.

Karl Kramer of the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition said a decent wage for a single adult without children in the city would be $15, and that doubles when you have at least one child or more. But like other advocates of better wages, he’s still pleased that San Francisco will be the first in the nation to top $10.

“It helps workers’ morale in a time of economic crisis; they feel that they’re able to tread water and get some relief from the recession,” said Kramer.

While the city is at the forefront of attempting to provide a decent living wage, most employees say it’s still not a wage to live on, that the 32-cent hike seems like peanuts. And some employers say it could lead to layoffs by small businesses already forced to pay federal, state and city payroll taxes as well as a slew of other city-mandated taxes.

Daniel Scherotter, chef and owner of Palio D’Asti, an upscale Italian restaurant in the Financial District, said the city’s minimum wage hike from $9.92 to $10.24 means that his highest-paid employees — the waiters who make most of their income from tips — will see more money in their pockets while his salaried kitchen staff will have to take the hit.

If Scherotter raised menu prices to make up the difference, he’d risk going out of business in this economy.

What the average San Franciscan may not know, he said, is that business owners also must pay another $1.23 to $1.85 an hour per employee for health-care coverage if they don’t offer health insurance. San Francisco is also the only city in the state that charges a payroll tax of 1.5 percent; it also mandates nine paid sick days annually per employee.

“So that drives me nuts, that as a chef, I have to cut my kitchen allowance,” Scherotter said. “What I pay for a waiter is more than double what Manhattan pays, it’s more than double what Chicago pays, and it’s four times what Boston pays. And those are … other big, expensive, pro-labor cities. But I pay what they all pay added together for tipped employees.”

Scherotter said the double whammy of recession and wage hikes has led to eight layoffs in his kitchen in the last four years.

“We hear that all the time,” said Steve Falk, president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

He said that by the time you add up all the mandates and taxes that city employers must pay for their minimum-wage workers, the payroll burden is at least 25 to 40 percent higher than other Bay Area cities.

He gave the example of catering companies bidding for the contract at the city’s Treasure Island. In the end it went to a Napa firm over a San Francisco catering company because Napa was able to come in lower.

“You can’t on one hand as a city impose mandates and fees on a local business and then exclude them because their costs are too high when they go to bid on a city contract or a city service,” Falk said. The chamber of commerce is calling on the city to build in a 25 to 30 percent bid allowance for San Francisco companies.

“Fortunately, it’s a very attractive place to own a business and businesses thrive here because of the number of visitors,” Falk said. “But we always worry: where’s the tipping point?”

That tipping point needs to lean toward the worker, said David Madland, director of the American Worker Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress Action Fund. He said the best studies on minimum wage indicate that the benefits outweigh the burdens placed on employers.

“I think it’s a big deal when a city is making a commitment that says, ‘Our workers are going to get paid a livable wage for a day’s work,’” he said. “It’s also very important that in today’s economy when a core problem is lack of demand … that a city is actively taking steps to put more money into consumers’ pockets.”

For Frias, it’s not just about a bit more change in his pocket.

“Hey, it’s a little over $10 — it’s a little bit of respect.”

Nacogdoches Farmers Market This Saturday

Things to look for: baked goods (breads, cakes, cookies & pies), candles, canned goods (wild-picked jams & jellies including may haw, blackberry, blueberry, muscatine and wild plum as well as jams, marmalades, preserves, chow-chow, pickled vegetables, salsas & relishes), ceramics, artisan Texas cheeses, corn meal, free-range eggs, herbs (basil, coriander, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary & thyme), dried herbs, local raw honey, jewelry, plants (house plants, bedding plants, trees & whips), smoothies, soaps (lye and herbal), tamales, vinegars and fruit wines. LOCAL PRODUCE: green beans, little green beans, yellow wax beans, frozen shelled beans (butter, baby Lima & pinto), cucumbers, greens (collard, kale, mustard, spinach, Swiss chard & turnip), mixed lettuce, frozen okra, onions (red, yellow & white), fresh shelled peas (black-eyed, lady cream, zipper cream, brown Crowder & purple hull), frozen peas (black eye, zipper cream, brown Crowder & purple hull), pecans (cracked, shelled & unshelled), peppers (Anaheim, banana, Bell & others), new potatoes, small pumpkins, squash (acorn, banana, butternut, French, kushaw, patti pan, pinatta, spaghetti, Turk’s turban, Winter, yellow, zephyr, green zucchini & yellow zucchini), sweet potatoes, radishes, tomatoes (green & slicer), turnips and watermelons (all-sweet and jubilee).

If you would like to sign up for the weekly Farmers’ Market email update, please send an email to obriens@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us. You are also more than welcome to visit www.farmermktnac.blogspot.com. Also be our fan on facebook@NacogdochesFarmersMarket.

The Nacogdoches Farmers’ Market, located at the “hitch lot” at the corner of West Main and Pearl Streets, is open from 8 a.m. until noon or later every Saturday morning. If the market parking lot is full, additional parking is available in the Nacogdoches County Courthouse Annex parking lot.
Please note that the Farmer’s Market is a “Smoke Free” facility for the health of our customers and vendors.

Nacogdoches is one of 115 communities in the nation to begin the process of launching its local Cities of Service program. More than 100 mayors have joined the coalition and more than 30 cities have appointed a Chief Service Officer, a senior city official dedicated to developing and implementing a high-impact service plan that targets volunteers to the city’s greatest needs.
American cities face serious challenges and many communities want to take advantage of every resource available to them, including the time and energy of public-spirited residents, to address those challenges. Unfortunately, citizen service is often an underutilized or inefficiently utilized strategy by municipal governments. Cities of Service supports mayors to leverage citizen service, addressing local needs and making government more effective.
Last fall, Mayor Van Horn signed a “Declaration of Service”, committing to lead a multi-year effort to expand community service and volunteerism. “We are extremely excited to be partnering with AARP in this endeavor, said Mayor Van Horn. “What a wonderful example of private-public partnership that will benefit our city so greatly.” This initiative is supported in part by AARP, who for more than 50 years has been serving society and creating positive social change. The membership-based advocacy organization is helping bring Cities of Service to smaller cities across the country. The declaration of service is a commitment to develop a comprehensive service plan and a coordinated strategy focused on matching volunteers and community partners to the areas of greatest local need to accelerate the service movement and produce measurable goals ensuring that the voice of cities is heard in policy discussions, helping to achieve the goals of the Serve America Act.

About Cities of Service
Founded in New York City on September 10, 2009 by 17 mayors from cities around the nation, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors who have committed to work together to engage citizens in a multi-year effort to address pressing city needs through impact volunteerism. The coalition includes more than 100 mayors, representing nearly 50 million Americans across the nation. Cities of Service supports mayors to leverage citizen service strategies, addressing local needs and making government more effective. All Cities of Service efforts are characterized by a concept called “impact volunteering” – volunteer strategies that target community needs, use best practices, and set clear outcomes and measures to gauge progress.

About AARP
AARP was founded on the principle of service. Since its establishment in 1958, AARP has been dedicated to delivering value to its members through service. Now, with the heightened interest in civic engagement and a new vitality around service, including the passage of the Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009, AARP is well positioned to tap into the strength of its millions of members to help solve pressing problems at the community level through the Cities of Service – AARP Volunteer Chief Service Officer Initiative.
About the Cities of Service-AARP Volunteer Chief Service Officer Initiative
Through collaboration between Cities of Service and AARP, Cities of Service coalition members with less than 125,000 residents have been given the opportunity to appoint highly-skilled volunteers to serve as Chief Service Officers for one year, many of whom come from AARP’s membership. Chief Service Officers are senior members of the mayors’ leadership team and are responsible for the development and implementation of a high-impact service plan that leverages citizen service to address the city’s most pressing challenges. In addition to appointing a volunteer Chief Service Officer, participating cities receive a $5,000 Recognition Award from AARP and technical assistance from Cities of Service to develop and implement their high-impact service plans.
For more information about the declaration and the Cities of Service program, visit: http://www.citiesofservice.org Linda can be reached at City Hall, 936-559-2577 or via email, floresl@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us.

“If you’ve ever wanted to bring your group to Nacogdoches but didn’t know where to start, this training is for you,” said Sherri Skeeters, assistant director for the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We will provide participants with step-by-step instructions as well as a resource manual to help them with the process of bringing their groups to Nacogdoches.”

The “Bring it Home to Nacogdoches” campaign is an opportunity for local business leaders and community members to help promote Nacogdoches as a meeting destination. The campaign will concentrate not only on trade association meetings but also hobby groups, fraternal organizations, alumni organizations, and church groups.
The purpose of the campaign is to help Nacogdoches by stimulating the local economy by generating economic impact in the form of traveler expenditures and local tax revenue, supporting local businesses that cater to the hospitality industry and by promoting Nacogdoches as a premier destination: affordable, safe and friendly, great attractions, museums, restaurants and hotels.

“It is our hope that through this campaign, we will increase awareness of all the great complimentary meeting planning services available through the CVB,” said Skeeters. “We are also excited about the opportunity to reward local citizens with a cash incentive when they bring their group home to Nacogdoches.”

Tourism pumps more than $70 million in direct spending into Nacogdoches County each year. Visitor spending supports 1,200 jobs in Nacogdoches County with earnings of more than $17.6 million. Without the local, state and federal taxes generated by the Texas travel industry, each household in Texas would have to pay $995 in additional taxes.

Bringing visitors and meetings to Nacogdoches generates tourism dollars that will benefit our local economy. “If more local leaders encourage their groups to consider and book Nacogdoches, the ‘Bring it Home to Nacogdoches’ campaign can have a real impact for our community,” Skeeters said.

For more information about the “Bring it Home to Nacogdoches” campaign and to register for this free training, visit www.VisitNacogdoches.org or call the CVB at 936-564-7351. Be our friend on facebook @ See Nacogdoches.

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