CC Minutes - 01/27/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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such a standard. He raised concern that such a standard would not actually help people living in poverty. Irene AIItucker, 1720 West 25th Avenue, raised concern that a living wage standard would further hinder the City's ability to help social service agencies and urged the council to exempt social service agencies from any such ordinance if it were passed. Erik Jensen spoke against a living wage standard. He said considering such a proposal when the City was cutting budgets for services over the next several years made no fiscal sense. He said there was no direct evidence that a living wage standard would have a direct effect on poverty levels in the City. He said the implementation of such an ordinance would lead to higher personnel costs within the City and would lead to employee layoffs. He recommended allocating more money to social service organizations to address the poverty problem in the area. Margaret Thumel, PO Box 10944, Eugene, spoke against a living wage standard for the City of Eugene. She said there were no current jurisdictions that maintained any statistics on long-term effects. She noted that all of the cities that had implemented such a standard were backing away from it. She noted that the City had other issues much more pressing than a living wage standard. Tom Slocum, 1950 Graham Drive, spoke against the implementation of a living wage standard. He said it was a bad idea in light of the budget deficits the City faced over the next few years. He urged the council to look at what had happened to other jurisdictions that had implemented such an ordinance. Stefan Ostrach, 110 Mayfair Lane, President of the Lane County Labor Council, spoke in favor of a living wage standard. He said the labor council had voted more than a year ago to endorse a living wage standard for Eugene and had been a strong supporter of the idea ever since. He said wage and benefit standards linked to the use of public dollars were part of an economic development strategy that contributed to good jobs and a healthy local economy. He said Iow wages were a greater cause of the economic problems facing working families in Eugene than lack of jobs. He noted that the City had granted millions of dollars of tax breaks to corporations to attract new jobs but was reluctant to adopt a living wage standard for people who already lived and worked for the City. Mr. Ostrach said that committing the City to pay a living wage and to require subcontractors and those who received City subsidies to do likewise was part of an economic development strategy that would respond to the real crisis of Iow wages in the community. Majeska Seese-Green, 549 Van Buren Street, spoke as the president of the Whiteaker Community Council. She submitted written material to the council. She spoke in support of a living wage standard. She urged the council to support the concept of a living wage and noted that the Whiteaker Community Council had endorsed the concept. Ms. Green said Whiteaker had changed over the years. She noted that there had been hard work to create more participation and activity in the neighborhood organization. She said part of the written material that had been submitted was a work plan for the upcoming year. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 27, 2003 Page 2 Regular Meeting