Ballot measures

Youth Employment and Life Lessons

I remember making minimum wage, $3.35 per hour, when I worked at Burger King during high school. Most of my coworkers were high school students, college students and very few were adults. Prior to my job at Burger King, I had a paper route that, according to my memory, netted out to less than minimum wage. Many of these jobs no longer employ young people in the same numbers, but that does’t mean the city should raise the minimum wage.

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Some Free Advice for Mayor Reed

It has been a tough week for Mayor Chuck Reed. An enterprising investigative reporter, Jenna Susko, from KNTV News challenged the mayor’s veracity of the “fiscal crisis” and exposed his administration’s exaggeration of the unfunded liability facing San Jose. The mayor’s opponents were quick to jump on the news and quickly filed an ethics complaint. A complaint which, ironically, is justified under Reed’s own ethic reforms, which state that public officials shouldn’t lie. But the regulation—like many Reed Reforms—is unenforceable. A lawyer for the ethics commission advised the body not to investigate as they have no jurisdiction over the matter. That is lawyer-speak for you can’t do anything even if he did lie.

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City Unveils Proposed Ballot Measures

On Wednesday, the city sent a draft of proposed ballot measures addressing pension reform to each public employee union. Only two of those letters went to union groups that have agreed to set times to continue negotiations: the police and firefighters, which recently joined together in negotiations, and the unions representing architects and engineers (AEA), mid-level managers (CAMP) and maintenance supervisors (AMSP).

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Fiscal Emergency Vote Delayed

Despite calling the city’s unfunded liability a cancer, brought on by escalating and unfunded employee retirement costs, Mayor Chuck Reed has decided to delay treatment options. The City Council will defer any decision on declaring a fiscal and public safety emergency to Aug. 2.

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