Opponents and Proponents of Living Wage Employ Dramatically Different Strategies

James Allardice
Mirror staff writer

   Last week, pro and anti-Living Wage supporters demonstrated drastically different strategies.
   Santa Monicans Fighting Irresponsible Regulation (FAIR) maintained their low-profile status – even while holding a press conference, and Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism (SMART) ran two separate actions, ending the week with a “Living Wage BBQ” on Saturday.

   Complaint Filed
   SMART led off with a demonstration last Wednesday at Farmers Market, while a coalition which supports Santa Monica’s newly enacted Living Wage law announced the filing of a formal complaint against those collecting signatures in an attempt to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law.
   Santa Monica Coalition to Protect the Living Wage filed the complaint with City Clerk Maria Stewart, claiming collecting signatures gatherers had made “both oral and written misrepresentations.”
   The Coalition alleged that that petition gatherers have given false statements to voters, including, “sign the petition so that the living wage will cover all of Santa Monica.”
   “As well as its blatant falsity, the distribution of this information is a cynical response to the Council’s adoption of a requirement that signature gatherers provide the public with an information sheet regarding city petitions,” the complaint read.
   In urging the City to take “all possible steps to stop the misrepresentation and deceit,” the complaint included 21 incident reports of misrepresentation.
   Wednesday’s demonstration at the Farmer’s Market had several goals. In addition to announcing the filing of the complaint, the demonstrators urged voters not to sign the petition, and advised people who had already signed the petition how they could people know they could rescind their signature.
   Father Mike Guittierez of St. Anne’s Church told a small group at the demonstration, “An effective democracy depends on informed voters. In the last year the hotels have spent over $1 million to buy the voters of Santa Monica. Their attempt failed last fall and it will fail this time. It is a testament to the voters of Santa Monica.”
   A week after campaign disclosures revealed that nearly 60 percent of the almost $250,000 FAIR has raised for the campaign has come from the hotel industry, much of the rhetoric focused on the disclosures.
   City Councilmember Kevin McKeown said, “You think the hotels would have learned. They have poured another $250,000 into this campaign. That’s a disproportionate amount to spend in a small city. They are trying to fool the voters in Santa Monica. This is an attack on the values of Santa Monicans. We are trying to help the housekeepers, dishwashers and the people of Santa Monica.”
   In a symbolic demonstration, local clergy members handed out small pieces of pie that were meant to symbolize what the Living Wage represents. “We are giving out pieces of pie to show what the people of Santa Monica deserve,” Vivian Rothstein of SMART said. “ It’s a modest piece … and that’s all we are fighting for.
   “Today we are going to the City Clerk’s office to explain the misrepresentation that is happening all over our city,” Rothstein said. “The most insidious part is, they are focused on the Pico neighborhood, where our people desperately need this new law. We are asking the city to take action.”

   FAIR’s Press Conference
   In their first public demonstration of solidarity since embarking on their petition drive three weeks ago, local leaders and members of FAIR gathered for a brief press conference on the steps of City Hall on Friday.
   In stark comparison to the long, multi-speaker press conferences that the Living Wage backers host on a weekly basis, FAIR’s press conference was over and done with in less than 10 minutes.
   Former Santa Monica Mayor Nat Trives said, “Our purpose is to ask people of Santa Monica to stop and think about what was passed by City Council, which has been called a Living Wage. It is the people’s right for a Constitutional referendum. As a former Mayor of Santa Monica, I’m not taking a side on this issue. I just want people to review it and have their voice be heard through the referendum process.”
   The list of FAIR’s supporters includes: Ann Greenspun, President, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce; Nat Trives, former Mayor of Santa Monica; Allan Young, community leader; Rev. Keith Magee, Pastor Trinity Baptist Church; Jim Williams, Former Santa Monica City Manager; Rev. Joseph P. Metoyer, Jr., Pastor ACTS Church; John Bohn, Former Santa Monica City Councilman; Bob Gabriel, Former City Councilman; Rosie Casillas, Retired Director of Security GTE; Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz, current City Council members; Jean McNeil-Wyner, Immediate Past Pres., NCCJ; Donna Gentry, Co-chair, Homeless Taskforce; Bob Sullivan and Eric Parlee, former members of the Planning Commission; Bill Dawson, Santa Monica Resident; Irene Zivi, Ocean Park activist; Graham Pope, Chair Santa Monica College Foundation; Norma Gonzales, Past President, Chamber of Commerce; Bill Mortensen, banker and Past President, Santa Monica Boy’s and Girl’s Club; Bill Crookston, USC Professor, School of Business; Karen Bauer, immediate past president, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce; Elyce Feld, Tanya Garcia and Ross Gentry, Santa Monica residents; Darci Graber, member, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Michael Gruning, small business owner; Mark Harding, past president, Santa Monica Boy’s and Girl’s Club; David Hibbert, architect and Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Board; John Jakle, Santa Monica resident; Bashir Kadri, Jim Keyes, Pat Shubert Robertson, Carmen Thompson, Jane Weblemoe, Chamber of Commerce Board; Jack Srebnik, Santa Monica Resident and Businessman; Sam Zivi, Sunset Park resident; Dick Lawrence and Spyros Dellaporas, Jim Mount, past president, Chamber of Commerce; Paul Leone, pharmacist; Dan Ehrler and Diane Harris, Santa Monica residents; Dan Eliot, Camber of Commerce Board; Chris Harding, co-founder, CHOSM; and Chuck Allord, chair, Neighbors for a Safer Santa Monica.

   SMART’s Living Wage BBQ
   Last Saturday, following an afternoon of heightened opposition to signature gatherers, SMART hosted a “Living Wage BBQ” at the corner of Sixth Street and Colorado Avenue. Musician Kerry Candeale and juggler Paul Engler entertained a crowd of several hundred people.
   Kent Wong, Director of the UCLA Labor Center, told the crowd, “Los Angeles County is home to some of the wealthiest business and individuals in the country. There is also tremendous urban poverty. It is a crime to pay the workers in this community poverty wages.
   “People all over the country are looking to see what is happening in Santa Monica,” Wong said. “We will defeat the hotels through unity and strength.”
   McKeown also spoke at Saturday’s event. “This BBQ is serving up justice and fairness. It’s called a living wage,” McKeown said. “It’s such a simple thing. We are doing the right thing here in Santa Monica.”