Anaheim Hoteliers: JUMP! Anaheim Council: HOW HIGH?

Wherever you stand on the UNITE-HERE hotel worker initiative, whether you support it, oppose it, or are still undecided, you HAVE to be impressed with how breathlessly obedient our five-member Disney-funded Council majority is to the (Disney-dominated) hotel lobbyists, AOCHLA. Like I said, when Disney/AOCHLA urges these five councilmembers to propel themselves upward, their only query is to have the elevation specified.

• CASE IN POINT 1: The Rigged Economic Impact Report.
• CASE IN POINT 2: Natalie’s Pre-emptive Maid Safety Ordinance.
• CASE IN POINT 3: The $1.6 Million Gift Special Election!

At both the May 16 and June 13 Council meetings, the chambers were packed – from early afternoon on! – with supporters of Anaheim’s hotel industry. Large hoteliers. Small hoteliers. Their paid spokespeople, like new AOCHLA flack Samantha Marquez, and the Chamber’s Laura Cunningham. Loyal hotel workers who feared a wage hike or workplace regulations would jeopardize their jobs, and who swore up and down that their bosses are the nicest people in the world, like family even. They all got there EARLY both times, so the proponents of the initiative had to wait outside – hats off for good organizing I guess.

And on May 16 all of these people, in one voice as though reading off a script, begged the Council NOT to adopt the union ordinance or put it on the ballot either, without first commissioning an “economic impact report” – which the Council gave them! And on June 13 all of these people, in one voice as though reading off a script, begged for a SPECIAL ELECTION “as soon as possible,” which the Council ALSO gave them even though it’ll cost us $1.6 million! Let’s first look at…

The Rigged Economic Impact Report.

Staff was READY when Council granted the hoteliers their wish on May 16 – City Manager Vanderpool had two firms all lined up! For arcane reasons the reports would have to be completed by June 13 which was really not enough time for anyone to do a serious report, but that’s okay. Two lesser known firms, Baker Tilly and Beacon Economics, were assigned carefully limited tasks – Beacon to look at the ordinance’s impact on Anaheim’s hotel industry and our TOT (hotel tax) revenue, and Baker to look at our events centers (Convention Center etc.)

That’s all staff and the council majority wanted to hear about. Nothing about the impact on our economy if a lot of our underpaid workers were suddenly making a lot more money, and could live here, spend their money here, send their kids to school here, and be less dependent on public assistance. And of course given the scope of work the firms were assigned, they came back June 13 with a grim and dreary prognosis for our tourist-dependent municipality.

Presenting the report: the guy from Baker, the guy from Beacon, Finance Director Debbie Moreno.

The guy from Baker was honest enough to volunteer: “Some things this analysis does NOT include because we were not tasked with doing it, but I thought it should be made explicit is, we do not assess the individual benefits to workers with higher wages, although there’s obviously some benefits to that. We did not look at the impact on the larger city in terms of wage issues flowing from the wage issues that we analyzed at the Convention Center. But that’s also probably something that could be counted on.” (7:31-25)

A few minutes earlier, Mayor Ashleigh (one of the Council’s two ostensible worker supporters, although Carlos Leon stayed mute) questioned the Guy from Beacon.

MAYOR: You said you were speaking to some of the “STAKEHOLDERS” in the community. Can you tell me who that is?
BEACON: Um, I talked to several hoteliers, also folks at the event centers, also folks at Visit Anaheim.
MAYOR: Did you speak to any hotel workers, or any proponents of the initiative?
BEACON: No, I was not able to.

Those damn hermits, hiding out from Beacon Economics! [sarcasm] Ashleigh continued:

MAYOR: Were you able to do any analysis of what heightened wages for Anaheim families have on our general sales tax and other types of areas where they spend their wages at grocery stores, restaurants, things like that?
BEACON: Um, we weren’t able to in this scenario, although generally a lot of the minimum-wage research and economic literature suggests that it’s, uh, a NET NEGATIVE IMPACT.

[7:29 on]

BULLSHIT. Mayor Ashleigh just let that go, but if it had been me or Jose Moreno up there, we wouldn’t have. The overwhelming economic literature shows that raising a minimum wage boosts economic growth, putting more discretionary dollars in the pockets of workers, which then flow to retailers and other businesses. The Guy From Beacon was either saying what he knew his employer wanted to hear, or he lives in a little bubble of right-wing think tanks.

But apart from the pro-business tunnel vision imposed on these two willing firms, perception depends on how things are FRAMED, by interested parties, for the lazy and busy people. What voters are really gonna bother looking at the reports when they’re already being told that they show “The city’s TOT revenue will be negatively impacted” and the ordinance “will cost the City tens of millions of dollars” (over many years of course)?

Cue to cry out that Anaheim’s “essential city services” are going to be threatened!!! Cunningham even says that some of his friends have created an anti-ordinance group with the preciously clunky name “Anaheim Residents Against Cuts to Essential City Services.” What BS. Here’s what the losses in TOT revenue LOOK LIKE IN A CHART, from the pro-hotel Beacon Economics. Apparently it is going to just keep rising over the years, but a TINY BIT MORE SLOWLY if we pay the workers $25 an hour:

In close-up. Don’t those dark columns compared to those orange columns look Zombie-Apocalyptic? Yeah I don’t think so either:

Back to examples of Disney and the hoteliers saying JUMP! and the Council majority responding, breathlessly, HOW HIGH??? Case in point 2:

Natalie’s Pre-Emptive Maid Safety Ordinance.

I wrote about this last month. Whether it was Mayor Pro-tem Natalie Rubalcava‘s idea or not, it was a devilishly clever move on May 16 to strip out the “workers’ protection” part of the union initiative, and pass it as a stand-alone ordinance – the part where we give hotel workers who may be combatting unwelcome tourist libidos a PANIC BUTTON.

All year union signature gatherers had been leading with that – “Maids are being molested, raped even! They need panic buttons!” Who could vote against Natalie’s ordinance, and countenance a continued Plague of Raped Maids for the next year and a half? It passed unanimously, and now the most sympathetic feature of the union measure is MOOT.

Natalie, a fine actress, feigned great concern for these endangered maids that evening. It woulda seemed a little more sincere if she had brought this forward months ago when she first heard of the issue, rather than as a naked ploy to sabotage the union initiative on the day it came to council. No doubt there was great laughter and clinking of glasses that night, and more sporadic laughter in subsequent weeks, in whatever hangouts these people haunt unmolested. In any case, another example of the Disney-funded Council doing whatever it can to help the hotel industry.

Case in point 3… nah, let’s change the metaphor. Third case-in-point of the Council majority putting its thumbs, its hands, yea its full upper-body weight, on the scales, for the benefit of the hoteliers:

Let’s Spend $1.6 Million on a Special Election!

When I showed up June 13 I was surprised to see the Council Chambers once again overflowing with the same crowd as before. Were they really dying to hear the Economic Impact Report? Didn’t they know that the Council was legally bound to put the measure on the ballot no matter what? But – AH! Once they started talking, I saw that they had a NEW talking point – a NEW DEMAND – DON’T put the initiative on the Nov. 24 ballot, but instead give us a SPECIAL ELECTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! (Even though it’ll cost the city $1.6 million.)

And they had some half-assed justification – “UNCERTAINTY” was the catchword – they need to know ASAP, STAT, PDQ, what their expenses are going to be so they can PLAN don’tchya know. But everybody there knew that the moneyed interests figure they can win a low-turnout special election easier than a high-turnout general one, in which the sorta voters who would tend to support the workers will show up in force. Even if it costs us taxpayers $1.6 million to put that on.

And of course the Council majority, on June 13, said “NO PROBLEMO” and set a special election for September 12, as early as they possibly could, like the day after tomorrow. Except – and this was bound to happen – this was a case of the Council majority JUMPING TOO HIGH.

“jumped so high, he touched the sky, didn’t get back till the Fourth of July…”

Turns out, the Registrar of Voters says September is too soon, so these impatient souls will not be able to have their special election till October 3. [Update – County Registrar Bob Page suggests this sentence is not quite accurate; it is a brief simplification; see comment here.]

In 2016, Anaheim’s voters passed Measure L pretty handily, by 8%, giving resort workers a “living wage” of $17 an hour. This time it would’ve already been a heavy lift in the Nov. ’24 general to pass a measure giving them $25, more than many of our friends and relatives make, more than many city workers make. Making it a special election, and that soon, will make it even more difficult. But I guess that’s our council’s job.

At tonight’s Council meeting THEY ARE EVEN GOING TO DISCUSS A COUNCIL RESOLUTION AGAINST THE ORDINANCE, AND WHETHER SOME COUNCILMEMBERS WILL SIGN THE AGAINST ARGUMENT ON THE BALLOT.

I’ve already mentioned several times that some kind of compromise initiative, at maybe $20 or $21, with less burdensome and confusing workplace regulations, might have a much better chance of passing, and less negative externalities. But that is not on the table.

Calling out bullshit and unfairness is part of my job description. Literally, it is buried away in a box somewhere in my garage. So when I see our Council majority, unfairly elected with $2 million from Disney, SOAR and the hotels, putting its entire weight on the scales for the benefit of their benefactors… I believe I will side with the underdogs again.

Next?