HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 5.A Late Document 04 01/04/2010~~ x.14
From: Crump, Katie
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 8:25 AM
To: - City Clerk
Subject: FW": Living Wage Coalition and East. Washington Place development
For the book
-----Original Message-----
From: martin bennett [mailto:mbennett@vom,com]
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 11:50 AM
To: daveglass@comcast.net; david@davidrabbtt.com; mike4pet@aol.com; mthealy@sbcglobal.net;
Ptorliat.t@aol.com; teresa4petaluma@comcast.net; tiff@designmotif.com
Cc: Gaebler•, Bonne.; edanly@meyersnave.com; Brown, John; Crump, Katie
Subject: Living Wage Coalition and East Washington Place development
Petaluma City Council:
See corrected letter below. Lt is not 2010 .:and not 2009!!
Happy New Year !!
Marty Bennett
Petaluma City Council:
Please see below a letter regarding why you should not certify the
EIR nor the site map for the proposed East Washington Place
development. Also, appended is a"longer version of a column about the
proposed project that appeared in the Argus-Courier last week and
that elaborates our reasons for opposing the project.
Please do not hesitate to call me if I can provide more information
about our position 939-8933.
Marty Bennett
Co-Chair, Living Wage Coalition
cc: Petaluma staff
January 3, 2010
To: Petaluma City Council
From: Living Wage Coalition of Sonoma County
We are writing to urge that you .not certify and accept the EIR and
proposed site map for the Regency Centers proposed East Washington
Place development. The EIR and site map are inadequate. Given the
problems of the EIR, the council does not have complete information
to determine if the project conforms to CEQA and the Petaluma General Plan.
The EIR does not adequately analyze alternative land use at the site
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such as light manufacturing, renewable energy, bo-tech, and other
industries that could create good jobs with benefits, and substantial
revenues for the city.
Moreover, it is not clear if a Friedman's Home Improvement store with
an outdoor lumber and materials yard will be included in the project.
The EIR does not address this possibility. If ;Friedman's will become
an anchor tenant, we believe this will require both a revised EIR and
FEIA.
Without more information another EIR could provide, the draft EIR and
the fiscal and Economic Assessment (.FEIA), we believe, indicate that
the project does not meet the test of General Plan conformity for the
following reasons:
1) The project will create more than 600 low-wage and part-time jobs;
half of the workers will not have medical benefits. The increase of
aow-wage employment will only worsen the jobs-housing imbalance in
the city and the county.. The growth of low-wage employment will also
impact public services, such as emergency medical services at
Petaluma Valley Hospital and county health clinics.
2) The project will also negatively impact other public services. The
developer's contributions to public safety and fire services will not
be offset by the increased costs of such a large project
3) The one-story buildings with 1500 parking spaces design are a
suburban model of land-u'se development and not suitable for the urban
core of Petaluma. The project is not mixed-use, but basically retail;
nor does the project provide access to mass transit and promote
alternative transportation like train, bicycles, or pedestrian. The
General Plan clearly mandates that new developments. promote high
density, smart, and equitable growth, and mass transit.
4) There is no work force or affordable housing in the project. The
demand for affordable housing in the-city, particularly low and very
low.-income housing, will spike significantly as a consequence of the
dramatic increase of low-wage jobs. The contribution by the developer
required under the jobs/housing linkage fee is insufficient to
mitigate the increased'need for affordable housing.
http://www.pressdemocrat:com/article/20091224/COMMUNITY/912239966?Title=Target-and-low-wage-
employment-
December 24, 2009
Petaluma Argus Courier
Target and Low-Wage Jobs: What Are the Costs?
On January 4th the Petaluma City Council will consider the proposal
by Regency Centers for a shopping center on East Washington Street
near the fairgrounds. A 140,.000 square-foot Target store is the
anchor tenant for the project that will include other major retailers
and possibly a Fried"man`s Home Improvement store.
Last April, the City Council reviewed a Fiscal and Economic Impact
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A sessment for the project completed by a consultant., .Bay Area
Economics (BAE). However, Target and other proposed tenants in the
project would not provide BAE with their wage and benefit data as the
city requested.
BAE attempted to estimate the wage levels for the 200. employees at
Target (two thirds part-time) and for other tenants. The projected
total employment is 331 part-time and 390 full-time. BAf claims the
average hourly wage will be $.14..00 an hour for jobs created by the
project. The Living Wage Coalition believes this estimate is
inaccurate and that BAE underestimates the costs of the project to
the taxpayer and the community.
We commissioned a peer review of the BAE report by Dr, William
Lester, a researcher at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and
Education. He found that nine out of ten employees at Target are in
three occupational categories that include retail sales, stock clerks
and cashiers. Based upon California Employment Development Department
data, Dr. Lester calculates that the median wage for these
occupations in 2008 ranges from-$9.91 to $11.60 an
hour---considerably less than BAE's estimate.
The wages for Target employees and other tenants fall well below the
current rate of $13.64 an hour without benefits that the Petaluma
'Living Wage ordinance (passed in 2006) mandates city contractors pay
their employees. Moreover, the wages for most workers employed at the
shopping center are substantially less than the self-sufficiency
standards for the county. The Insight Center for Community and
Economic Development estimates that in 2008 a self-sufficiency, or
'living wage,' for Sonoma County was $14.90 an hour for two parents
working full-time to support two children and to pay for housing,
transportation, health care, child care and food.
Further, William Lester estimates, based upon U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics data for 2008, that 47 percent of the workers employed by
Target and other department and general merchandise stores in the
project will not have health care benefits. UCLA researcher Chris
Tilly investigated large retailers in California and found that
annual employee turnover rates are 40-80 percent, depending on the
type of retail firm. High turnover and lengthy wait period for health
benefits, particularly for part.-timers, combined with high co-pays
and deductibles, drive down health coverage rates for workers in the
retail sector.
The project will generate sales tax revenue, but what are the hidden
costs of poverty-wage jobs?
First, in 2002 the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and
Education reported that each year California state and local
government provide $110.1 billion in public subsidies to families with
at least one full-time low-wage worker who are eligible for federal
and state programs such as:. Med-Cal, Healthy Families, Earned Income
Tax Credit, Section 8 Housing Vouchers, and Food Stamps.
California counties alone spend $1.8 billion annually to provide
health care for 1.3 milliop uninsured adults according to a 2006
report by the New American Fowndaton. Low-wage workers without
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health benefits will turn to hospital emergehcy rooms and public
health clinics for their health care.
Second, adding hundreds of low-wage jobs to our local economy will
contribute to the growing mismatch between jobs and housing in the
region, given the stagnation of wages and the relative rise of
housing costs over the: last decade. According to the Santa Rosa Press
Democrat, between 1996 and 2005 rents increased by 29 percent in
Sonoma County, but median household income declined by 2 percent.
A 2004 study by the Mendocino Council of Governments concludes "the
dramatic increase of housing prices within the North Bay region has
far exceeded wage gains and have left housing unaffordable to the
majority. Long distance work trip commutes will be inevitable if
current patterns persist." How can we encourage smart growth and
transit-oriented development if workers cannot afford to live near
their work places or the downtown SMART train station?
Finally, part-time and temporary workers comprise nearly 30% of the
work force and, since the 1970s, part-time and temporary employment
has increased faster than that of the overall work force. The Bureau
of Labor Statistics has acknowledged that the official unemployment
rate is significantly higher if part-time workers seeking full-time
jobs were counted as unemployed. What is the impact on family life,
educational achievement for children, and citizen involvement in
politics and civic life if more and more workers must work two or
three jobs to make ends meet?
The jobs new jobs at the proposed project do not conform to section
9-P-1 of the General Plan That states that the city should attempt to
attract employers "who pay wages commensurate with the cost of living
in Petaluma." The Living Wage Coalition urges the council to reject
this project.
Martin J. .Bennett teaches. American history at Santa Rosa Junior
College and serves as Co-Chair of the Living Wage Coalition of Sonoma
County. For more information please go to: http://lvingwagesonoma.org
Dept. of Social Science
Santa Rosa Junior College
1501 Mendocino Ave.
Santa Rosa, Ca.
95401
(707) 527-4873 Office
(707) 522-27.55 Fax
(707) 939-8933 Home Office
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