By Doug Porter
The Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) has long been a fighter on the San Diego scene for economic justice causes. Whether it’s advocacy on the part of financially distressed homeowners facing foreclosure or fighting for an understandable, open and fair budget for the City of San Diego, CPI has been in the thick of it.
Now they’ve jumped into fray over Mayor Filner’s refusal to sign off on a deal negotiated by the previous administration that would hand $1 billion over the next four decades to a group essentially run by San Diego’s large hoteliers.
CPI has asked supporters to focus on the Mayor’s demand that the big hoteliers pay a living wage to their employees as part of any deal with the City. They’re asking the hard questions:
If San Diego’s profitable hotels get $30 million a year in public funding to advertise themselves, is it right that half their employees make $24,400 or less per year?
Why do housekeepers at Doubletree San Diego make only $8 an hour and have to pay $400 a month for family healthcare when those at the nearby Hilton San Diego Bayfront are paid $15.50 an hour and get full family healthcare for $50 a month?
The group contends that “if hotel companies pocket those tourist dollars and don’t pay the San Diego residents who work in the hotels enough to live on, that’s a direct drain on our economy.”
So CPI has a letter writing campaign going on and we’ve gotten more than a few letters. Initially we kind of scratched our heads, since sending the San Diego Free Press letters on this issue is kind of like preaching to the choir.
But then I realized the story here is really that so many people care. Paying housekeepers $8 an hour while charging people as much as $489 a night (I checked) is just wrong.
So, thank you to each and every one of you who wrote in:
P. Gayle Chenoweth
Geraldine Halpern
Nancy Davis
Edgar Torres
Guy Cargulia
Juanita Olivas
Angelica Godinez
Patricia Atencio
Manuel Enriquez
Stephen R. Jesionka
Rita & Dave Pinkerton
Richard Kacmar
Phyllis Mathis
Nina Fishman
Scott Woker
Mohan Kanungo
Wayne Gearhart
Mikaiil Hussein
Joel Basore
Richard Dimatteo
kenn colclasure
Michael Brown
Desi Sullivan
Barbara Filner
Kris Larsen
Bob Alba
Carol Huntsman
Christina Griffin
Susan Bagby
Zarai Santos
Sarah Saez
Rebecca SmithRandolph
Grover Diemert
Susan Sharpe
Carolyn Lilly
Dolores Welty
Peter Zovanyi
Patrick Hurley
Lynne Schaffer
Tanner Smith
Kathryn Burton
Steven Ward
Marjorie Larson
Darcy Bergh
Douglas Kenyon
Ginger Davies
Sue Rogers
Ryan Mims
Gil Savage
Chris West
David Abramson
Marsha Lyon
Anna Daniels
Catherine Kelly
Jason Brody
Sarah Saez
Susan Duerksen
Steven Miller
Erick Diaz
Doug Porter
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Yes, thank you everyone for such a tremendous response! We have been overwhelmed by the outrage and passion on this issue, and the letters are still coming in. We will publish many of them on the CPI website (onlineCPI.org) and our Facebook page.
Thank you to SDFP for acknowledging the letters! I sure hope other local media will do the same.
The real question now is whether we can get our City Councilmembers to acknowledge the problem. Many of them seem to have their heads buried in the sand, Democrats and Republicans alike. And they’re awfully busy supporting illegal causes.
More great work from the Center on Policy Initiatives.
Just a few years ago they spearheaded the fight for the Living Wage Ordinance. Try to imagine where San Diego would be without CPI … or rather, don’t. It’s not pretty.
As for “Why do housekeepers at Doubletree San Diego make only $8 an hour and have to pay $400 a month for family healthcare when those at the nearby Hilton San Diego Bayfront are paid $15.50 an hour and get full family healthcare for $50 a month?”, well, there’s a two-word answer: No union.
To bad we don’t live in a free market society where the DoubleTree workers could quit and go work at Bayfront. Oh wait, we do.
If the DoubleTree lost its workers, it would have to offer competitive wages.