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Mel Katz knows a lot about jobs in San Diego. As executive officer and co-owner of staffing firm Manpower San Diego, he’s spent the last 37 years recruiting workers for local businesses.
So he brings a certain degree of authority in his endorsement of the minimum wage compromise approved by City Council last month, then vetoed by Mayor Kevin Faulconer last week.
If Monday’s Council vote overrides the mayor’s veto, Katz said he wants the measure to move forward as planned without any more interruptions. Here’s what he and Irwin Jacobs wrote in a U-T op-ed Friday:
It will benefit the San Diego economy, and be good for local businesses. We urge our local business community, let’s not delay, let’s not divide, and let’s not throw good money after bad. Please drop the referendum threat.
Katz joined VOSD Radio‘s Scott Lewis, Caty Green and Andrew Keatts this week to break down what San Diego can learn from other cities about the minimum wage, why he thinks a referendum wouldn’t work and what the future might hold for the city’s status as a mecca for conventions.
Jump to 22:14 to hear Katz’s interview.
Download the episode below, on Stitcher or on iTunes. While you’re there, leave us some feedback. If you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, give VOSD’s director of corporate development a shout: emily.tillson@voiceofsandiego.org.
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Show Notes
• SeaWorld has a solution to the captive whale controversy that helped drive its stock down 33 percent this week: Spend millions to build bigger tanks. Read the latest here.
• This week’s two-pronged Fact Check found both Carl DeMaio and Rep. Scott Peters have exaggerated Peters’ sway in the city’s pension disaster. DeMaio said Peters caused the problem. Peters’ camp said the congressman solved it. Neither is true.
• Here’s the latest from Mario Koran linking San Diego Unified’s less-experienced teachers with the district’s lopsided discipline rates.
• Our Hero of the Week is James F. Tomsheck, the former head of internal affairs for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for blowing the whistle on pervasive corruption within Border Patrol.
• San Diego County’s pension system is our Goat of the Week for taking big risks with taxpayer money to make up for the lack of funds it needs to pay out to retirees.