Urban Development, Economic Development, and City Attractions

Imagine living on only two-thirds of the income of fifty years ago. Every day you stretch each dollar further and further for life’s basic necessities. What do you choose? Do you buy food, pay the rent, replace worn clothing, repair the car, or pay your insurance? Decisions no one likes to make. Today’s $7.25 Federal minimum wage is also South Carolina’s minimum wage, and it’s worth only two-thirds of the purchasing power of the 1968 minimum wage. Working a full 40 hours work week for 52 weeks at the minimum wage pays $15,080. That’s $100 below the poverty level for a family of one. If there are two in the family, it’s $5,500 below the poverty level. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation over the past 50 years it would be $11.53 per hour. That’s almost 60% more to pay for food, rent, clothes, and medicine. More money for consumers is good for everyone. The money doesn’t end up stashed in some off-shore account; it goes to work directly in the economy. Increased economic activity means more jobs. Increasing the minimum wage is an investment in workers, in the economy, in job creation. I support raising the minimum wage to a livable wage because I believe that no one working full time should find themselves living in poverty. If you agree that the Federal minimum wage must be increased and you want to make a difference, join me by signing my petition.

Uber, Lyft, and Meadows Field Airport (BFL) are currently in negotiations with Kern County, California, to reach a contract with the county which will allow rideshares to drop off and pick up passengers curbside/door front at the airport. Currently, passengers requiring service must be dropped off near the property line, the closest one about a quarter mile away, or, drivers have to shut their equipment down early and sneak in as though dropping off a "friend." The driver's penalty if caught, is a $1000 ticket and deactivation (fired). Passengers with disabilities, women traveling alone, and passengers with luggage, have found it especially difficult to walk to the main entrance from the allowable drop-off points (which are not built for pedestrians, not even any sidewalks, and are often busy with traffic), in the early morning hours. Also, not every Uber or Lyft driver is willing to risk the penalty if they get caught, and this often results in a passenger having to cancel that ride and try again looking for a driver who will go, and this often makes them late for their flight. Bakersfield sprawls out, and it often takes a driver 20-30 minutes just to arrive. But the only two taxi companies who are allowed to service BFL, do not have enough cars to keep up with the demand in the early morning hours. No other taxis, no buses, and no rideshare vehicles are currently authorized. The distant vicinity of the airport to the rest of Bakersfield, makes walking impossible. This petition is to show public support to the county, in favor of reaching an agreement with at least one of the rideshare companies, soon. Bakersfield is growing very quickly in general. BFL is adding flights and building more runways, and the need to drop off passengers at the door is growing every day, especially for disabled passengers. During the day there are also plenty of people trying to access the hangars, rental car companies and other venues located within airport property. We drivers want to give our passengers the service they deserve, safely, to and from this airport. Many of our passengers have said they would be willing to pay a fee to get the curbside service, similar to LAX. The airport is hoping to have a contract in place sometime this summer. Uber and Lyft drivers have created this petition in hopes that it will help speed the process along, by the show of public support. If you live anywhere in the world and you have been affected by the lack of transportation services to or from Meadows Field Airport (BFL) in Bakersfield, California, or if you have had a driver who had to sneak you in or out, please sign this petition. Thank you.

More than 300,000 people in Connecticut live in poverty, many of whom work minimum wage jobs. The current minimum wage in Connecticut is unacceptable. Sign this petition in order to get this message sent to Congress and have the minimum wage in Connecticut be raised to $13.

Sodexo workers will soon be voting to join the UFCW Local 1445 union. The first group will be voting on May 30th, 2018. We are demanding Sodexo not to interfere and intimidate the workers with anti-union tactics. Thank you for your support!

I live in Crete, Illinois where CSX is proposing to build an Intermodal. We are concerned about the harms to the environment, the safety of our citizens, and the unfair labor practices that have been associated with warehouse workers. With all the massive warehouses already in Will County we believe it is time to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH and let us concentrate on eco-friendly; people and planet ideas, to improve the sites we already have in Will County.

I am a member of SCCAP, the largest social justice organization on SCU campus. I believe that my professors deserve the right to self-determination. They support me day in and day out, and I would like to show support to them in turn.

Nationally, Hawaii has the highest rate of families living paycheck to paycheck. We have one of the highest costs of living, which leads to Hawaii carrying the largest average personal credit card debt in the country. Most people in Hawaii are one crisis away from slipping into homelessness. We can do better for Hawaii's working families.

A lot of janitors across the nation are disrespected and underpaid. Help the janitors feel good about themselves, and sign the petition.

My name is Gertridis Lopez and I work as a cabin cleaner at Newark Airport. I work hard to support my family every day. But making poverty wages for the past 12 years has meant that even when I work full time, it can still be hard to support my family. So my coworkers and I have started organizing with 32BJ and trying to make better jobs and lives for ourselves. Now, for the first time, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has a proposed policy that could raise 40,000 airport workers out of poverty. There is a lot of talk of statistics and research, but the more personal story is that this proposal to raise airport workers' wages to $19 an hour would transform my life, drastically improve the lives of my children and allow me to fully contribute to my community in Newark. They say engaged parents can make the difference between a child doing well in school or not. But, years of poverty wages at the airport and working a second job in order to support my kids has meant my kids have grown up with me at work instead of having time to be engaged in their lives. My schedule is packed with work but I still found myself behind with expensive bills that cost more than even two jobs would pay. Airport workers are the first line of defense at the airport and we deserve to be paid fairly for this important role. Passengers deserve the experienced workers that a higher wage would create as turnover decreases and airport workers become more skilled at our jobs. And more than anything, our children deserve the benefit of their parents in their lives. Please join me in calling on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to support our local communities and airport passengers alike by passing their proposed $19 an hour wage schedule in June! Yours in the struggle, Gertrudis Lopez

Property taxes are wrong and are often applied inequitably, to the detriment of the poor.

I am a retired public school teacher. I worked for 27 years in a public school district Ohio. I am also a widow. My late husband paid into Social Security and was fully vested. Because Ohio is one of the states affected by the Government Pension Offset (GPO), I cannot receive widow's benefits. If I had worked in a state not affected by GPO, I would be eligible to receive widow's benefits. Many retired public employees in the states listed above cannot receive Social Security benefits that were paid for by themselves or their deceased spouses. We are asking the 115th United States Congress to repeal GPO and WEP.