At the last council meeting, it was unearthed that three councilmen advised City Manager Krieger that they did not support a letter going from the City to State leaders that voiced opposition to a State bill that seeks to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers. This initiative has drawn sweeping opposition from the hospitality industry and – ironically – from many tipped workers who do not care to trade cash tips for w-2 wages paid through payroll.
Even Naperville’s very passive, even tepid, Chamber of Commerce has opposed this bill. Naperville’s bar and restaurants are very successful and a huge part of the local economy.
So why would any councilman oppose sending a letter speaking out about this brain dead idea?
Well politics of course.
While our local races are supposed to be nonpartisan, they no longer are. Democratic groups have supported many current and past councilmen. Could you imagine the horror these councilmen would face if they were put in the position of having to opine on each and every act of insanity that comes out of Springfield (a regular occurrence)?
These more progressive councilmen will claim opining on Springfield bills is outside of their purview. It’s their excuse.
Notice that when issues involve something popular to the typical D activist are at hand, these same councilmen will have no problem jumping on board public protest. Remember the pointless gun ordinance that achieved nothing but to get the City sued? The State was already banning assault weapons. There was no reason to get involved in this issue other than political points (never mind the cost and financial exposure this needless lawsuit has generated).
Same with the pet store ban. Illinois was already banning these stores. Diving into this controversy was wholly pointless but – again – a popular move politically.
Naperville is a great City that is mired in a very dysfunctional State. There is no political balance in Springfield. The Republican Party in Illinois is broke and its voters are fleeing the State. It will be many years and take a complete national rebrand of the GOP before Republicans are competitive here again in November.
If Naperville is going to have long term success it needs to assert itself in Springfield. It should do so regularly and loudly. Naperville should become the leader our State desperately needs. Failure to do so assures Naperville’s long term future will be the same as every other American city that has succumbed to progressive policy making…i.e. it will be ruined.
Mayor Wehrli, Councilwoman Taylor, Councilman Wilson, and Councilman McBroom put community first and spoke out against the disastrous wage bill. The others were inclined to stay silent, even if their doing so increases the chance that our very important restaurant industry is diminished. Voters please remember this and elect leaders who prioritize the future of our City over being the cool kid at the next Indivisible Naperville event.
Once again, spot on! Couldn’t agree more!
The three council members that would not give their signature to the letter should give their time to a local university to study economics. As a previous server, I would not want the bill either. So if no one supports the bill, why would they?Once again, playing politics instead of leading for the city of Naperville.
I do agree that many of the statements about the GOP are true (and not just in the state of Illinois). I would argue against any claim that the city has any kind of duty or responsibility to send city proclamations to Springfield on state legislation. If this is the way the city is going to communicate and work with Springfield on legislative matters then the city needs to disband it organizational operations that involve spending large amounts of city dollars to send city council members and staff to Springfield to directly talk with legislators and state officials on this subject.
These type of “letters” are nothing more then political in nature. Yes, the city has done them in the past (as have other cities in the Chicago-land area) but they are more like political PR or political news releases then actual productive use of city resources. This is why I and some members on city council (both current and past) have been vocally against this type of activity. The fact is that none of these proclamation (letters) have ever resulted in any chance in any legislation coming out of Springfield which tells you all you need to know about how productive a use of city resources they are.
As to the tip wage issue. Roughly fifty years ago this wage did not exist, it was created to replace the part-time minimum wage (which was being abused by employers in some industries).
The idea behind the tip wage, was by defining certain types of jobs as tip wage jobs the government strictly controlled use of the tip wage and prevented abuse. But unfortunately the industries most involved in the misuse of the part-time minimum wage are still trying to do this with the tip wage.
The most recent being the attempt to reclassify certain kitchen or cooking staff as tip wage workers, which would get a cut of the pooled tips each night. This would only further reduce how much of this tip money actually goes to the person serving you. Currently these people have to split their tips with the employees that clean the tables, the bar staff, the hostesses, and a few others depending on how the business operates.
Yes, some tip workers want to maintain the status quo, but these workers tend to be the vary small portion of these workers that work at high-end establishments that attract very generous tippers. And it is hardly surprising that any Chamber of Commerce (who responsibility is to business owners not workers) would be against any legislation that has the potential of increase their operating overhead (eliminating the tip wage does not automatically mean increase operating costs or reduced tips).
It is worth noting that outside the US tipping is rarely done and even frowned upon in most situations (this is one of the habits that makes US tourists unpopular in other countries). This just demonstrates that eliminating the tip wage (which does not exist outside the US) will not result in patrons no longer tipping.
Jim, can you articulate a position that is brief and to the point? Churchill once commented on a lengthy document ” This paper, by its very length, defends itself from ever being read.” May I suggest you heed his words?
The Naperville Chamber has become completely irrelevant. Regrettably as the business community needs a strong advocate as it helps us all from a tax base, employment and quality of life metric.
It used to be that council acted on behalf of the best interests of all of Naperville. Now it is clear that some toe a party line above the job of representing the residents and businesses of this great city. We are all worse off for their actions.
Jim made a coherent point bringing facts and details into the argument. God forbid people have nuanced opinions nowadays. While pithy talking points probably work better politically, reality is not always so easy to digest.
Interesting you discussing being brief when some of your own post fall far short of this mark. Also interesting that you chose only to comment on my long comments but not on long comments by others that support the same positions as you.
Good point Jim. Notice how they are attacking you personally. That means you’re over the target. We all have differing opinions . City council does too and they represent those who have nuanced opinions well.
Hasselhorse is an apologist for the Left. An ideologue and a “true believer” in the Left’s mantra: “Ideas so good, they must be MANDATORY.”
Thanks Grant!! Great advice, that is why I never reply to the guy. Simply put, we have 3 council members that are completely about politics and others that stay on task and do the work for the peope of Naperville.
It is clear that party politics has creep into city government. This is because we have people on city council who view their position as a stepping stone to higher elected office and not a duty to the city.
We need to stop electing people to city council who have clearly indicted a desire to or have run for a higher elected office. This really started with people like Kruse, who considered himself a long time party loyalist due party support for his political career aspirations.
Spot on. That’s what mcbroom did with his housing migrant stunt. It was free PR for him and that’s all. Also, local republicans fail to mention the partisan politics of their Republican/conservative city council members.
City council elections have always been partisan, but we just played a game and pretended they are not. You’re foolish if you think they haven’t been and aren’t non-partisan.
Clearly you know nothing about me. I get just as much grief from the left as I do the right, whenever I defend a position that is consider a “right” ideology.
Don’t take my word for it. Ask Chirico. I use to get regularly referred to as Mayor Chirico’s water carrier on this website (and social media pages) whenever I defended one of his positions or actions, by people on the left.
The fact is I defend my beliefs without regard to which political party claims to share them with me. I really don’t care for any of the current political parties because they all demand blind loyalty to there platforms and agendas, something I simply refuse to do. I have never voted a party “ticket” or “line” in my life and I seriously doubt I ever will.
Jim- To be referred to as a Chirico Water Boy would be equally harsh from either side of “our supposedly not there but everybody really knows it is” aisle. In this epic battle between good (the freedom loving Napervillians who you resist with every breath) and evil (Socialists, drug dealing gun fans, city officials who are currying favor with the criminal Pritzker gang) you are an obvious lightning rod for negative attention by all who treasure our community. Don’t feel singled out by one flavor, we all think you’re due for a trip to the re-education camps of civility.
Ah yes, the re-education camps. Favorites of the Nazis and Communists everywhere. I see you still can’t make a rational statement that you are able to support with anything close to facts.
This of course explains why your so happily jump on board the personal attack bandwagon.
When you finally get informed enough about the issues to get a clue, please feel free to post an comment that you can actually support with facts.
Until then we all look forward to your next irrational personal attack post, which somehow always get by moderation by the management of this site, while post that are actually rational and on point seem to somehow get moderated out as personal attacks.
Sad that they resort to threats of re-education camps again because people have different views. We support the council members who didn’t send a political letter to the state that is simply virtue signaling and as useless as a resolution.
To quote from the post by the Naperville’s Northern Liberation Front, which I was replying too …”we all think you’re due for a trip to the re-education camps”.
So it is not I who is suggesting bringing back these camps but your comrades in the Naperville’s Northern Liberation Front promoting this idea. You need to take your concerns up with your fellow “Liberation Front” members.
Ergo sum est.