Brewed Fresh Daily

: "Personally I would be delighted to see the Mayor make a second-term campaign issue out of raising the incomes of low-income Clevelanders. That's the only way to get a mandate from the voters to do something significant. But look, if we want immediate action instead of talk, here's a proposal: Let's ask the Mayor to lead a high-profile campaign to pressure heavily subsidized private employers like the Marriott Corporation (the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, still tax-abated after all these years) to raise all their employees' pay to the City 'fair employment wage' of $10 an hour. I guarantee that would lift hundreds of city residents across the poverty line. (Maybe some civic-minded organizations that are in the habit of holding conferences at these hotels could add their voices and rental fees to this effort.) And while we're at it, we could work to get Council to extend the Fair Employment Wage Law to major subsidized retail employers (who are currently exempt) before the city starts handing out abatements and loans to new malls and big-box stores."