Two weeks ago we're at another restaurant establishment having our it
was my third or fourth Chamber of Commerce Little Village meeting we were
talking about the economic development on 26th Street here in Little Village,
the heart of Little Village community and a week prior to that the alderman
and I visited Zapata school the new modernization that's going on but not
only the modernization of the school but also talking about a new park associated
with that school and like all good alderman but he's a great alderman
heroes a new playground out of me on that visit it's a costly visit any time
you're with all the Romano's and you should know that he does a great job
representing the community here so a little fact that everybody should know
outside to Michigan Avenue I called 26th Street the two magnificent
miles it produces more sales revenue for the city of Chicago in the state of
Illinois than any other Street but Michigan Avenue and it's the little
businesses and the small businesses and the mom-and-pop restaurants and all the
other pieces of the business that make up little village that drive the economy
and the quality of life in little village and a lot of people when the
alderman myself and Andy's up we're advocating raising the minimum wage oh
you're gonna knock out small businesses you're gonna destroy small businesses
well first of all we should pay people 825 an hour not we but that was the
minimum wage starting July 1 it goes up to $12 a 45 percent increase
no parent who works full-time should raise a child in poverty that should be
a basic and the incomes I just like everybody to know all the people all the
naysayers all the cynics all the critics jobs are up in Chicago the minimum wage
is up in Chicago poverty is down in Chicago and 36,000 fewer kids are in
poverty today than when we started when we 825 everybody to know as the chart
shows you minimum wage in Illinois is still 825
this is turn right back here that's the difference the blue is Chicago the red
is Illinois if you work in Chicago and starting right here on Sunday
it goes up to $12 start at 825 next year will be $13 in Illinois they don't have
an increase in the minimum wage Chicago were ensuring that if you work work pace
that should be a basic I worked for President Clinton when there wasn't a
minimum wage increase when I was a member of Congress I voted for a minimum
wage increase we did a commission there are some people that disagreed with it
but we pushed ahead and all the dire predictions that the sky was going to
fall businesses were gonna shut her jobs were gonna flee the opposite and more
importantly than the jobs grew people's income grew and poverty overall and
poverty specifically among children declined there is other things that went
into it a healthy growing economy the expansion of the Earned Income Tax
Credit then also complements the minimum wage but more importantly than anything
else in a home where there's a person working for a minimum wage and a child
we all know this is socialized that child now goes up in a home knowing that
work counts and work pays rather than the opposite and that's a very important
value you just cannot study just by looking at a chart I do want to say what
is complementary to this is not just to Earned Income Tax Credit that's about to
school and other schools starting this fall
if you work we're gonna also ensure your child has full-day free universal pre-k
so that if you work your child is not penalized and not having early childhood
education if you have if you're poor there's headstart if your work you're
left up to a sister that cost $13,000 a child we're gonna make sure it's free
it's full-day and over a four-year period Universal but we're going to
start with working parents to complement so you can be both a good employee and a
good parent and it's not an opposition and it's about the school is an example
in the neighborhoods a little village in the community are gonna be complemented
to that area and in that investment and I think this is important also to note
then in the period of time the minimum wage went out a dozen eggs back in 2014
was $2.99 if you go out that's about what it is today but that's not true for
the minimum wage the minimum wage is now $12 an hour not 8:25 back in 2014 a
gallon of milk was about 279 it's about that price today meaning as the minimum
wage has gone from 825 up to $12 milk and eggs that prices stayed stable
it's not true about energy and we know that so it's not all so it's not exactly
always the same so we have to ensure that people who work at the minimum wage
are getting a raise their children are getting daycare universal pre-k and
we're making sure that more importantly than just the wages we're also growing
jobs we're growing jobs throughout the city of Chicago the aldermen and I were
not far from here when Unilever expanded their mandates factories we're not far
from here where we also opened up the people's gas training facility for
people they're going to be pipe fitters throughout the city of Chicago so these
are all complementary investments this is an example from sapota to Unilever to
people's gas to this restaurant to having a marketing strategy around the
Midwest for the little village community of growing jobs growing the minimum wage
and making sure that if you work work pays here in the city of Chicago it's
now my honor because a lot of the complaints sometimes are critic
are those who say that small businesses get worse affected and Kenya runs our
small businesses in the chief administrator for that I do then though
want to make one comment the Laura talked about because you can do all the
other things but miss out also on an important value because the minimum wage
is not just economics not just a pocketbook it's whether you stand by the
principle of work that's a value it's also a value in the sense of what we say
to immigrants from around the world who come to Chicago and today the Supreme
Court made a decision I disagree with
and I say that by also saying one other thing elections count and we had a
different election we'd have a different Supreme Court that was a decision that
was 5-4 and I can tell you a different president would have a nominated a
different Supreme Court justice a former president had an opening and made a
nomination that I think that also that decision would have been different I
don't agree with this decision but we are a nation of laws and therefore it's
a Supreme Court but I think it very importantly to complement the values
that go behind an increase in the religious of values that also reflect
that we are a nation of immigrants who come here work hard almost half the new
businesses and small businesses are started by immigrants you cannot be pro
small business and not Pro immigration and so I say that I mean letting know
that I I disagree with this decision and I know this is the kind this is the
first result of you can see of a consequence of a decision because with a
different president you would have a different nominee and a different
nominee you would have a different decision first of all you would never
have had a travel ban the first if Hillary Clinton would not
have approached it that way that said do not have a Supreme Court it would have
rolled five for the way they did today
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