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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 55B1 2 November 3, 2015 City Council Meeting Correspondence 55B - ESTABLISH A HOTEL DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM Date of Sender/Representative 11/3/2015 Ada Bricetio,Interim Executive Director 11/3/2015 Martin G. Lopez, Recording Secretary 11AgendasLExhiblh Correspondence Ddoe Agency Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD) Unite Here Local 11 OCCORD STRONG VOICE FOR A FAIR ECONOMY November 3, 2015 Mayor Miguel Pulido & City Councilmembers 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 CITY nvllrOF Dear Mayor Pulido and Councilmembers Amezeua, Benavides, Martinez, Reyna, Sarmiento, and Tinajero, Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD) urges you to postpone your vote on agenda item 55B, the hotel development incentive program. While we believe strongly that the city has a role to play in encouraging development and the creation of jobs, we believe that the draft hotel development incentive plan needs amendment. It has the potential to be a program that benefits the community of Santa Ana, but as it is currently written we cannot support it. A good hotel development incentive program can and should do the following: Create good jobs, prevailing wages and benefits promoting dignity and respect for all. Santa Ana has one of the lowest median incomes and highest poverty rates among Orange County's 34 cities. Jobs created by subsidizing private industry with tax dollars via a hotel incentive program must pay good living wages and provide benefits. Any hotel incentive program must include card -check neutrality as a condition required for recipients of public funds in the form of tax rebates and other subsidies. Participants in the hotel incentive program must also pay construction workers employed on the project the prevailing wage, and ensure that hotel employees are paid a living wage. Ensure that the project benefits the community that is subsidizing it. Developers participating in this program should also demonstrate a good -faith effort to hire Santa Ana residents. Many incentive programs across the United States include such provisions. Please postpone your vote on agenda item 55B until more input from stakeholders can be gathered. Unions, community nonprofits, and Santa Ana residents would all like to contribute to the development of the best possible incentive policies for our city. ncoly Ada Briceno Interim Executive Director, OCCORD UNITEHERE! LOCAL11 November 3, 2015 Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido & City Councilmembers 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 ClT�! C?( `0 P, a`;Tri CLERK OF Dear Mayor Pulido and Councilmembers Amezeua, Benavides, Martinez, Reyna, Sarmiento, and Tinajero, We at UNITE HERE Local I l respectfully request that you postpone your vote on agenda item 5513, the hotel development incentive program. As the union representing hotel workers in Orange and Los Angeles counties, we believe that a hotel development incentive program has the potential to benefit workers and residents in Santa Ana. However, we cannot support the current iteration of Santa Ana's proposed program. We hope to see Santa Ana's hotel development incentive program brought back to the city council at a later date with provisions that create good jobs, protect workers, ensure wages and benefits, and promote dignity and respect for all. We believe that card -check neutrality must be a requirement for hoteliers receiving public funds via subsidies and tax rebates, and that the incentive program should also guarantee that hotel workers and construction workers on the project are paid fair wages. A hotel development incentive program can be a great aid to the city's economy and community; we urge you to further develop this program to ensure that it creates good jobs for Santa Ana. Sincerely, J l Martit .Lpez Recording Secretary UNITE HERE Local 1.1 MAIN OFFICE 464 S. Lucas Ave., Suite 201 Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 481-8530 • Fax (213) 481-0352 GARDEN GROVE OFFICE 13252 Garden Grove Blvd., Sulte 200 Garden Grove, CA 92843 (714) 750-4373 • Fax (714) 750-2683 AIRPORT OFFICE 4634 W. Imperlal Hwy. Inglewood, CA 90304 (310) 671-0720 • Fax (310) 671-5021