Quote of the Day

I was starting to think I might never type these words, but Portland Mayor Tom Potter is actually making some sense.

In today's Oregonian, we learn that negotiations on a new contract to operate PGE Park didn't include money for a "fair wage," which the city defines as at least $10.28 per hour. Without the fair wage provisions, all those hotdog vendors and ticket takers will likely make minimum wage (which increases to $7.50 next month).

It's not until the 16th -- and last -- paragraph of the story that we read Potter's comments:

"I think it's going to be an interesting discussion (at today's city council meeting), but I'm not convinced we need it," Mayor Tom Potter said. "I have strong feelings about providing good jobs. But these are part-time jobs, seasonal jobs."

Exactly. Part-time, seasonal jobs. Not living wage jobs. Many of which, by the way, are filled by school teachers looking for a little extra summer income. The Oregonian story tries to imply that the "fair wage" is necessary by suggesting that those poor schoolteachers are just scraping by:

Back when they borrowed $38.5 million to refurbish the old Civic Stadium, Portland leaders talked about making millions of dollars each year from the ballpark. That gave them the freedom to promise a fair wage to ballpark workers, many of them schoolteachers who relied on their stadium jobs for extra income. But the ballpark has proven a boondoggle, at least so far.

(The average school teacher salary is somewhere north of $40,000 a year, by the way.)

Regardless, is it really the city's responsibility to chip in another $350,000 for "fair wages" for such jobs? Especially when the city has lost millions upon millions in the park in the last five years?