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Crown City Eatery Owners Frustrated With Pasadena Mayor
News Jul 18, 2017
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(Left to right) Robin Salzer, owner of Robin’s Ribs, and Abel Ramirez owner of El Portal, while frustrated with the city after a meeting with the mayor last week, decided with other restaurateurs in Pasadena to form a PAC in the form of Pasadena Restaurant Owners Association.
Recent meeting spawns birth of Pasadena Restaurant Owners’ Association
Photo and Story by By Terry Miller
With the minimum wage increase now in effect in Pasadena since July 1, more questions than answers have inundated local restaurant owners, particularly the smaller “mom and pop” operations, where the increase could endanger their very operations and ultimately their future.
A meeting which took place for about an hour in Pasadena Council Chambers last Thursday, was initiated by Mayor Tornek in an endeavor to see what he and the city could do to help this vital segment of Pasadena’s business community.
The Mayor knew he’d be facing some tough questions but ultimately, the majority of the hour was spent discussing the controversial minimum wage increase and how it could hinder their particular restaurants.
“It’s a work in progress…” Mayor Tornek told Pasadena Independent in a telephone interview on Monday afternoon. We tailored our minimum wage increase to $12 per hour after the City of Los Angeles and County…we opted for a measured rollout after that.”
Tornek said, “I understand how difficult this business is and how [restaurant owners] feel besieged and under pressure. I get it.”
“I voted for the $24,000 minimum wage, sure…” Tornek continued, but reiterated that he hears restaurants’ issues loud and clear and wants everyone in business in Pasadena to succeed.
“Each restaurant has different needs, but all have a common theme,” Tornek concluded.
Mayor Tornek convened the meeting last week. – Photo by Terry Miller
Not everyone agrees with the Mayor’s assessment.
Gregg Smith of the Smith Brothers’ Restaurants said he was “insulted by [Mayor] Tornek’s “luke-warm” political statement. So many words with nothing to back them up. He was trying to say nothing and he succeeded. Typical.”
Robin Salzer, owner of Robin’s Ribs said, “There seems to be no respect for our industry. We hire first timers and we hire retired seniors. We collectively raise an incredible amount of sales tax that in part stays in Pasadena. We give a ridiculous amount of food and beverage away to almost every charity or non-profit that calls on us, so much that our industry is now on the verge of being a non-profit ourselves because we supported the wrong leaders and didn’t or couldn’t organize ourselves into the formidable city stakeholders that we truly are.”
Salzer added, “At a previous meeting, which Gregg and Bob Smith hosted at the Arroyo Chophouse, then City Council member Terry Tornek said that he did in fact support a minimum wage increase. I believe that we all supported an increase but had concerns about the process to be employed. Terry said that if elected he would appoint an ad hoc committee of local business, church and community leaders, some from the room that we were all in to help craft a minimum wage ordinance that would then go to Ed Tech and ultimately on to the City Council. We all left the meeting with Terry encouraged that we as small business owners would be a part of the process. That never happened and the process started with Ed Tech. We never had the opportunity promised to be a part of this democratic process.”
Salzer continued, “The city ordinance reads that any business with 25 or more employees must raise their minimum wage employees to $12.00 per hour on July 1. I have 22 employees and raised all of my minimum wage earners to $12.00 and gave raises to those who earn anywhere from $13.00 to $20.00. Everybody got a raise. This isn’t all about the minimum wage; this is about the process, promised process or lack of process.”
“The Polystyrene and Plastic Bag Ban fell on deaf ears too. I personally am all in on recycling and being green and practicing it, but these bans and the wage increase were a triple hit in the same year or two. The sad thing is that the majority of our local ‘leaders’ are our best friends when it’s campaign time and they want our campaign contributions but not our input and ideas once that check has been cashed,” Salzer remarked.
We asked Salzer if the meeting last week was fruitful, to which Salzer replied, “Absolutely….this meeting inspired the restaurant owners in attendance to start the Pasadena Restaurant Association.”
“The first planning meeting (for Pasadena Restaurant Owners’ Association- PROA) took place Monday, July 17 at Cameron’s Seafood.
Workers, employers and businesses operating in Pasadena were reminded that new increases to local minimum wages took effect July 1, 2017 and any adjustments should have been made or need to be made now, according to a press release sent out last week by the City of Pasadena.
Robin Salzer and Pete Gallanis at the meeting last week -Photo by Terry Miller
Pete Gallanis, owner of Cameron’s Seafood had this to say:
“I am opposed to the wage. The mayor should show more support for business and not increase the wage …”
Mayor Tornek vehemently denies he ever said he would follow state guidelines. He told Pasadena Independent that he was waiting to see what the county and City of Los Angeles would adopt as far as minimum wage requirements and thus $12 per hour became the law on July 1.
This is year two of the city’s minimum wage ordinance that began last year. The city’s ordinance is a multi-phase, multi-year approach to elevating the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020.
As of July 1, employers with 26 or more employees must pay a minimum of $12 per hour. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, the minimum wage is $10.50 per hour.
For updated information from the city, go to www.cityofpasadena.net/MinimumWage. This website also has the formal notices available in several languages that can be printed and displayed for employees to read.
For any complaints, workers can contact the city via the Citizen Service Center, by phone at (626) 744-7311 or go to www.cityofpasadena.net/citizen-service-center. Additional information will be available at the consumer kiosk stations at the Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave., and the Villa-Parke Community Center, 363 E. Villa St. The online compliant form is available at www.cityofpasadena.net/Planning/MinimumWageComplaintForm.
Anyone who wishes to file a complaint should provide as much specific documentation as possible, including paystubs that show hourly wages paid. Anonymous complaints can be received, but code enforcement and compliance could be limited.
Pasadena’s local ordinance was approved prior to the state law, and the state law did not specifically prohibit local jurisdictions from passing local minimum wage ordinances. As a result, companies and businesses with employees working in Pasadena must comply with the city’s ordinance whenever the local, municipal law exceeds the standards of the state law. Additional increases are scheduled to occur at the same time in 2018.
