Reject Measure U. Elect council candidates for change: Eleanor Thompson, Ahmad Anderson, and Vinay Pimplé
If there was any doubt that municipal employee labor unions are running Richmond, consider the business tax measure the City Council placed on the Nov. 3 ballot.
In December 2019, the council directed city staff to examine possible “revenue enhancement” measures. But instead of doing the work themselves, the staff effectively outsourced the job to a coalition led by labor unions.
Businesses that would be paying the tax learned the details in a video briefing by city staff only eight days before the council voted to put Measure U on the ballot. When asked during that briefing how rates in the ordinance were established, LaShonda White, acting deputy city manager, had to defer to a union representative to explain.
Measure U is a significant tax increase for many businesses. How many is unclear. That’s because there was no analysis of the effect of the measure on companies, the potential loss of jobs when they leave the city or the effect on rents when landlords pass on the costs to tenants.
It’s a shameful abdication of professional responsibility by city staff — enabled by a City Council majority that’s more concerned with revenues for municipal government employees than the greater good of the city.
Voters should reject Measure U. And they should elect council members who care more about preserving Richmond businesses that are struggling and the jobs they provide residents than placating labor union supporters.
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