It has now been almost a year since the Green Party, in coalition with other groups forced the gang of developers, fat cat campaign contributors, and dealmakers aligned behind the Galleria Mall to accept their final marching orders.

While the demise of this latest in a series of proposed corporate welfare boondoggles was greeted with a gigantic sigh of relief, one question is reasonably asked of those us who were opposing the mall. That is, we know what you are against, what kind of economic development are you for? What is your solution to the seemingly permanent depression in New Haven and its victims in the Hill, Newhallville and even, as I saw with my own eyes, in East Rock? 

The answer: the living wage for all.

Something which many affluent New Haveners and suburbanites prefer to forget: not only do most poor people work, many of them work a lot harder than you and me. Anyone who doubts this needs only leaf through a few pages of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickle and Dimed in which one woman's frantic scavenging for a few dollars to pay the rent and get food on the table is related in gruesome detail and with mordant wit. With the time limits of Clinton's welfare reform bill only now kicking in, many more New Haveners will be living not the life of Riley, but the life of Ehrenreich.

New Haven is one of around fifty cities with a living wage ordinance on the books. All those covered receive wages and benefits enough to support a family just above the poverty level. This works out to $9.65 and hour plus benefits. Unfortunately, like almost all living wage ordinances, New Haven's is limited to a small number of workers for city contractors and those in the already downsized municipal work force. Since it covers so few, its effects in New Haven's poorest neighborhoods are relatively modest. And since the total amount of cash going into workers' pockets is relatively small, it can't provide much in the way of spinoff benefits to locally owned and operated businesses. 

But if the living wage ordinance could be expanded, not only would it make it possible for the workers covered to provide the basics for themselves and their families, it would function as a neighborhood based economic development program. Neighborhoods would now have a foundation on which to build local retail and service establishments. Mom and pop markets, restaurants, handymen and even contractors would have a customer base able to afford some of what they are offering. The living wage would become a cornerstone of what we in the Green Party are calling development from the bottom up as an alternative the top down schemes hatched by generations of machine politicians.

Expanding the living wage is much more than a pipe dream. One big ray of light is provided by the city of Santa Monica which, under Green Party Mayor Mike Feinstein, became the first municipality to pass a living wage ordinance applying to most of the city's large businesses. Could it happen here? Could New Haven become the second city in the country to pass an expanded living wage ordinance? Robert Pollin a Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst and the brains behind the Santa Monica ordinance says definitely yes. New Haven, for a variety of reasons, is a natural. The Green Party will have Prof. Pollin as a guest of an upcoming forum at our offices. Keep reading this space for an announcement of his appearance and get ready to hit the streets for the ELWO (Expanded Living Wage Ordinance) now!

Who is John Halle ?

John Halle is an assistant professor in the Department of Music at Yale University, a pianist, a composer, and an author of articles on music and politics. He has lived with his wife, Marka, a professional violinist, at their home on Eld St. since 1997.

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