Supply and demand – pay workers enough to live here

Editor, Index-Tribune:

In response to Robert Tenenbaum’s Sept. 19 letter on the minimum wage (“Minimum wage is just wrong”), I am curious, Mr. Tenenbaum, how you expect small businesses to even have employees if the employees do not make enough to live here and thus work here?

If wages don’t adjust with the cost of living in an area, then there are not enough people to provide services. In simple terms: If your server at your favorite restaurant cannot afford to live in Sonoma, how is your favorite restaurant going to find someone to serve you? No one is going to commute for a wage paying less than they would make in the town they can afford to live in.

A fundraiser, perhaps, to pay your server’s Sonoma rental?

The truth is, sir, people are leaving Sonoma because they cannot afford to stay. People who grew up here are having to get jobs elsewhere, in areas they can afford to live and work, and that is a big problem.

At some point, the economic bubble is going to burst, and if we don’t adjust to meet the cost of living that Sonoma economically demands, then we are going to be in deep trouble.

This issue is not about picking on the little guy, it’s basic economics of supply and demand. You want to supply the community with minimum wage workers? Then the community has to meet the demand of raising the wage so those workers can stay here.

Celeste Winders

Sonoma Valley