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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015
NY servers seek raise as restaurant owners defend tip system
By DEEPTI HAJELA AND
DAVID KLEPPER
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — In more
than a decade slinging drinks,
bartender Autumn Alston has
depended on tips to earn a living,
leading to an often-inconsistent
income from some customers
who tip a lot, some who stiff and
a few who make cringe-induc-
ing suggestions.
“There was a time when a
guy was like, ‘If you pull your
shirt down a little more you’d
probably get more money,”’ said
the 32-year-old mother of two
from the Bronx. “This is what
you go through working in this
industry.”
Alston and other service
workers who depend on tips are
at the center of New York State’s
latest minimum-wage debate —
whether to raise the “below min-
imum-wage.”
Like most states, New York
allows restaurants and hotels to
pay servers, busboys and other
tipped workers less than min-
imum wage — $5 per hour in-
stead of $8.75 — as long as they
make up the difference with tips.
Oregon’s minimum wage laws
AP Photo/Richard Drew
A bartender works behind the bar at an establishment in
New York. New York is considering raising the sub-mini-
mum to $7 an hour to decrease the reliance on tips. But
restaurant owners are fighting the proposal, which they
say would lead to higher menu prices and hurt the very
employees it’s designed to help.
require all employees to earn the
full minimum wage per hour,
currently at $9.25. Washington
is also one of only seven states
that require servers to get min-
imum wage, set at $9.47 now.
The federal minimum wage is
$7.25 an hour.
Now New York is consid-
ering raising the sub-minimum
to $7 an hour to decrease the
Washington
lawmakers introduce
unusual proposals
ages of 18 and 21 to taste
alcohol in relevant cours-
es, such as viticulture.
Rep. Sherry Appleton,
OLYMPIA — Would D-Poulsbo, co-sponsored
your legislator ever con- HB 1024, which would
sider decriminalizing her- remove the felony clas-
oin possession? Or may- VL¿FDWLRQ IURP GUXJ SRV-
be turning the Supreme session charges, reducing
Court justices’ elections them to simple misde-
partisan? What about al- meanors. The bill is set to
lowing teenagers to taste be presented to the House
alcohol?
Public Safety Committee
The 2015 legislative on Jan. 16, but Appleton
session is just getting start- believes it’s too early to
ed, but already some pro- predict how the proposal
posed bills are likely to will do.
turn a few heads.
“I expect that moving
Sixteen Republicans this through the Legis-
and three Democrats have lature will be a big chal-
sponsored House Bill lenge, and I can’t predict
1051, which would require whether we’ll make it this
Supreme Court justices — year or not,” she said via
EXWQRRWKHUMXGLFLDORI¿FHU email. “What I hope to
in the state — to declare a accomplish is to improve
SDUWLVDQ DI¿OLDWLRQ ZKHQ on the situation we now
running for election. One KDYHZKLFK¿QGVXVZLWK
sponsor, Rep. Hans Dun- people still incarcerated in
shee, D-Snohomish, has our state for simple pos-
called the bill more of a session.”
poke at the Supreme Court
Appleton’s identical
than a genuine attempt to bill last year never made
pass legislation.
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The bill comes in re- proposing the same bill
sponse to the Supreme multiple times is not un-
Court’s 2012 McCleary common in the Legisla-
decision, which requires ture.
legislators to pass funda-
“All ideas need to start
mental reforms to state somewhere,” said inde-
education funding. The pendent pollster Stuart El-
bill’s sponsors believe way. “If they know it’s not
the Supreme Court vio- going to pass this time,
lated the separation of PD\EH QH[W WLPH RU ¿YH
powers by telling legis- years down the road it’ll
lators explicitly what to gain traction. There’s a
do, and therefore “should lot of [bills] that take two
be considered partisan or three sessions before
like the Legislature,” ac- they ever make it further
cording to the bill’s first along.”
section.
Among other interest-
Sen. Jan Angel, R-Port ing bills is a measure to
Orchard, has sponsored outlaw breed-based dog
Senate Bill 5008, which bans, which some dog
would amend the state owners believe unfairly
GH¿QLWLRQRID³EHYHUDJH´ target certain breeds with-
to exclude beer and other out the science to back
malt drinks. The proposal up the bans. Another pro-
is all about the container, posed bill would create an
though not the liquid in- advisory committee to set
side. The bill would allow East Asian-medicine stan-
business owners to sell dards.
beer in a new type of con-
The fate or future of
tainer with a recyclable any of these proposals
lid. That type of bottle is rests with the legislative
prohibited under current process that opened Mon-
law.
day in Olympia. For the
HB 1004, co-sponsored FXULRXV ELOOV ¿OHG DQG
by Rep. Larry Spring- their hearing schedule if
er, D-Kirkland, and nine referred to committee may
others, would allow com- be accessed at http://app.
munity colleges and uni- leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ For
versities to hold alcohol Legislature
committee
tastings for those over the schedules, go to http://leg.
age of 18. It would also wa.gov/legislature/pages/
allow people between the calendar.aspx
By COOPER INVEEN
WNPA Olympia News
Bureau
reliance on tips. But restaurant
RZQHUVDUH¿JKWLQJWKHSURSRV-
al, which they say would lead to
higher menu prices and hurt the
very employees it’s designed to
help.
Seven states including Cal-
ifornia have eliminated their
tipped wage altogether, requir-
ing all tipped workers to be paid
the minimum wage before tips.
the birds’ nests on their build-
LQJVRUIDFH¿QHV
Seagulls are a federally
protected species and can’t be
disturbed once they settle into
nests and lay eggs.
A few falcons will also be
released by trainers to sweep
over rooftops too. Officials
say the idea with the rap-
local publication calls the “Best
Burger in Buffalo.” He said sig-
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— over time — erode the Amer-
ican tipping tradition, prompting
diners to tip less, knowing their
server makes more in an hourly
wage.
“In Canada, they make more,
they tip less,” he said. “It’s in-
grained in us, tip 15, 20 percent.
That’s how it works.”
Those who work in the in-
dustry say tips can be hit-or-
miss. Some days bring in more
tips than others, and sometimes
they’re required to split the tip
take with other employees.
Marco Soto, 43, from Ecua-
dor, has worked as a waiter, a
bar runner, a bus boy and a food
deliveryman. Through a transla-
tor, he said he never got all the
tips he was due. For example,
when he worked making deliv-
eries and the bill was paid by
credit card, he didn’t always get
those tips.
“Sometimes I used to work
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home with $200 a week,” he
said.
The federal tipped wage of
$2.13 per hour hasn’t changed in
20 years. A White House report
this year recommended raising
that wage, and noted that wom-
en make up nearly three-quarters
of tipped workers. Restaurant
servers are almost three times as
likely to experience poverty as
workers in other industries.
The median wage for New
York’s 133,550 waiters and
waitresses is $19,103.
Opponents of a higher tipped
wage say enforcement of labor
laws is a better way to ensure
employers are following the
law, which requires employers
to make up the difference if an
employee’s tips don’t add up to
the minimum wage.
Heather Briccetti, president
of the Business Council of New
York State, serves on the state
wage board and said raising
the tipped wage too high would
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“The average wage in
many of these establishments
is already well above the mini-
mum wage,” she said. “Tipped
wage workers have always op-
erated under a different struc-
ture (than other workers). A
dramatic increase would cer-
tainly harm employment in the
industry.”
Library: Project tops the list at
City Council’s goal-setting session
Continued from Page 1A
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however, Councilor Drew
Herzig objected to the use of
the word “renovation” given
the public concern about the
Waldorf, so councilors only
agreed to include a library
project on their wish list.
Mayor Arline LaMear, a
former librarian who favors the
library renovation plan, said the
City Council would hold a work
session to sort through the issue.
Brett Estes, the city manager,
said city staff is awaiting direc-
tion on the library from the new
mayor and council.
“I think that’s why he’s asking
us for some direction, because
we don’t know where everybody
is on this council,” LaMear said
after the goal-setting session.
“And, in fact, the preliminary
discussions I’ve had with the two
new members — they’re not sure
how they’re going to vote.
“So I think we need to have a
whole lot more discussion. And I
think that’s why a work session is
going to be helpful, because we
really need to know where every-
body on the council stands.
“Are we going reverse what
the former council decided to
do?” she asked. “If so, we’re go-
ing to go back to step one in a lot
of ways. And we did put several
years and a lot of money into
this plan as it is right now.”
Herzig believes the city is
at a good point with the library
project “because the commu-
nity has awakened to the plans
that were being discussed and is
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what they would like to see and
what they would not like to see.
“So I’m glad that we were
able to take a step back. I don’t
think it’s a waste. I think it’s a
very important step to make sure
that we’re moving this in the di-
rection that the community can
really support, because without
community support, there’s no
ZD\ ZH FDQ ¿QDQFH D QHZ OL-
brary for the city.
“We truly need one,” Herzig
said. “But we truly need one that
as many community members
as possible can support.”
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ed with coordinated outreach
by preservationists about the
Waldorf before the goal-setting
session. A makeshift appeal also
appeared on a window of the
dilapidated hotel between City
Hall and the library that read:
“Save the Merwyn.”
In a letter earlier this month
to the mayor and City Council,
Ted Osborn, the president of the
Lower Columbia Preservation
Society, urged the city to cease
any consideration of razing the
Drones record seagull nests in California
PACIFIC GROVE, Calif.
(AP) — A California seaside
community plans to deploy
drones to record video of
rooftop nests that need to be
removed to protect seagulls.
The Monterey Herald re-
ports (http://bit.ly/1J9fWFP)
that business property owners
have until Feb. 20 to remove
Supporters and opponents
of higher wages see the tipped
wage debate as a preview of
D ODUJHU OHJLVODWLYH ¿JKW RYHU
the standard minimum wage.
In 2013, New York lawmakers
voted to gradually raise it from
$7.25 to $9 per hour at the end
of 2015. New York Mayor Bill
de Blasio and other supporters
now want lawmakers to raise
it to $10.10 and authorize local
governments to set it even high-
er. On Sunday, New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo reiterated his
support for the overall minimum
wage to increase to $10.50.
New York’s tipped wage
hasn’t gone up since 2011. It’s
up to Cuomo’s labor commis-
sioner to decide whether to raise
it again, and a state wage board
was tasked with coming up with
a recommendation. This month
the board voted against elimi-
nating the wage entirely and is
expected to vote on the increase
to $7 in the coming weeks.
Restaurant owners argue
a hike would dramatically in-
crease labor costs, putting some
out of business.
Dominic Ruzzine runs the
Rock Bottom Eatery outside of
Buffalo — home to what one
tors and drones is to give the
birds a safe place to lay their
nests.
Once the drone video is in,
property owners will be sent
photos of the nests and told to
remove them.
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UDSWRUVZLOOQRWÀ\RYHUUHVL-
dential areas.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
A woman walks by a sign pasted on the window of the Waldorf Hotel Friday. Last Janu-
ary, the City Council voted to accept a renovation plan that involved expanding the As-
toria Library into the Waldorf Hotel. That plan is now in doubt after efforts by the Lower
Columbia Preservation Society and after councilors Cindy Price and Zetty Nemlowill
said they want more information about the plan.
CITY COUNCIL’S OTHER PRIORITIES
• Work toward a strategic plan.
• Improve Heritage Square.
• Promote positive economic development through
strengthening partnerships and streamlining processes.
• Improve the safety and efficiency of the transpor-
tation system by: advocating for an Astoria bypass;
evaluating the retaining wall system under downtown
streets; addressing pedestrian safety; and consider-
ing two-way traffic on Bond Street.
• Promote housing Astorians can afford.
• Implement the Riverfront Vision Plan.
• Develop a parks and recreation master plan.
• Address maintenance and operations issues at the
city’s Ocean View Cemetery.
• Develop an improvement plan for the western gate-
way to the city.
• Hold a public presentation on the city’s emergen-
cy-preparedness plan.
hotel. He suggested that the li-
brary might be expanded into
WKH JURXQG ÀRRU RU EDVHPHQW
of the hotel or the nearby Elks
building. The city could also
pursue other alternatives, such
as expanding up or down at the
library’s existing location.
“If the Merwyn Hotel is
razed, another important piece
of Astoria’s unique heritage
will be lost forever,” Osborn
said. “If, on the other hand, it
is spared and its presence be-
side City Hall revered and rec-
ognized by the City Council as
the community asset it once was
and can be again, those people
whose passion it is to repurpose
old structures could see the city
as a potential partner, and viable
solutions could and would be
given a chance to follow.”
Estes assured councilors
Friday that the city has not dis-
cussed an acquisition price with
the Waldorf’s private owner,
Groat Brothers Inc., a transpor-
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Washington state. An attempt to
demolish the hotel a few years
ago was rejected by the city’s
Historic Landmarks Commis-
sion. At that time, there were
public estimates about the cost
of demolition and what the city
might be willing to pay for the
property.
The library project topped
the list at the City Council’s
goal-setting session, an annual
planning and relationship-build-
ing exercise — moderated by
Wes Hare, the city manager of
Albany — meant to help focus
the council’s policy agenda for
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PUBLIC NOTICE
CMH ENT/Cosmetic Surgery Clinic to close Feb. 20, 2015
After two years of dedicated service, Dr. Christopher Nyte
will be leaving Astoria and the CMH ENT/Cosmetic Surgery
Clinic will be closing.
Dr. Nyte will continue to keep scheduled appointments until
Feb. 20, 2015, and will ensure that his patients have alternative
options if they have been under his care. Any patients who
have seen Dr. Nyte in the CMH ENT/Cosmetic Surgery
Clinic in the past 2 years will be able to access their records
through the CMH Medical Records department; the phone
number is 503-338-7528.