Junto Boys

MAYOR BUDDY DYER IS GOING DOWN THE WRONG PATH

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was on the radio this morning being interviewed by the normally conservative hosts who didn’t seem to understand the economic implications of Mayor Dyer’s new idea. Dyer wants every business downtown to pay their employees a minimum of $8.50 and hour. These kinds of local minimum wage boosts have happened in other cities and are popular among workers that make less money, but inflated wages just inflate the cost of doing business and that inflates prices.

Buddy Dyer wants people to make a living wage without acquiring the necessary skills to do so. Does he understand what the consequences on “compassion?” Is he so caught up in populism that he doesn’t understand basic economics?

One result is that entry-level workers at the NYPD Pizza joint downtown will suddenly make more than their counterparts working at the NYPD Pizza place in Metro West. Since the higher wages won’t come with higher productivity, the downtown location will either have to charge more or have fewer employees than their eatery in Metro West. The result is that patrons will either get a cheaper price or better service outside of the city limits. Restaurants like NYPD Pizza do a good business during the day with people who work downtown, so the higher volume may help them in one area, but it’s that higher volume that makes the rent more expensive downtown also. The most likely result is businesses like NYPD Pizza will start closing after banker’s hours to make up for the slower traffic.

Downtown already has parking disadvantages and lacks a movie theatre. It’s not a tremendous draw to the average family. The relatively lower prices downtown compared to Downtown Disney and Universal’s City Walk gave downtown its one advantage. But places like Winter Park Village, Waterford Lakes and Pointe Orlando to a lesser extent are still much more attractive to locals trying to enjoy a night. Why should anyone go downtown when restaurants become fewer and prices become higher?

The end result will be fewer aggregate employees working downtown. With less demand for downtown storefronts, property will decrease in value. When property value decreases so will the property tax revenue derived from such. This will cause a deficit or a greater cut in city spending and services.

There is no free money. Every action the government takes will result in some reaction. When you start messing with people’s businesses, you run the risk of putting them out of business. If Storefront rent and regulation are cheaper outside the city, why should they choose to stay?

This sort of thing has been happening in bigger cities all over the country. Politicians that want to get re-elected steal from business and property owners to pay for their re-election. What good does any campaign finance reform do when politicians can just transfer money from a group with few votes to a group with many votes?

John Lindsey nearly wrecked New York City in the 1960s trying to provide all things to all people. It took 30 years to turn the city back around. Orlando shouldn’t let Buddy Dyer make the same mistakes.