Orange County Register: The numbers don’t lie, Measure A will harm the city of Anaheim. Vote No on October 3.
By Sara Catalan
Numbers don’t lie.
Three economic studies prove that Measure A will have a negative impact on the city of Anaheim.
Measure A, the proposal on the Oct. 3 ballot was written by out-of-town special interests and asks residents to put their economy and city services at risk. Having worked in politics for more than two decades, I know how frustrating these confusing ballot measures can be.
At its core, Measure A asks you, the voters, to provide higher wages for hospitality workers indefinitely. Funding would come from the city of Anaheim and from the tourism industry – threatening the city’s General Fund and the livelihood of small businesses.
Supporters of Measure A claim it will provide necessary wages and safety devices for hotel and event center workers in Anaheim. The truth is small businesses can’t afford immediate, widespread wage increases and the city of Anaheim recently passed a measure that already requires hotels to provide personal security devices for employees who work directly with guests.
Anaheim thrives because of its diverse, family-owned small businesses and their invaluable and loyal employees. Many of these small family-owned properties barely survived the pandemic, this measure would be the final nail in the coffin for those businesses. Measure A seeks to destroy and damage these small businesses without any regard for the integral role of the hospitality sector — this is where the numbers come in.
The Anaheim City Council authorized two economic studies in July that found Measure A would profoundly harm operations at the Honda Center, Angel Stadium and critical city services while costing the city’s already struggling budget nearly $9 million annually. As a result, the City Council voted, 5-2, to oppose the Measure.
My colleagues with the No on Measure A coalition asked the smart people at Oxford Economics to analyze Measure A’s impact for us and to take a longer-term view. They concluded Measure A would cost Anaheim:
$475 million in visitor spending
5,128 jobs
$67 million in state and local tax revenue
$136 million in construction spending
These are the dangerous numbers that represent disastrous impacts for real people like you.
They have a direct effect on you – taxpayers, and residents who depend on city services. Measure A means fewer police, fewer firefighters, fewer tourism jobs, less construction and less construction jobs.
That is the real impact Measure A will have on all of us.
Measure A is bad for Anaheim now and in the future. So, I ask: Is it worth sacrificing Anaheim’s taxpayer dollars to please a special-interest group that only wants more money for their members?
Hundreds of diverse family-owned small businesses and hundreds of Anaheim residents say no.
The numbers don’t lie.
Sara Catalán is the President and CEO of the Orange County Taxpayers Association.
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