Originally Posted By mawnck >>It's not from the goodness of their hearts;it's because they don't have much room to maneuver.<< Actually, they'll have plenty of room to maneuver, since the entire Seattle market will be hit with the increase at the same time. No pressure to keep your prices down when you know darn well that all your competitors need to raise theirs too. "What the market will bear" will change dramatically if this increase goes through. Any businesses who can't raise their prices to cover the increase will shut down. Or move to just outside the geographic area covered by the increase. I don't think a sudden raise to $15 is a good idea at all. $10.10 I can see. But $15.00? Nope, too disruptive. They're probably looking at the city of SeaTac, which went to $15 earlier this year, with little adverse effect on employment. But SeaTac's only industry is the Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, which can't move and doesn't have any local competition - a totally different scenario from Seattle itself.
Originally Posted By doombuggy "SeaTac's only industry is the Seattle/Tacoma International Airport" a judge ruled that the air port is under the port of Seattle authority so no $15 for them. Just surrounding hospitality and off site car parks got it.
