Aerial view of downtown San Jose. (Helene Labriet-Gross/AFP/Getty Images)

What started as a San Jose State University class project has morphed into a real politics. In November, San Jose voters will vote on Measure D [PDF] – which would raise the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour.

Both sides claim their arguments are simple. If you think $8 an hour is not a livable wage in San Jose, then you should vote yes. If you think hiking the minimum wage by 25 percent would cost jobs, then vote no.

But like most things in life and politics, nothing is really that simple, as evidenced by the Measure D debate on KQED’s Forum Wednesday morning. One of the main arguments against Measure D is that it would make San Jose an island of higher minimum wage and would put San Jose businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

Larry Stone, Santa Clara County’s assessor and a local businessman, disagreed, pointing out that nearby cities Fremont and Campbell have different sales tax rates.

“So I don’t see any reason why San Jose cannot have its own minimum wage,” he said. “The other thing is it’s more expensive to live in San Jose than in other parts of the state. You cannot live on the same amount of money in San Jose as you can in Fresno or Redding or any other place in the state. So it makes sense to me to have a variance between the minimum wage as well as other costs, city by city depending on the cost of living.”

Matthew Mahood, president and CEO of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged the differences in sales tax rates but said Stone’s argument was “incomplete.” Mahood talked about the geography of the San Jose area and how main streets ignore city borders.

“You have main corridors — Bascom Avenue, Stevens Creek Boulevard — where if this minimum wage increase is passed, on one side of the street you’ll have employers paying one minimum wage under one set of government-mandated regulations, and on the other side of the street you’ll have businesses at a competitive advantage paying a lower wage,” he said. “Valley Fair Mall has Santa Clara on one side and San Jose on the other. The city border runs right down the middle of that mall. So within one mall you can have two different wage rates.”

The two men sparred over whether researchers had found that minimum wage increases had no impact on jobs (Stone) or were split (Mahood). In any case, the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber is Commerce is releasing a report later this week which, Mahood says, shows that Measure D will cost jobs.

Mahood also said a poll of the Chambers membership who employee minimum wage workers showed that 67 percent said they would cut hours and 43 percent they would have to lay off workers. He said a hike from $8 an hour to $10 — a 25 percent increases plus payroll taxes on top of the wage increase — is too much at once.

Stone returned to the moral argument — that $8 an hour is simply not a livable wage. “The main point on this is it’s the right thing to do. People who work hard, who play by rules should make a fair wage,” he stated. “Workers should be able to live modestly where they work. You cannot live on $16,400 a year or $1,300 a month when that’s $500 less than the average rent right now of $1,800 in San Jose. The current wage is simply not livable and I think it’s deplorable that anyone would not favor this.”

Learn More about Measure D:

Listen to the Complete Forum Discussion on Measure D:

San Jose’s Measure D Would Raise City’s Minimum Wage 25 Percent

In San Jose, Once a Class Project, Now a Major Political Battle 

What was once just a class project has taken on a life of its own, with business and labor lining up against each other in campaigns run by seasoned professionals.

As we reported Tuesday, San Jose voters will decide in November on a minimum wage measure that  started as a student class project at San Jose State University. Measure D would raise wages from $8.00 an hour to $10.00 and is gaining support from a growing coalition that includes labor unions and non-profit organizations like Catholic Charities and United Way.  Business groups, on the other hand, have said they plan to spend more than a million dollars in opposition.

Albert Perez, Diana Crumedy and Saul Gomez, students who started San Jose minimum wage measure. (Peter Jon Shuler/KQED)

Last January, San Jose State students taking a class on social action kicked off the petition drive for the measure, after being the first to sign. They had just spent nearly a year fundraising, conducting public opinion polls and going out into the community to gather support. And within just five weeks, they collected more than enough valid signatures to qualify the measure for San Jose’s November ballot.

Sociology professor Scott-Myers Lipton designed the class to help students make the leap from merely thinking and talking about issues to engaging in the political process.

“Our culture doesn’t do a great job in asking our students much more than this idea of voting,” he says. “And so how do we impact social policy? That’s not a question they’re familiar with or I think that the students feel they can actually have a say in.”

Myers-Lipton says instead of feeling helpless or railing against social problems, his students identify the issues that concern them then learn concrete ways to take action. This class developed the minimum wage measure based on their own struggles to get by on $8.00 an hour. Now Measure D has taken on a life of its own, with business and labor lining up against each other in campaigns run by seasoned professionals. Supporters say the state minimum is too low for San Jose’s high cost of living; opponents say a wage hike would be a job killer in a precarious economy.

A number of students from last year’s social action class have already graduated, but they’re still hard at work on the campaign. At a campus coffee shop, three former classmates reflect on their transformation into political organizers. Twenty-three-year old Albert Perez says even students who are motivated to get involved in politics can find it difficult to navigate the system. He says working on a campaign in the context of a class gives young people the tools and support they would otherwise lack.

“From the first moment we started this campaign, we knew that we wanted to [participate] in the democratic process,” he says. “We wanted to make sure it was done the right way, that it was done in the American way and that the people in San Jose had a voice.”

And it wasn’t easy, says student Diana Crumedy.

“It doesn’t happen overnight. And I think a lot of people think that ‘well, I signed a petition.’ Or I’m mad! Like being mad meant something. It means something if you’re willing to put action…behind it and commit to staying…through the long haul and reaching out to other members of the community and forming allies. Being mad alone doesn’t solve much.”

Crumedy and her classmates are now in full campaign mode, walking precincts, working phone banks and making speeches  — all the while holding down jobs and managing their personal lives. Crumedy is a single mom with an 11-year-old son. She says she understands how many of her peers feel alienated from politics.

“The process is more complicated than it needs to be,” she says. “And it gives people the feeling that they’re not supposed to be involved. That they don’t, honestly, want you to be involved.”

Saul Gonzales came to the class with a fervor for social change. But he found sitting through hours of city council meetings agonizingly slow and bureaucratic. Working on the minimum wage campaign made him see the value of working within the system.

“Once you become a community activist, you realize politics is the way to make changes,” he says. “Because that’s the only avenue that society has chosen to have a democratic process. And so, whether you like politics or not, (if) you want to make a change, you have to be involved.”

Perez say after this campaign, he can see himself taking on other community issues.

“It’s a big first step, but it’s a first step. There is so much more that I feel as an organization and for myself that I want to accomplish within the next couple of  years that are along the same lines. Things like reducing poverty, helping the youth and helping the communities in San Jose.”

Professor Myers-Lipton says he hopes all of his students learn that democracy is not a spectator sport and that they really can make a difference.

“It’s good for our democracy to have this type of engagement, whether we win or lose. Of course we want to win, but I think, you know, it’s been a great learning experience, and as a professor I care deeply about that, too.”

So as San Jose voters debate the merits of the measure, the students know they’ve unleashed something bigger than themselves. And they hope their efforts will inspire others to engage.

In November, San Jose residents will vote on whether or not to become one of the few cities in the nation to raise its minimum wage above the state level. If approved, Measure D would raise the city’s minimum wage from the state floor of $8.00 an hour to $10.00. San Francisco has a similar ordinance on the books, currently mandating hourly pay of at least $10.24.

The roots of the initiative go back to San Jose State University students, who were struggling to make ends meet. Elisha St. Laurent is a behavioral science major and the single mom of a 5-year-old boy. She expects to graduate next June.

Alisha St. Laurent(left) signs a petition from Leila McCab (right) to raise San Jose's minimum wage at San Jose State. Photo by Peter Jon Shuler/KQED News

“I work at an electronics store and we make minimum wage there. So it’s definitely not an easy thing being a part-time employee and then a full-time student,” she says.

But many businesses have lined up against the measure, and opponents say they’re ready to spend more than a million dollars to defeat it.

That campaign has brought together some surprising allies. John Hogan is CEO of TeenForce, a non-profit group that helps foster-youth and other minors acquire work experience. So you might think he’d be in favor of raising their pay.

“Yeah, it’s probably ironic that I’m running a youth jobs program and I might be against this — which I am,” he says.

Hogan calls Measure D the wrong solution to a real problem. Although he thinks the minimum wage should be higher, he doesn’t believe it should be a a city-by-city decision. And he says it will create more obstacles for the kids his organization helps. “These more disadvantaged youth are the ones that are tending to start at the minimum wage and we’re going to have a harder time finding jobs for them,” he says.

At the Good Karma Vegan Cafe, owner Ryan Summers says hearing about the measure inspired him to raise wages ahead of the November vote. But he understands why it has some employers worried.

“If you’d asked me two years ago if I would have been able to afford a pay raise for my employees, I would have said no way. And [the hard part is] small businesses just barely scrape by sometimes.” Summers says he increased salaries because he felt it was the right thing to do. “If you’re in a position to do something more for your employees and the community, I feel like you should.”

A poll of likely voters taken before the petition drive, conducted by the students, showed overwhelming support for raising the minimum wage. But retired San Jose State political science professor Terry Christensen says that was before the opposition had organized.

“All things being equal, people would be inclined to vote in favor of this, but all things will not be equal,” Christensen says. “There will be a strong opposition campaign that will be communicating, and I think they’ll have a credible message. So it’s going to be a real test of the campaign skills and abilities — and really reaching out to voters and persuading them.”

One of the contrasts, says Christensen, is that the Yes side will be largely a grass-roots, volunteer campaign, while the No campaign will be conducted primarily through the media.