Calling it a “disparity strikes at the very core of who we are as a democratic society,” Mayor Ed Murray last month committed to addressing Seattle’s growing income divide.
Leaders in business and labor, members of the City Council, and other community stakeholders will serve on his ‘Income Inequality Advisory Committee,’ a workgroup charged with delivering an actionable set of recommendations for increasing the minimum wage within Seattle.
Five of the committee members are of Asian descent: Primela Jayapal, co-chair of We Belong Together; Bruce Harrell, city council member; Kshama Sawant, city council member; Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University; and Pam Banks, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.
The Advisory Committee will submit its recommendations by May 2014 to Murray, who will then transmit a formal proposal for City Council review and action by the end of July. (end)