Todd Gloria, president of the San Diego City Council, has been attempting to live on $51 a week in order to prove a point about minimum wage. After subtracting average homeowner payments and taxes from a $9-per-hour minimum wage salary, Gloria’s office calculated that the average person living on minimum wage would have about $51 a week for all other expenses, including transportation, food, bills, and even child care.
Gloria has been outspoken about raising San Diego’s minimum wage in light of recent controversies and council disagreements in the past few weeks. In July, the city council approved an ordinance that would gradually increase the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 by January of 2017. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer used his veto power for the first time to veto the minimum wage ordinance, saying that it would make it harder for small businesses in the city to operate. The council then overrode the mayor’s veto only days later in a 6-2 vote.
Gloria explained that thousands of San Diegans have no choice but to live under such extreme circumstances. A petition backed by special interests would repeal the city’s minimum wage ordinance is being passed around San Diego, but Gloria hopes that this demonstration may convince the population to not sign it.
Read more about the council president’s social experiment here.