In a sea of 30,000 bright spandex butts , Sunday May 6, I rode in the 42-mile Five Borough Bike Club tour. As a volunteer, my job was to help riders who were in mechanical, logistical or physical trouble (fix flats, find bike shops, offer drink & encouragement, call backup). Keep the riders safe and happy. It was a crisp bright day – perfect for a moderate ride. One rider’s story of past tours, which captured the flavor well, I thought, appeared in the NY Times City Section . See some of this year’s photos here. You can still sign up for the smaller, shorter Tour de Brooklyn on Sunday June 3, 2007 sponsored by Transportation Alternatives . It’s free, not too taxing and experience is not required. Online registration, it has been said, will close May 31, 2007 -- so do it now.

The Minimum Wage has not gone up –- it’s still stuck where it’s been all these years. Are you surprised? I was. I had thought that both House & Senate had agreed on a plan – a small increase in the minimum wage coupled with tax beaks for small employers (Not the best deal, in my view, but a deal.) As it happens, the minimum wage increase has been tied into the Supplemental Spending Bill for Iraq. When President Bush vetoed the Supplemental, he vetoed the minimum wage as well. The Jewish Funds For Justice almost alone seems to have noticed the linkage of the minimum wage boost with the Supplemental has stalled a wage hike for the lowest paid among us: e.g. -- click here, here and here . Should our Congress Members consider a stand-alone minimum wage boost?

From Let Justice Roll

Don't Let America 's Workers Wait Any Longer
CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-459-1887

Join with Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign: tell Congress finish the job on minimum wage!

Friday, May 11th - Tuesday May 15th

Background: By February 1st, both the House and Senate passed minimum wage bills that increased the wage in three steps to $7.25. Yet, four months later, the bill is stalled and millions of minimum wage workers are still making $5.15 an hour. Tell Congress to stop playing politics and finish the job! The House and Senate were able to agree on a minimum wage bill when including the federal minimum wage increase in the recently vetoed Iraq supplemental spending bill. A minimum wage raise deserves to move forward on its own merits. It is time to send a stand-alone minimum wage bill to the President for signing!

If the minimum wage is passed into law today, Wednesday, May 9, 2007 a full time minimum wage worker would only be making $5.85 on July 9, 2007, $6.55 an hour on July 9, 2008 and finally $7.25 an hour on July 9, 2009.

URGENT ACTION:

Call your Representative and Senators TODAY:

Toll-free at 1-800-459-1887

Tell Congress to stop playing politics with the lives of millions of minimum wage workers and their families. A minimum wage raise deserves to move forward on its own merits. Now is the time to send a STAND ALONE BILL to the President for signing and finish the job!
Thanks!

Missing Inaction? In the fall, with much fanfare, Speaker Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg announced the creation of a post of “food Czar” to coordinate NYC agency food policy. In January, Benjamin Thomases, formerly of the 5th Avenue Committee (and said to be the nephew of Clinton associate Susan Thomases). Has anyone heard from him since? I haven’t and I’ve looked & listened a little. He’s quoted obliquely in the New York Times a month and a half ago saying we shouldn’t call him the Czar. Fair enough but -- Benjamin Thomases where are you? People are still not getting food stamps, still lining up at food pantries and, sometimes, not getting food at all because the pantries are bare. Council Member Eric Gioia says he will try to live on a food stamp allotment. Do you want to know more about hungry people in New York City? A good place to start, as I see it, is the 2006 report of Food Bank For NYC and City Harvest.

Two Congestion Pricing essays 1. Buses will go faster says Paul Steely White at the DMI blog. 2. An Albany showdown on Monday is predicted on Streetsblog