Second in a series.

Re: “Restaurateur Shulman Roasts His Beef” 

After muscularly registering his disagreement with the Los Angeles City Council’s decision to punch up the hourly minimum wage to $15, Alan Shulman, owner of two Downtown restaurants addresse the question of what motivated the City Council and the state Legislature, considering a similar move.

“You are coming into an election year,” Mr. Shulman said. “Neither the Council nor the Legislature is going to take on Big Labor (their dominant donors). At the end of the day, that is the reality.”

Here is a related motivation: “The politicians’ intention is to come up with a solution for the poverty situation in the state and in the country,” Mr. Shulman said. “Everybody is sensitive to that. I mean, you would have to be heartless not to be sensitive to that.”

The issue, however, is balance, said the entrepreneur.

“But you have to measure the consequences, the impact,” he said. “The state drove film production out of California. This became an unfriendly state to do business in.”

Mr. Shulman foresees further shattering gloom in a state where there is authentic climate change, the declining climate in which to conduct business.

“The state will drive retail out of California,” Mr. Shulman said.

Closely documented is the number of businesses regularly fleeing California, faulting oppressive Sacramento regulations.

“This has a ripple effect,” Mr. Shulman said.

(To be continued)