First in a series

As minimum wage fever sweeps the country, City Councilman Jim Clarke said this afternoon that Culver City “should consider it.”

Probably not the $15.37 hourly figure Mayor Garcetti proposed last week for Los Angeles.

Mr. Clarke and Culver City Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells were present when Mr. Garcetti dropped his bombshell.”

“The minimum wage,” said Mr. Clarke, “is something we would want to talk about.”

But a truckload of data is needed first.

“I am curious as to how much of an impact it would have, how many minimum-wage jobs there are in Culver City,” said Mr. Clarke.

“I might be very surprised. Maybe the restaurants all pay minimum wage. I have a sense they don’t, that they pay a little over. But I am not sure.”

Would a minimum wage law be more or less effective in a small community?

“One of the ideas behind a minimum wage,” said Mr. Clarke, “is that people receiving the minimum wage now have more spendable income that they then spend in their community.

“Given what housing prices are, there is a question of whether that additional spending would happen in Culver City.”

(To be continued)