In Manhattan Beach, California, where street parking is illegal on weekends and holidays, residents are sounding off about tickets they received on July 3, according to sheepsheadbites.com.
The confusion arose from different ideas about which dates are holidays and which days are not. July 3 was a Friday. Many companies closed that day to offer employees a day off in addition to July 4, which was a Saturday.
City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who represents the area, said at least a dozen people had contacted his office about the holiday parking tickets. Deutsch said the DOT was looking into his request to have signs changed to show that parking regulations were in effect on “observed” holidays. But he cautioned that it was unlikely the tickets would be dismissed.
It seems the Department of Transportation saw the day as a holiday, but the post office and local sanitation services did not. Many employers called the day a holiday, but not all. People who parked on the street thought it was just a regular holiday, but parking enforcement did not. Who defines what is an “observed” holiday and what is an “actual” holiday?
I think it makes most sense to apply the rule to actual holidays, because observed holidays fluctuate every year and are not obvious to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy when an observed holiday means more time off, but it can be hard to keep track. Most of of us don’t spend our days perusing the DOT website, so we don’t know when its holiday information is different from ours.
Read the article here.
