CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE LAUREN MEISTER: “SUSPEND PARKING METER ENFORCEMENT ON CESAR CHAVEZ DAY”

Former Commissioner Decries “Double Standard” in Holiday Observation

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA, Monday, March 31, 2014— West Hollywood City Council Candidate Lauren Meister decried the double-standard in the City over the observance of Cesar Chavez Day, an official holiday in the State of California.  She is calling on the City to formally suspend parking meter enforcement during the upcoming holiday.

“City Hall is closed.  City employees have the day off,” Meister said, “but the City still enforces parking meter hours and regulations on Cesar Chavez Day when they do not enforce them on any other holiday. That’s what I call a double-standard.”

“It is a shame that the City leaders in West Hollywood would declare a holiday for City Hall, but not for the rest of us.  Cesar Chavez stood up for the marginalized and disrespected—those  who couldn’t afford to pay a parking meter or a $53 ticket.  To say that his holiday is not on par with Christopher Columbus’s or Martin Luther King’s does a disservice to the legacy of Cesar Chavez.”

The City of West Hollywood issued a press release stating, “The City of West Hollywood will observe Cesar Chavez Day on Monday, March 31, 2014. West Hollywood City Hall will be closed for the day.”  They continue, “On Monday, March 31, 2014, all parking regulations will be in effect throughout the City of West Hollywood, as usual. This includes parking meter operations, time limits in parking spaces, and peak-hour towing restrictions.”

However, Section Nine of Fee Resolution 13-4420, adopted April 1, 2013 and establishing extended parking meter hours, states, “Parking meters citywide shall not be in effect on recognized holidays.”

 A former Public Safety and Planning Commissioner, Lauren Meister is a City Council candidate in the 2015 West Hollywood municipal elections.  To learn more about her campaign, please visit www.Meister4WeHo.com.

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