Westlake Village to Allow Menorah Display

The Westlake Village City Council, which stirred a controversy in December by initially refusing to exhibit a Hanukkah menorah, has informally agreed to allow the display of small candelabras alongside City Hall Christmas trees, City Manager Larry Bagley said Friday.

Although Bagley had asked the council to set a policy on religious and ethnic displays following the dispute, the decision was not put in writing, enabling the city to continue considering such requests on a case-by-case basis.

The council reached its decision by consensus Wednesday at a meeting attended by about 15 people, Bagley said. Each of the several speakers favored the display of menorahs, he said.

Bagley, whose rejection of a six-foot menorah focused attention on the otherwise quiet, affluent community, said Friday that he will refer requests to the City Council for approval. Bagley has said he based his decision on the fact that the city’s storefront headquarters had no room for the large menorah offered by Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish group, and that Hanukkah is not considered a federal holiday.

Of the municipalities in the Los Angeles area approached by Chabad, Westlake Village was the only one to deny the request. The City Council later reversed Bagley’s decision and allowed a table-top-sized menorah to be displayed next to the city Christmas tree.

The American Civil Liberties Union and mainstream Jewish groups oppose the Chabad displays, arguing that menorahs are religious symbols. But the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Chabad’s position in July in a landmark ruling that found menorahs, as well as Christmas trees, to be a secular holiday symbol.

Bagley said the city has received only one other request since that by Chabad, from an atheist organization seeking a pagan exhibit for the spring equinox later this month. But no one from Truth Missions attended Wednesday’s council meeting despite his invitation, Bagley said.