Torrance Approves King Holiday--Beginning in ’92

The day after a number of other South Bay cities observed the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the Torrance City Council voted to declare a holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader and begin observing it next year.

As a result, City Hall will be closed on the third Monday in January, 1992, and about 900 of the city’s 1,400 employees will have a paid day off.

Torrance is one of nine South Bay cities that had not observed the King holiday. Seven other area cities gave their workers the day off and closed their offices Jan. 21, which was a state and federal holiday.

“It has become more and more apparent that this is an important holiday,” said Mayor Katy Geissert, before joining all but one of her colleagues last week in approving the observation of the holiday in the city.

The dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Bill Applegate, who said adding another holiday for city employees should be negotiated with the city’s unions. He said he is not against a King holiday, but “giving someone a day off is like giving people money.”

A Torrance survey of cities comparable in size or demographics in the Los Angeles area found that 11 of the 14 observed the holiday. Those surveyed included Hawthorne, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Glendale.

The holiday is celebrated in 47 of the 50 states.

The vote means that most of about 900 affected employees will have 11 holidays annually, said Liz Rojas, assistant to City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson. About 400 police and fire employees are not affected, since they already have contracts calling for a set number of paid days off per year in lieu of holidays. The balance of city workers are part-time employees who receive no paid holidays.

City Hall and the city libraries will be closed, and city refuse will be picked up the following Saturday.

In all, the city anticipates spending $15,000 on an overtime rate of time-and-a-half for employees required to work on the holiday or the following Saturday.

The South Bay cities that observe the King holiday are: Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Carson, Gardena and the city of Los Angeles.