Playing Politics With Paid Holidays
Re “Chavez-Columbus Debate No Holiday for Council,” March 21: As an Italian American I am offended and incensed by the Los Angeles City Council’s vote to allow thousands of city employees to legally observe Cesar Chavez Day as a paid holiday and, in exchange, eliminate the observance of Columbus Day in October.
City Administrative Officer William Fujioka negotiated with the employee unions to bring this unfair and insulting issue before the City Council without any consideration for the feelings of all Italians in Los Angeles. Like it or not, we are an integral part of the Los Angeles culture.
Fujioka said he tried to convince the unions to agree to use their floating holiday for the Chavez day, which they rejected. I guess this proves that it really is the unions that run City Hall and not the people we elected to office.
Prudy Brucato Schultz
Van Nuys
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If L.A. City Council members think we have too many holidays, why not combine Veterans Day with Memorial Day into one holiday celebrated in May? These two holidays are both to honor war veterans, so they could be combined without snubbing anyone. And since November already has the two-day Thanksgiving holiday, the decommissioning of Veterans Day would not be too sorely missed.
All we need now are holidays in April, June and August and we’ll have a holiday each month!
Deborah Y. Nakamoto
Temple City
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