Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Some California Bay Area Cities Closing Up Shop for the Holidays


Link to December 22 San Jose Mercury News article.

Excerpt: Check out your library books and pay your water bills now, because cities across San Mateo County will be closing their facilities for up to 10 days starting this week in an effort to save money.

In San Mateo, only emergency facilities such as police and fire departments will remain open from Friday through Jan. 2. It will be the first time in memory that City Hall, the main library, the two library branches, the senior center and other recreation centers will all be closed during that span.

Belmont, San Carlos and Daly City will also close city facilities from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2. All cities say they will restore business as usual on the morning of Jan. 3.

Even though Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Saturdays this year, all cities in the county say they will observe the holidays and close facilities on the Fridays beforehand, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.

In some cases, facilities will close early or all day on the Thursdays before the holidays, Dec. 23 and Dec. 30.

The cities also say they will have their public works crews on standby in case strong rains or wind cause emergencies.

In most cities, the employees who typically staff the buildings will have to take unpaid time off, although in some cases they can take paid vacation days. Several cities have implemented mandatory furlough days as part of employee concessions, and a good chunk of the unpaid time off will come next wee
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