Obviously I'm all for equity and opposed to discrimination and hate crimes but let's recall that the city's silence was so deafening when PA was the target of organized antisemitic leafleting that it only issued a statement saying PA condemned this type of action after several of us wrote letters condemning that long and intolerable silence.

That statement -- which should have been issued immediately -- cost nothing unlike this costly virtue-signaling.

At least they eliminated the 3d paid holiday -- that vague Day of Reflection where employees would have been free to "reflect" on whatever they wanted.

Re: "Lythcott-Haims suggested that some city workers might find it odd that they're at work on Juneteenth while other people are off, she suggested."

Perhaps Lythcott-Haims might ponder how those who celebrate other holidays like Yom Kippur, Diwali, or Chinese New Year or might feel while others are off on Juneteenth. Cherry picking holidays to observe is not inclusive and sends a message that not all cultures are respected.

The City Council's Mission is to run a fiscally responsible city budget. More paid holidays that the city can't afford goes against the City Council's mission.

Mission: "The government of the City of Palo Alto exists to promote and sustain a superior quality of life in Palo Alto. In partnership with our community, our goal is to deliver cost-effective services in a personal, responsive and innovative manner."

Just let employees pick a certain number of holidays a year. It is getting too expensive to give them all of these days off when they only work 4 days a week anyway and already gets loads of personal time and vacation days.

It is also getting ridiculous in this country with the tribalization of holidays where every ethnicity, culture or special event wants its own holiday vs. celebrating holidays that are of national importance to our country as a whole. Holidays like New Years, Labor day, Presidents day (no one special called out any more) Veterans day or Forth of July apply to all and can be celebrated or not as individuals wish.

Let's not forget that city employees already get every other Friday off. Can we fix that problem first? I rate my experience with city employees very poorly.

We are a very racially and ethnically diverse country and community. My Jewish kids did not have the High Holidays off from school. Often tests were scheduled on days when they were required to fast and be in synagogue. (Their stress about having to catch up on work they were missing often greatly diminished their religious experience.) I am a Christian mom who married a Jew and raised my kids Jewish. As a Christian, I never experienced a holiday this way as a child. My school holiday weeks were often scheduled around Christian holidays, so I experienced weeks of happy family and church community time around our celebrations. It was an entirely different relaxed and peaceful experience of a dominant religious culture--supported by our public school schedule.

I share this to say, maybe we should reconsider the full set of holiday breaks or we might consider replacing at least one dominant culture holiday with a holiday to celebrate the amazing diversity of our country and our community. Instead of celebrating every culture separately, we could create a day when we ALL share and celebrate the spectacular beauty of human cultural, racial, ethnic diversity. The Juneteenth date acknowledges an important moment of change in our nation, the Emancipation Proclamation, that was good for ALL of us. With that moment, slaves were released from former bondage--and all of us were blessed because a path (though, sadly, a long, fraught and ongoing path) was opened to know and love our black neighbors as friends and equal partners in our society. What if we add an extra day to Juneteenth, taking a day from the two-week winter holiday, and make a very long weekend to celebrate the historic moment AND the good things that happen when we lift up everyone with love and respect and recognize the many ways diversity makes life rich? We have plenty of holidays. We might distribute them differently...and more fairly.

IMO,if these 2 holidays are so important, let City employees choose 2 other holidays to give up.

Or better still give 1/2 the money the city would spend for these 2 holidays to established organizations that support social justice/diversity causes. This, IMO, would promoted a better outcome than another paid holiday for a City or other employee.

Like the Juneteenth holiday money could go to provide school books, supplies, tutoring or education pursuits for kids affected by continued discrimination and disadvantages caused by slavery. Even decent housing.

What is a City or Federal employee going to do on these holidays? Think about social justice issues? Probably not.

What general societal good comes from workers having another paid for holiday?

Thank God they finally came to their senses and got rid of the "Italian Heritage Day" thing - that was so tone-deaf to call one holiday "Indigenous Peoples Day/Italian Heritage Day."

There are already too many paid holidays. As "Forever Name" above indicates, it's grossly unfair to make Juneteenth a paid holiday unless days important to other groups also get their distant histories rewarded with paid holidays too. Since no one who now wants to celebrate Juneteenth is an emancipated slave, it should be treated as a day of personal reflection for those who care about it.
Shall we also make May 5 or March 17 paid holidays? Why not if Juneteenth becomes one? Years ago, Columbus Day was celebrated on Oct. 9, in honor of Christoper's exploits. It's now Indigenous Peoples' Day. Some companies allow employees a paid absence for one cultural or religious holiday per year. Pick your cause, register your desired free day and get back to work. That is fair to everyone & keeps the wheels moving.

"Creating two new holidays, as some had suggested, would cost about $2 million, according to these estimates."

And that's not counting all the out-of-pocket costs that have long been borne by taxpayers awaiting solar permits, building permits and certificates of occupancy and other city services. For years we've read about all the solar companies, builders contractors etc. who refuse to work in Palo Alto because of these long delays and how homeowners have lost sizeable deposits when their contractors bailed out.

As a PA taxpayer/very fair person I think they should implement "good looking woman" day and "wealthy man" day. Anyone who didn't make the cut can go to work and cover everyone else who is enjoying a relaxing day off.

I would like to be paid for Saint Patricks Day....

White Americans celebrate the 4th of July since 1776 as a day of independence, and as the generations that have passed since then, it has been interpreted as some kind of birthright for having had the good fortune to be white and able to declare their freedom from a despotic king in a far-away land. Black people were "owned" and had no right to celebrate anything. Stolen away from a homeland that would become a barrier to prevent celebrations of any kind. "Separate but equal" -- Nothing owned, nothing granted to make a person feel celebrated at all because of skin color. The irony that now, the US government has recognized the unfairness of expecting people who were brought here in shackles and made to work under a whip by granting them an entire separate day as a recognition is not only fair, but it is a matter of "Justice delayed is justice denied" in action. I think Juneteenth should be celebrated separately by all people of color. Municipalities should only grant the paid holiday to people of color. With pay. Maybe this would give white people a new perspective on how it feels to be exluded due to the color of their skin. I don't think the cost would be too great in Palo Alto. Many city employees would not qualify to receive the benefit.