Cats Were Away, So the Mice Were Playing

The elevator at City Hall began a laborious descent from the 10th floor, stuck briefly between floors 9 and 8, descended several more floors, then held fast between floors 6 and 5.

“I guess it thinks it’s having a holiday, too!” one passenger joked before the recalcitrant lift finally sprang back to life.

It was Friday, the 5th of July--not exactly a national holiday. But dozens of San Diego executives, civil servants, judges, restaurateurs, politicians and construction workers seemed to be treating it that way.

Like the elevator, downtown San Diego seemed to move at half-speed Friday.

It was a day when many of those who visited City Hall wore shorts instead of pinstripes, a day when the energetic hot dog vendor at Broadway and 1st Avenue never bothered to roll out his cart.

Also gone were the army of laborers who have slowed Broadway traffic for weeks, working overtime to fit paving bricks into the roadbed by an August deadline.

Half the men were camping, said laborer Ruben Silva, who figured that 25 of L.R. Hubbard’s 50-man construction crew had taken Friday off.

The downtown courts were also quiet. There were the usual arraignments and even several trials, court administrators said, but the hallways weren’t crowded, and many courtrooms were closed. Eight of 25 Municipal Court judges and 20 of 47 Superior Court judges took Friday off.

“Today was actually a pleasure in here--less bodies, less heat,” Superior Court judicial secretary Linda Abercrombie said Friday afternoon.

At City Hall, most council aides were at work, but their bosses weren’t. Five of the eight council members were gone.

One exception was Gloria McColl. To help constituents after the Normal Heights fire, her office had opened for business at 7:10 a.m. Friday, and some of her staff planned to work into the night.

“It’s business as usual here,” aide Marla Marshall said. “This is not any different than Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. We’re all eating lunch in the office, too.”

But at other council offices, the phones were silent. And most of their occupants said they liked it that way.

“It’s been nice. No constituents have called,” said Natalia Crosthwaite, receptionist for Councilman Uvaldo Martinez. “Everybody assumes we’re closed. So I’ve gotten caught up.”

Susanna Esquer, a secretary to Councilman William Jones, said it was a good day for getting some work done. “And if I screw up today, I can always do it over again Monday,” she said.

Besides, she said, “There are people in the world who might want to know some people are working.”

But not many.

Pacifica Grill, a restaurant catering to the political set, told its workers to stay home Friday noon.

“We weren’t open,” said bartender David McKinney. “Basically, we felt that by being downtown, the lawyers, the people from the court, wouldn’t be working and business would be very slow.”

Some of those who worked Friday said they would defer the pleasure of taking a vacation day. Sylvia Isely-Aguilera, a receptionist in the city personnel department, said she came to work Friday “to relax. If I stayed at home, I’d be doing housework.

“But I’ll have a reward,” Isely-Aguilera said. “I’ll take some time off when no one else does. So I’ll have the beach all to myself.”