Local News in Brief : Seal Beach : City Cancels Blizzard of Holiday Parking Tickets

Monday was a holiday in some county cities but not in Seal Beach, where it was business as usual for all city employees--including street sweepers and traffic-control officers who cite cars parked illegally.

But many Seal Beach residents apparently did not know that because they parked their cars in the wrong places--and got tickets--in unusually large numbers Monday, Police Sgt Larry Sides said.

By noon, the parking patrol had issued 126 citations, about twice as many as on most Mondays, Sides said. But when residents began calling and complaining, city officials convened and decided that “in the interests of justice,” the $14 tickets should be dismissed.

“We got a lot of calls from people who were confused in that it’s a holiday for many people,” Sides said.

“Anyone who received one, they can disregard it. If they have remitted the bail, the citation processing center will be returning the checks to them.”