Public safety employees, nurses, retail workers, travel personnel, and the media often have to labor on Labor Day. The Paso Robles Fire Department, the Paso Robles Police Department, and local retail store owners say this Labor Day weekend has been slower than usual.
“This last year, overall, I think for a majority of small businesses, we've kind of been down," store owner Lisa Haley said. "Less traveling, less traveling to downtown Paso, and we're definitely feeling that this weekend.”
While store owner Lisa Haley says tourism is the main driver of business for downtown Paso, locals have been coming in more frequently because of free parking and Labor Day deals. However, she says the cost of living in California has slowed down foot traffic.
“We always do an end of the year, Labor Day, kind of blow out Summer sale," Haley added. "We've got a $20 rack, $40, $60 as well as a 50% off rack. I think that helps encourage people to shop a little more.”
According to Paso Fire officials, the number of calls they’ve received this Labor Day has been low so far, but they remain at-the-ready for when they do need to respond to an emergency.
For the Paso Robles Police Department, one of their main goals on this Labor Day is enforcing the speed limit on Highway 46.
“We had units out there enforcing speed quite a bit because we had a quite a few traffic collisions over there," said Sergeant Michael "Smokey" Rickerd. "And at high speeds, we get the injuries that come with it.”
While certain occasions call for more personnel, they haven’t needed to up-staff this weekend.
“We have in the past and at different times [added more personnel]," said Sergeant Rickerd. "We have an extra DUI unit or another motor on or something to that effect to deal with that, but for the most part, this weekend, we haven't seen an influx of [calls].”
Sergeant Rickerd reminds the public there are two variants of DUI’s: driving while impaired and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08. He recommends blowing into a breathalyzer to get a better idea of what the legal limit actually feels like in your body, while remembering buzzed driving is drunk driving.
