Page 8 July 6, 2017 City Council from front page state and local governments, the program is tailored to create affordable housing specifically for low-income households. HOME allows communities to design and implement strategies that will address their specific needs and set their own priorities. The Consolidated Citizen Participation process includes a series of community meetings (six total prior to this public hearing), written surveys and citywide mailings. The information gathered allowed the City to determine the types of eligible activities under each program, as well as the types of activities that have been undertaken in the past. HUD income limits, as of April 2017, identified a one-person home earning $18,950 as extremely low income; $31,550 as very low income, and low income at $50,500. One resident spoke during the public hearing about the brevity of the public hearings and the disservice to the community. “Having listened to this report that is very brief, I have to compare it to the ones that we used to get when we were receiving $6 million a year; and how then there was at least a math presented before this [city] council so that then the people from this audience could get up and address that,” said Inglewood resident Diane Sambrano. “Not too long ago, you said things have changed in 10 years absolutely. Failure to receive public input because of the staff reports are so short.” All input from the public and research from City staff will be combined into the final consolidated plan, which will be presented to the Mayor and City Council on July 11. “First let me thank Mr. Harjinder and staff because you did give the public notification--not one, but six locations on which we could give public input,” District No. 4 Councilman Ralph L. Franklin said. “We seized that moment in particular in District 4 and conducted a series of email blasts. It was also on the City’s website and those that expressed strong interest were in attendance. We had a great audience and were able to put our input on this.” • I live alone but I’m never alone. I have Life Alert. ® One press of a button sends help fast, 24/7, even when you AS SEEN ON TV Saving a life from a potential catastrophe EVERY 10 MINUTES! can’t reach a phone. For a FREE brochure call: 888-512-5574 It’s Chip(ped) City After Chris Paul Departure By Adam Serrao Fans can now safely say that they have witnessed the Los Angeles Clippers play the best brand of basketball that their team will ever play. That’s assuming that there will be any Clippers fans left after the midway point of next season. When Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets last Wednesday morning, the Clippers and their fans traded in six years of bravado that they had built up--which, even still, couldn’t get them past the second round of the playoffs. Now, with Paul gone and Jerry West in as a new team advisor, the Clippers will begin the long process of rebuilding with the sole hope of becoming the team that they used to be just two months ago. Chris Paul was the one shining hope of the Los Angeles Clippers that really the team should have never had in the first place. Once the league and ex-NBA commissioner David Stern stepped in and pried Paul away from the Lakers and stuck him in the Clippers locker room, though, the Clippers immediately had hope like they had never had hope before. A team that has never made it past the second round of the playoffs, the Clippers’ best record before Paul arrived was a 47-win season in 2005-06. That is, unless you count the 1974- 75 Buffalo Braves team that won 49 games before they moved to San Diego and then ultimately to Los Angeles. Unless you’re a huge fan of Elton Brand, Cuttino Mobley, Sam Cassell and the rest of the Clippers that lost in the Western Conference semis to the Phoenix Suns, you can say that Chris Paul brought the best basketball that the Clippers have ever played to the city of Los Angeles. In the six seasons that he was with the team, the Clippers won under 50 games just once (in his first year in L.A.) and made the playoffs every single year. With the best player in Clippers history now calling Houston home, the team that used to be called “Chip City” by its fans has virtually zero shot at winning a “chip” at any point in the near (or far) future. Even with Paul, there was always a sense surrounding the team that they just weren’t good enough to beat the other squads forming the Western Conference elite- -whether it was Golden State, San Antonio, or even Houston in the past. Now, without Paul, the Clippers have immediately regressed into the team that they used to be in what seems to be the blink of an eye--or maybe even the clip of a pair of scissors--despite what team executives will tell you about the five-year, $173 million contract that they just foolishly handed over to Blake Griffin (who has missed a total of 83 games due to injury over the past three seasons). Diehard fans, if they truly exist and haven’t already strengthened Golden State’s numbers, will tell you that everything will be okay. Jerry West is there now. The team will rebuild, sign free agents, and be even better in the coming years. The fact remains, however, that anyone wishing to go to Los Angeles to play professional basketball in the NBA isn’t going to choose to play for the Clippers over the team that occupies the neighboring locker room in the Staples Center. Even though the Clippers have outplayed the Lakers over the last six seasons, they still are--and always have been--the Lakers’ little brothers. The Lakers have a certain appeal and a certain aura about them, and the Clippers simply can’t compete with that. Los Angeles is about Hollywood and the bright lights. It’s about winning championships. The Lakers have those banners. Meanwhile, the Clippers have drama between a head coach/president of basketball operations and the favoritism that he showed toward his son that forced one of the best players in the league to take a pay cut to play deep in the heart of Texas instead of alongside the glitz, glamour and ocean breezes of Southern California. “We were knocking on the door of being very successful, and we just didn’t get it done,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said when speaking about the Paul trade. Rivers is right. The Clippers tried, and tried their best, but still couldn’t get past the second round of the playoffs. Paul hasn’t gotten past the second round once in his entire career and there were no indications that next year would be any different. “That part is over. And that bugs me,” Rivers continued. “But we’re not done trying to reach our goal. Sometimes you gotta do it a different way. Because the way we tried to do it didn’t work.” Once again, Doc is right. But the new way in which the Clippers will attempt to approach success won’t be any different than the previous way that featured players like Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers roster will crumble sooner, rather than later, and Jerry West will find that the challenge he so longed for will be much harder than “The Logo “ originally anticipated it to be. The Clippers have had their chance at reaching greatness. Fans of the team were able to witness Paul and the rest of the roster play a level of basketball that the Clippers franchise has never played before. Even still, it wasn’t good enough to get anything more than a divisional championship banner up in the rafters. Clipper fans can put all of the hope that they can into Jerry West as a new team advisor because hope is all that they have. Paul’s departure has slammed the door shut on any optimism for the Clippers in L.A. The point guard’s exit to Houston has lifted the veil on a franchise that, despite its win totals over the past six seasons, has been just as dysfunctional as it has always been and now shows no signs of changing. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net L i k e U s on Facebook
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