Page 4 January 9, 2014 Joe’s Sports Lawndale Falls in Battle of Cardinals One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion By Gerry Chong Somewhere along the Yellow Brick Road, the Mad Hatter stopped to have tea with Alice. “Well,” said Alice, “what do you have planned for 2014, Mad Man”? “This is going to be an exciting year,” replied the Mad Hatter. “You know, Alice, it’s terrible for the rich to be getting richer and the poor to be getting poorer--so I’m raising the minimum wage. In Washington state one city raised its minimum to $15 an hour, so the poor can enjoy life too.” Alice, the owner of Alice’s Restaurant (but that’s another old story, isn’t it?), calmly responded, “Hatter, it seems to me that businesses could respond in several ways: They could offset higher wages by reducing their workers’ hours, avoiding Obamacare costs. Second, they could invest in automation to replace workers because machines reliably report to work, don’t require vacations, sick pay, or Obamacare- -and machines never generate a blizzard of taxes and regulations. Third, they could cut back on planned expansions because opening new restaurants raises corporate overhead too, causing profit margins to shrink.” A furious Mad Hatter slammed his hat on the ground and stomped on it, screaming, “Alice, you’re a heartless, soulless money-grabber. Shame on you!” Calmly, Alice responded, “Okay, let’s assume I don’t do any of the three options I had just listed, and pay your new minimum wage to my newest, least skilled employees. But that’s just the beginning of the story, isn’t it? Now I have to raise the pay of their supervisor, and the supervisor’s supervisor, and everyone else on the employee chain even remotely related to minimum wage workers. To that sum, I have to add all the taxes and regulations caused by the cumulative salary increases. Moreover, I have to add my overhead and profit on those increases since I need to support my family too. Ultimately, I will have to increase the price of my burger, but I have to be cautious that my price increases not cause customers to switch to lower-cost fare. After all, if I am pushed out of business the minimum wage worker could return to the unemployment rolls. Consider this too, Mad Man: Since the biggest consumer of my hamburger is the minimum wage earner, he will earn more, but he will pay more for what he consumes as well. “The bottom line is that the minimum wage earner’s income will remain constant relative to other employees, so he will have not gained any income advantage. Business costs will inflate, causing the cost of products to increase, so the minimum wage worker will earn more in income but pay more for what he buys. No, Mad Man, even the most naïve know the way to reduce unemployment is to lower wages--not raise them. Wage inflation is not an economic plan. Instead it’s simply a political ploy to give more benefits to your voter base at the expense of the public--another ‘free stuff’ benefit before the 2014 election.” Walking away, the exposed political manipulator dusted off his battered hat muttering, “Hillary is right. Capitalism is a failure.” Parking Meter Law Gets Much Needed Change By Cristian Vasquez With Assembly Bill No. 61 in effect, localities will no longer be able to continue to adopt ordinances or resolutions that would prohibit or restrict the ability of a vehicle to park at an inoperable parking meter. As the law was formerly applied, cities were allowed to cite and fine drivers who parked where meters were not functioning. Thanks to the bill introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto and signed by the Governor on August 12, getting fined for parking at an inoperable meter will no longer be allowed. This is, in my mind, long overdue. The truth is that for far too long, the issuing of tickets from parking enforcement agencies have been a way to gouge the public with little that the drivers can do about the situation. This does not mean that parking enforcement is not needed? Not at all. This agency is certainly needed, especially when you have healthy adults parking in handicapped spots, or people double parking because they feel their vehicle is God’s gift to them and should not risk getting scratched. Even more, if a driver fails to feed coins into a meter, then he should be cited. However, if a meter is broken and the city has failed to fix it, the general public should not be deprived of that spot. If there is a driver searching for a parking spot in a part of the city that requires one to pay for metered parking, there is a very high probability that this individual is going to be spending money at a local business. This is not an absolute truth, but a more likely than not reality. If the city responsible for this parking meter is so concerned about the income derived from the meter parking machines, then these machines should be fixed immediately. It is already bad enough that in some cities, being out 30 seconds after your meter expired will result in a $75 fine. Having a parking space go to waste in a city where finding parking is like winning in Las Vegas is as absurd as citing someone for using said space. For anyone who wants to argue that the city needs time to fix said meters, point well taken. However, a city’s inability to fix something fast should not result in a loss of business for a store, restaurant or any other merchant that would benefit from a potential customer parking at the site of a broken meter. The meter being broken is already bad because the city is losing some income and that’s never good. However, making it to where customers and local businesses can’t connect also affects the city as much as the business owners. The lost sale means less sale tax being generated, which also hurts the city. If any city believes that citing a driver for parking by a meter that the city has failed to fix is the right thing to do, then we should all thank Assemblyman Gatto. • “They could offset higher wages by reducing their workers’ hours, avoiding Obamacare costs.” “However, if a meter is broken and the city has failed to fix it, the general public should not be deprived of that spot.” By Joe Snyder Last Saturday, Lawndale High’s boys’ basketball team played in the Redondo Union Take Flight Classic against Cantwell-Sacred Heart High from Montebello in a battle of teams with Cardinals mascots. In the end, it was Cantwell that defeated Lawndale 69-57. CSH led virtually the entire game in grabbing a 36-30 halftime lead and led by as many as 13. Lawndale got as close as four points on a pair of occasions, but Cantwell made key baskets and free throws to maintain its lead throughout. “In the second half, we came out with a lot of energy,” Lawndale six-foot-nine junior center Chimeze Metu said. “Then we kind of let it go and it got away. We play hard and never quit. That’s our motto. We have a chance to be a really good team.” Metu, a returning all-CIF Southern Section Division IIAA player, led Lawndale with 14 points. Tedric Johnson added 11 points and Brodericks Jones chipped in nine. Joey Covarrubias led CSH with a game-high 20 points. Lawndale hosted Leuzinger in a non-league cross-town rivalry last night and will take on Rolling Hills Prep in its non-league finale in the Serra Cavalier Classic at Cerritos College at a time to be determined. Lawndale then hosts El Segundo in its Pioneer opener next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. “In our next games, we hope to start right,” Metu said. INGLEWOOD HOLDS OFF TAFT Inglewood High’s boys’ basketball team hosted its first ever Paul Pierce Winter Classic and held on for a 71-67 win over CIF-Los Angeles City Section power Taft High from Woodland Hills last Friday. Inglewood’s young squad, which improved to 8-7, led most of the game and by as many as 13 before the Toreadors made a run to get as close as two points. The Sentinels had trouble containing Corey Dollarhide, who led all scorers with 36 points for Taft. Da’Rae Elliott led Inglewood with 18 points. Terrell Gomez contributed 12 points. Pierce is a former Inglewood High standout who currently plays in the National Basketball Association with the Brooklyn Nets. He previously played 12 seasons with the Boston Celtics, leading them to the NBA championship in the 2007-08 season. The Sentinels host Gahr High from Cerritos Friday at 7 p.m. before opening the Ocean League against defending CIF-Southern Section Division IA and Southern California Division I champion Santa Monica next Wednesday at the same time. The Vikings, who are mostly rebuilding after the banner 2012-13 season, are 7-6 after a 59-56 loss to CIF-SAC Joaquin Section power Sheldon High from Sacramento at the Redondo Take Flight Classic last Saturday. Santa Monica currently has a three-game losing streak. It should be a key match-up between two teams that are again expected to battle for the Ocean League title. Beverly Hills is also expected to be another top league contender. LEUZINGER GIRLS TAKE FIFTH AT WEST COAST Under first-year head coach Bo Corona, who has enjoyed previous success at Playa del Rey St. Bernard and Inglewood St. Mary’s Academy, Leuzinger High’s girls’ basketball team already has an astounding 10 times as many victories as it did last season when it went 1-20. The Lady Olympians improved to 10-7 after going 4-1 in the West Coast Holiday Festival with a 64-40 victory over Ribet Academy from L.A. on December 31 at John Burroughs High in Burbank. Keying Leuzinger was Brooke Scott with 17 points and four steals as the Olympians finished fifth in the classic. Tainana Puloka had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sydney Coleman put in 10 points. A day earlier, Leuzinger topped Monroe High from Sepulveda 47-33. After a successful preseason, Leuzinger moves on to the always highly competitive Bay League as it opens at Palos Verdes next Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Olympians have not won a Bay League game over the past several years. LOCAL GRIDDERS LAND ON ALL-LEAGUE Several local football standouts from the past 2013 season landed on the All-Ocean League team. Despite only a fourth place finish, Inglewood had eight players make the team. Leading the way was senior quarterback-wide receiver Zaire Andre, who was the league’s Offensive Player of the Year. Five Sentinels made first team, with four of those on defense. They included junior Dejuino Tyson and senior Tomasi Manua, both defensive backs, and senior linebackers Trevon Benton and Dyson Cash. The only Inglewood offensive player outside of Andre to make first team was junior tight end Michael Williams. The Sents had junior back Dominic Emerson make second team defense, and running back Eddie Reyes and quarterback Dejon Richardson also landed on the second team. Morningside, which finished third in league and made the CIF-Southern Section Western Division playoffs but was crushed by eventual division and California State Division II champion Chaminade High from West Hills 71-0 in the first round, had four players on all-league. On first team offense was junior running back Chris Williams, and on first team defense was senior linebacker Sione Sofele. Making second team on offense was senior lineman Amaje Ferguson and on defense was sophomore back Charles Akanno. For Hawthorne, which placed fifth in the six-team league, senior lineman Deshawn Smith and senior wide receiver Jermaine Martin were first team offensive players. Second team offense included junior linemen Suliasi Vaka and Brandon Walker. Junior back Jahleel Enriquez and senior lineman Saul Sierra were second team defensive players. Most Valuable Player in the Ocean was junior wide receiver-defensive back Stanley Norman from champion Culver City. •
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