Los Angeles's beloved Lakers won the NBA championship, but if the financially bereft city threw the team a parade, the public's reception of the event might be somewhere along the lines of its response to A.I.G. executive bonuses. That's why today, the downtown parade will go on—but not with city dollars. At a press conference yesterday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that a parade is needed to lift residents' spirits—in a city where unemployment is 12.5 percent—but that private money will fund the effort. Some of the city's richest residents and an Indian tribe contributed $850,000 to cover the city's police, fire, and public works costs, and the Lakers and Staples Center owner Anschutz Entertainment Group will contribute $1 million in production costs, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The Lakers generate about $150 million for the city annually, and a parade will add another $15 million, Villaraigosa estimated, according to The Times report. The mayor also noted that a formal celebration would be a useful tool to prevent chaos and looting, as happened Sunday night after the Lakers' win. About 1,700 officers are expected on the scene at the celebration.
The parade will begin at Staples at 11 a.m. and head down Figueroa Street, ending at the Coliseum—which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently proposed selling to help solve the state's deep financial woes—where a rally will be held.
