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Is This How Los Angeles Defines 'Celebration'?
Your city's team has won a major sports championship. It's a great achievement, and a reason to celebrate. You love your team, you love your city, you love a good time. But how do you celebrate? Dance, hug, shout, throw confetti, have some drinks, high five your friends, eat cake, relive the highlights of the game, throw a party at your home? Sure, right? You want to express your pride, your joy, your happiness on behalf of the team.
But set garbage cans, barricades, trash, and trees on fire? Tag private property? Break the glass of people's vehicles and business? Steal things? Push and shove each other? Try to turn over cars? Destroy a public transit bus? Climb onto the freeway? Smash street signs and crosswalk signals with metal bars? All on City property that an already strapped-for-cash City will have to pay for? Not to mention the cost of the fire and police personnel and resources used to control the 'celebrations' or the cost to local business owners whose property was destroyed, vandalized, or just taken.
Last night's media coverage referred to the events on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles as 'celebration.' Is this how we define 'celebration'?
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