In Moreno Valley, the City Council last week got into it hot and heavy about whether to support a youth boxing academy, sparring over funding and throwing personal jabs.
The request Tuesday was to give the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy — funded in 2024 for two years — a total of $48,000 to continue its afterschool programs for two more years through 2028.
Yes, the boxing academy’s funding was going into Round Two. Ding!
The council’s three men were ready to back it. The council’s two women objected, saying the boxing academy hadn’t provided the quarterly reports called for in the contract and questioning whether the city was getting enough bang for its buck.
Cheylynda Barnard said that without any metrics, she had no way to measure whether the program was working as intended. Elena Baca-Santa Cruz said the same money might help more kids if it were spent on Little League, dance studios, tae kwon do or volleyball.
Said Baca-Santa Cruz: “I think it’s time for us to move in a different direction.”
Like a feint? Some quick footwork, maybe a shuffle? Angelo Dundee would approve.
To a man, the dudes disagreed.
“If we can support them in any way, we should,” Erlan Gonzalez said. Ed Delgado was likewise in favor. Mayor Ulises Cabrera said the entire council had backed the “partnership” two years ago and that the academy’s afterschool programs are geared toward at-risk youth.
Barnard seemed to have a long-simmering beef with the mayor. Telling him “you always do this,” she spoke over him, implying that he was dismissive and saying she’s spoken to him about it.
“You have the hardest life of everybody,” Barnard said mockingly, then left the dais.
Cabrera didn’t stagger.
Baca-Santa Cruz threw the next punch, saying she’d favor a voucher system in which youths could get a stipend toward whatever afterschool activity they wished.
Instead, pointing toward Cabrera with her left hand almost in Delgado’s face, she said the city would be giving money to “the guy who put the mayor’s name on a star in his business.”
That was hitting below the belt.
“Let’s get some order,” Cabrera said evenly. “Emotions are running high right now.”
Looking at her phone, Baca-Santa Cruz rose, said she needed to take a call and followed Barnard out of the room. The dais was down to three people.
“It’s not standard protocol for council members to walk off the dais,” Cabrera observed.
He was right. It’s an act of defiance that in my experience is almost unheard of.
I wasn’t there in person, alas. After hearing the boxing discussion was hot, I watched the livestream. I have to say, City Hall missed a bet by not putting it on pay-per-view.
Did the two brawlers, Barnard and Baca-Santa Cruz, go to their corners? Were they sponged down, fanned with towels and given a pep talk by their cornermen? I have no idea. They were out of the room and off camera.
The discussion continued in their absence. Delgado said the two women “had excellent points” about the lack of quarterly reports. That requirement was added to the funding.
Barnard and Baca-Santa Cruz returned to the dais. (No bell had rung.) Barnard voted for the funding with reluctance. Baca-Santa Cruz voted no. It passed 4-1.
“This is a good time to call for a break,” Cabrera announced. “Let’s take a five-minute recess.”
I wish I’d had a ringside seat.
Baseball (more)
Responding to my March 20 column on Ontario’s Jay Littleton Ball Park, John Kramer of Ontario shares the highs and lows of his own childhood on the famed diamond.
In 1956, at age 10, he tried out for Little League but, not owning a glove, he didn’t catch the fly ball they hit toward him and he whiffed every pitch thrown. Seventy years later, he still remembers the coach’s call that he wouldn’t make the team.
In the early 1960s, and in possession of a glove, he played Colt League at the ballpark, which was like a small-scale Major League stadium. The Ontario Daily Report used to send a reporter to cover the games from the press box.
“I remember hitting a triple in one game and the next day the headline read ‘Kramer Leads Win,’” says Kramer. “I still have that article somewhere in my garage.”
Cole’s (more)
Cole’s French Dip in L.A. closed as scheduled March 29. A few of you had one last thing to say on the subject, just as I did that day in writing about original cook Jack Garlinghouse, the man who might have inadvertently invented the French dip at a customer’s request.
Duane Dike of Norco says he first ate at Cole’s 50 years ago and went back occasionally over the years. His family took him to Cole’s again in January for his birthday. It wasn’t the same.
“The place had lost its personality,” he reports. “It was old and ready to die.”
I hope no one ever says that about me!
Meanwhile, after gazing at the photo of Garlinghouse that accompanied my column, Jim Watson of Upland remarks: “I thought for sure you would mention that you are related. The only thing you’re missing is the chef’s hat.”
Any resemblance hadn’t occurred to me, or for that matter to Tim Peron, Garlinghouse’s great-grandson, but upon taking a second look, I could kind of see what Jim meant.
“If I were working the register at Cole’s and you walked in,” Jim adds, “I would be giving you the family discount.”
Well, it’s too late now.
Norco (more)
Duane Dike, quoted above, tells me he and his wife in the 1980s moved from Orange County to Norco, expecting to live here five years and then go back to OC. When the time came, the house was put up for sale. No serious offers came in.
“Then someone stole our ‘For Sale’ sign,” Duane says. “We were meant to stay.”
They’ve been in Norco 40 years. His wife was active in high school music and performance programs and their children went through school and on to fulfilling lives. Duane concludes: “Happy I stayed put.”
David Allen stays put Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.