For all the complaints about the extreme difficulty in getting Californians to pay attention to budget battles, and all the money spent on attempting to convince a generally apathetic voting public that the crisis is real, very little seems to break through.  Many legislators seem resigned to the idea that huge, painful cuts may be necessary to shock voters out of their complacency.

With any luck, though, a not-so-painful but very prominent cut may be able to get a bunch of usually apolitical types out of their armchairs, because it appears that the city of L.A. won’t be able to afford a parade for the victorious Los Angeles Lakers.  From a Reuters article written prior to tonight’s game:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Los Angeles Lakers need only one more win to capture a 15th National Basketball Association Championship, but some city officials are already saying they can’t afford to throw the team a victory party.

The Lakers have taken a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series against the Orlando Magic and will clinch the championship if they win again on Sunday night, setting the stage for a triumphal parade through downtown Los Angeles as early as Tuesday.

But such a celebration could cost the city $1 million or more at a time when city leaders, faced with a deep budget deficit, were contemplating worker layoffs and cuts in services.

“We can’t afford to cover the costs,” City Councilwoman Jan Perry told the Los Angeles Times. “How could we make a decision about people’s jobs and then sponsor the parade?”

Barbara Maynard, a spokeswoman for the city’s employee unions, agreed, telling the paper: “We do not believe its appropriate in this economic climate for taxpayers to be funding a parade.”

But Councilman Bernard Parks said he expected the city to throw the parade and pick up the tab.

“There’s going to be a major celebration in the city and the likelihood is the city is going to absorb the bulk of those costs,” he said. “The city isn’t going to have time over the next few hours to negotiate a contract with the Lakers or anyone else.”

So even as our own David Dayen will be attempting to navigate downtown Pittsburgh in the middle of a Penguins parade tomorrow, visitors to Los Angeles needn’t worry, because the Lakers may not even be having a parade.  B-baller and supposed Lakers fan Tony Strickland doubtless won’t care, as there’s no cigarette or oil money involved.  Big surprise.

The important question, though, is whether Angelenos will show some Iranian-style civil disobedience over government failures costing them the ability to even hold a parade for their hometown heroes, or whether this too will pass silently into the morass of collective apathy with barely a shrug.