Don't want to fly into Mexico City? Why don't you relocate your business here?

So I ran across an article that I wanted to quote from, but it's an AP article, and...you know...

Basically, Mexico City's airport is near capacity, so a new airport was going to be built, but a referendum just resulted in a stop work order on the project. Or it will result in a stop work order once the new President of Mexico takes office. The current President will continue building.

So Mexico City is left with an overcrowded airport for at least the short term. Here's an non-Associated Press description of the problem (although the link is dated, because it was written before the election and subsequent referendum).

Mexico City long ago outgrew the two-terminal Benito Juárez International Airport, which is notorious for delays, overcrowding and canceled flights.

It's too bad that Mexico City has an overcrowded airport; that makes it tough for businesspeople to fly in there to do business. Too bad that there isn't an undercrowded airport, that could easily absorb additional flight capacity.

You see where this is going.

Now perhaps we can't host NFL games in Ontario, but we can host basketball games (and the occasional Pat Benatar) and we can do things in our convention center.

And yes, Mexico City businesspeople, a good portion of the citizens of Ontario speak Spanish.

Ontario, California Fourth of July Parade #eie7418

Here are a few pictures from this morning's parade. For more pictures and videos from the parade, scan Facebook or Instagram for the hashtag #eie7418.

Three thoughts on Chaffey High School's #CrossDressGate #sayyestocrossdress

So Chaffey High School's Powder Puff football game is tonight, where the girls don football uniforms and play flag football, and the boys don dresses and wigs and cheer the girls on.

Well, that's what used to happen - until this year.

The decision to ban cross-dressing was made after it was brought to the principal’s attention that it was considered offensive, said Mat Holton, superintendent of Chaffey Joint Union High School District.

“Some felt the activity was hurtful and offensive to some students,” he said.

Chaffey’s Principal, George Matamala, met with members of the all-boys pep squad and told them to change their costumes, Holton said.

The quote above is from a Liset Marquez article on the unpleasantness. Marquez also noted that a #sayyestocrossdress hashtag is being adopted. I couldn't find use of the hashtag, but I subsequently learned that the hashtag is primarily being used on Snapchat. I'm not on Snapchat. (Get off my lawn.)

As someone who has hosted four female foreign exchange Chaffey students over the years (two of whom have been powder puffers), I have a few thoughts.

FIRST, tradition in and of itself is not a defense. Some people have argued that the boys should be able to continue to wear dresses because of "tradition." However, if we continued all traditions, schools in Ontario would be segregated, renters wouldn't be allowed to vote, and Chaffey students would have to walk five miles to school every day. (In the snow.)

SECOND, as far as we know, no one has actually been harmed by the pep squad's fashion choices. Proponents of the ban talk about the POTENTIAL for harm, but there has not been any known ACTUAL harm. (I'll grant, however, that sometimes harm is not revealed until decades later, as the whole sexual misconduct thingie demonstrates.)

THIRD, consistency is important.

Toward the end of Liset Marquez's article, the following quote appears.

...the school’s administration believes that anything that might be hurtful to a student takes the precedent.

Um...ANYTHING?

So they can ban boys cheering in skirts, yet they can’t ban homework over the weekend

Before making such a broad statement, it might be wise to consider why the powder puff game takes place in the first place.

It takes place because CHAFFEY HIGH SCHOOL DOES NOT HAVE A GIRLS' FOOTBALL TEAM.

And since Chaffey is part of a high school district (and not a standalone high school), there's nothing stopping the district from fielding girls' football teams that could play against each other. Alta Loma could play Chaffey, Los Osos could play Ontario, and so forth.

(I'd insert an Upland kilt joke here, but I won't.)

So, when will Chaffey High School eliminate the boys' football program? Or is it only being retained because of a sexist "tradition"?

Escape Plan Clue Room, Ontario, California @escapeplanie

I know two of the people who are involved in this, so I thought I'd share the news.

The escape room trendiness is getting trendy. Heck, even I have been to an escape room for a work-related function. (We escaped.)

And now there are plans to open an escape room in downtown Ontario - the Escape Plan Clue Rooms.

To keep up with progress, visit the business website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

Sometimes anecdotal observations are accurate - the 4th St. Kmart is closing

I just learned some news via the Facebook O.N.Z group. Here's how ABC7 reported it:

Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart stores, announced the closure of dozens of stores across the country.

The company chose to close 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores that were considered "unprofitable," according to a press release.

Of those 64 Kmart stores, two will close in Southern California. One store is located at 8017 S. Atlantic Ave. in Cudahy and the other is at 1670 E. 4th St. in Ontario. The stores will close in mid-March and early April, respectively.



Long-time readers of Empoprise-IE (all two of you) are not surprised. Remember my 2016 visit to this very store, where the aisles were free of shoppers and products (other than VHS tapes), and one frustrated shopper was ready to go to Radio Shack instead?

Oh, and for those who are familiar with my previous posts about Sears in general, most recently in August, here's Sears' most recent statement (as quoted by the Chicago Tribune) after the latest closures:

“We will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members.”

I'm beginning to suspect that the members' preferences for Sears' physical store footprint is around zero.