City gets $17,000 in donations for Michael Jackson costs, but website repeatedly crashes [Updated]

Los Angeles City Hall's website soliciting donations to help pay the city's costs for dealing with the Michael Jackson memorial has collected $17,000 but has been bedeviled by computer crashes.

Officials established the site to help defer the costs of policing and other public services needed for the Staples Center memorial. Officials are still tabulating the costs,but the LAPD said it spent at least $1 million. [Updated at 4:40 p.m.: The city places the total costs at $1.4 million].

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement. "Consequently, the City was unable to receive contributions for several hours Tuesday afternoon. The server also failed for at least 12 consecutive hours Tuesday evening, from 8:00 PM (PST) through 8:00 AM (PST) the next day, and periodically throughout Wednesday morning."

"The City apologizes for the inconvenience to those who were unable to contribute to the memorial costs. The Information Technology Agency is attempting to rectify the problems."

Villaraigosa is on a trip to South Africa.

--Cara Mia DiMassa

Photo: Fans, showing their entry wrist bands, make their way across a police check point at Olympic and Figueroa St. to attend the Michael Jackson memorial at Staples Center. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) >>More photos

Comments

[Craig]

Everything about this whole event this is just fail.......
The City cant even keep a web site up and running.

[Jay]

If the city got better computers other than PC's maybe this wouldn't happen.

[fr]

What does "Villaraigosa is on a trip to South Africa." have to do with the website crashing or donations to defer the costs? Bad writing.

[unaccountable]

I am just as big a Jackson fan as the next next person, but why should the cash strapped city have to pay a cent of these expenses? It is estimated that the Jackson estate will be out of the red at the end of the year, I'm pretty sure the city and state for that matter have nothing but red coming their way well past the end of this decade.

[not a fan]

Send Michael Jackon's family the bill. They created it, let them pay for it.

[Robert Lambert]

Another great example of government worker incompetency.

Don't get me wrong, this happens in the private sector as well but at least there will be consequences for the fools who messed up. At worst, the morons in the city IT department will probably get transferred to another position (they aren't qualified for) courtesy of their corrupt union.

[VS]

The city cannot even setup a simple donation server... sad.

[Me]

Yea, but the city got millions of dollars in international publicity. People from all over the world have a renewed interest in coming to visit Los Angeles, the place that Michael Jackson and other celebrities call home.

[m derosa]

Where are all the entertainers that have "loved" Michael Jackson. When it comes to opening their wallets, where are they? It will be interesting to see who gives money. $17,000 is a disgrace. To ask taxpayers to pay for his funeral is unfair. The Rich & Famous have hundreds of millions but not one penny for Michael's funeral. They all should be ashamed.

[Zach]

Why are taxpayers paying for this again??? Shouldn't his estate be footing the bill. This is total BS, why wasn't the memorial in Indiana so they could foot the bill. If LA has to fire more teachers on account of MJ's funeral, then the Jackson family and the City of Los Angeles should be embarrased.

[Peter Clayton]

Note to PayPal CMO:
Be a hero. Do LA a big favor and reap tons of free, positive publicity. Set up a FREE PayPal account for the City of LA to collect donations. Collect the $$ and send 'em a check.

[STERN 100_101]

Have the Jacksons sell one or two of those Rolls-Royse's, That should cover it.

[T Stewart]

Why dont the family pay for this funeral expenses to the city from his estate?

[David]

Let me guess the server crashed once but being that the county is staffed with county employees there was no one monitoring the server and then there was no one to reboot it when it crashed. They could have outsourced this for what...$1000 just to be sure this money stream stayed open...oh well. The LA county employees strike again!
Shazam! Ok maybe not.

[robert hayes]

The cheap jackson family, should pay all of it, they will be getting millions and they are to cheap to pay for it they are disgusting cheap skates.

[dan]

Why is raising money to cover the memorial costs so difficult? I'd gladly pay $25 for a duplicate of the memorial program and I think at least a million other fans would too.

[thealaskan]

Gosh, this is a great concept. If I make a donation will LAPD patrol my parking lot a bit once in awhile?

[Valerie from Oregon]

Can someone please list the LA City Hall website where donations can be made?

[DonJMac]

MAYOR TONY V.,,KEEP ON PIMPING DOWG,,$17,000 OVER
THE NET,PUT IT IN GENERAL FUNDS WHERE ALL YOUR ALREADY SPENT MONEY IS ,,ADVISE YOUR HOES IN LOS ANGELES TO STOP COMPLAINING,YOU KNOW THE GAME.
YOU DUMMIES KEEP THOSE DOLLARS COMMING,,GREAT
PIMPING TONY V.,, I MAY COME OUT OF RETIREMENT AFTER WATCHING YOUR INTERNET GAME,,,,YO HOMIE,,OH, I WONT
TELL ANYONE,, ME AND YOU DAWG,,,ONE LOVE

[C Kinney]

If the city of LA pays for any of the jackson funeral, the city council and mayor should be recalled. Backrupt the city kicking out every last one of them if necessary. If the city county and mayor are going to do it by paying for things like this then taxpayers might as well do it, its their city. All I have heard for the last week and half is how sales of jackson's music has exploded. Therefore, the family must take the royalities and pay for his funeral services and all the costs incurred by LA. All while LA is falling literally apart, there are places in the city that rival anything found in the Third World in any standard for poverty and the citizens are now shouldering a 9.75 percent sales tax. Los Angelianos need to start calling their representatives and writing emails telling them to make the rational and ethical decision for the city of LA.

[Cindy Malcolm]

Why doesn't Villaraigosa pay for it himself?

[Red]

Here is some food for thought regarding this matter...I completely understand the rationale behind the average person having to pay for his own motorcade and that the City is in deep debt...

HOWEVER...you are all refusing to acknowledge one VERY important FACT.... Nearly the entire tax base in Los Angeles is based on the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. Los Angeles IS entertainment - PERIOD.

I would love to know how many hundreds of millions of tax dollars have been generated for Los Angeles by the Jackson Family and their efforts. Millions of album sales, concerts, income taxes paid by the legions of employees who were employed to work on Michael Jackson's projects.

How much revenue was collected at Disneyland from Captain EO for all of those years? How much business tax collected by the networks and studios who represented him? How much from concerts and awards show appearances which boosted their ratings?...and even the newspapers and magazines and paparazzi who profited?

These PEOPLE are your commerce! Michael Jackson was treated as a REVENUE GENERATING PRODUCT ALL of his life...one for which the City of LA PROFITED for DECADES!

This is not Rocket Science folks!! All that needs to happen is for the City to hire an ACTUARY to do a statistical report and give the City a figure so funds can be set aside to cover the specific BUSINESS NEEDS of your particular brand of commerce...which happens to be CELEBRITIES like Michael Jackson.

I am personally disgusted at the thought that after milking this cow for nearly 40 years, you have the audacity to now complain at having to foot the bill for his funeral. I didn't hear anyone complaining while they were collecting those revenues he was generating all his life.

[KW]

Looks like the Information Technology Agency should have been smart enough to rent some server time and bandwidth from someone else...

[h]

Jeeze guys, why didn't you just use paypal.

[Harry@Home]

Good God what a city. You must be hiring all the hacks who are evacuating Massachusetts to run things. Bratton is from Mass. can't you tell? Grossly over estimated the attendance by about
97 thousand. How about he kicks in some salary to cover this flagrant overreaction.

[Ted]

Tony Villar is on vacation in Africa with his girlfriend!

[Harry@Home]

Oops. I must have a Massachusetts gene in there somewhere.
Over estimate was 970 thousand. Whew, glad I fixed that.

[Bruno]

I Love Michael Jackson!
you is eternal here in Brazil!
We love Michael Jackson!

Rest in peace!

[R. Tesste]

Doesn't this qualify for stimulus money? Seems like a shovel -ready project if ever there was one

[Regats]

Costs for funerals and services are borne by the estate.
The city of LA should send the bill for the cost of providing security services for the MJ memorial media event to the probate attorneys. It is not the city's responsibility to pay, particularly in the fiscal condition it's in.

[Eleanor Treole]

Send LA's bill for the memorial costs to the Jackson family! Who else's funeral does the City of LA pay for? No one!!! Families pay for memorials/funerals, no matter where we live. This man was NOT a hero. Soldiers are heros, not singers. Especially singers with questionable morals.

Again, sue the Jacksons if necessary. Let them pay for it.

[cath]

why isn't the family paying for it?

[Karina]

Their are thousands of school teachers with pink slips in Los Angeles, numbers and numbers of clinics being shut down. All kinds of services that are necessary being dumped, because the state and city are broke!!!!!!!!!!! I have nothing against the memorial for Mr. Jackson, nor that his family host the biggest event possible for their means and desire in honor of their loved one as they chose to do, but neither the city nor the citizens of the city or state should be paying for this. I am certain the Jackson family and their many successful members have the means to cover the 4 million dollar cost for police, closures and all else that was required. Its just like any family in this city paying for the best funeral service they can for a loved one. End of story. They can afford a service of this magnitude with no problem. 4 million dollars is nothing to the Jackson family. Shame on the city for even putting the site up!

[swf]

The Jackson Family will continue to milk the Michael machine by releasing some of his new songs. Not inapproriate for them to skim a little of that cream to pay for their family member's elaborate and expensive funeral.

[SithLord]

Perhaps the city elders should've consulted their I.T. department first before telling millions of viewers to head on over to their website...

[ldanny heredia]

I want to help

[ldanny heredia]

hhchhhdh wANT TO HELP

[ldanny heredia]

i WNT TO DONATE 500.00

[ldanny heredia]

WHEREE IS PAYPAL................................

[Robyn Chermark]

I would like to send a donation for Michael Jackson's memorial, but I do not have an address to send it to.

[DonJMac]

: ldanny heredia, send that $500.00 to me a will make sure it get to the right pocket,,I mean person.

[More to the Matter]

I have happily donated to MJ's memorial fund, to me it is the least I could do for the priceless memories and boundless joy his music has given me over the years. That being said - I think the City and citizens who are bemoaning the expenses are extremely short-sighted. I wonder if City officials aren't trying to pick our pockets... the media exposre the city received can not be calculated - (all positive might I add, very much UNLIKE the debacale we endured when the basketball team fans went on their rampage). Also, the visitors that came to the city from all over the world, who rented hotel rooms, shopped and ate in LA during these past weeks has got to be a huge sum of income. On the day of the memorial I spent the afternoon in Hollywood walking around with friends and the money on Jackson T-shirts and other related items was flying into cash registers. Something stinks here city officials - do the math.

[shane]

If the citiy every gets it's web site together, the money will begin to pour in. Seems many are critical of the Jackson Family, but let Brittany Spears or Parris Hilton pass away and no one will complain what so ever. I made a donation just today. If the city of LA don't get it's act together, there will be lots of fake web sites. And the money starts to flow, it might shut up the party of "No" for a day or so....

[mark handley]

If I died would the city pay for my funeral then ask for donations? I doubt it . The Jacksons have plenty and are making even more and should pay for their own sons funeral just like everybody else.

[Alexandra]

Why do WE have to pay for the memorial. Would a quiet thing like the other two funerals had would have been enough. Why did th efreeways have to be closede so the Jackson family and their motorcade can go through. Will this be done for me when I die?. I noticed that court personell are having one less day a month without pay and now this is slpa in their face. "Sorry cannot pay your salary but can pay CHP and LAPD to guard the Jackson family and Wacko's body" Come on people get real. The coffin should have not been the 25K one and maybe that money could have been used towards this bill. The worms are going to get in anyways.