And how much did you donate to the city for the Michael Jackson memorial?

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"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.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

Comments

[Linda Barrett]

Yeah that lunch bill is mad dubious, especially since the city already had a quote from Subway to feed the same amount of people for a cool $31k LESS than the final total. One has to really wonder where they ended up ordering from...

[Adele]

I understand that they are in debt, but this is ridiculous! Do they not realize how much money the city is making from tourism this week because of this memorial? That income will eventually trickle into the LAPD. It's their job to provide this service for public events as they as they work for the public. The MJ memorial is making the city money in a lot of other ways. They should start asking money for donations for every Lakers game or concert at the Staples Center police work. Why don't we just make the LA PD - rent a cop central? I understand it's a lot of money, but it's money helping tourism in the city and if they don't want to handle events like these then the city's going to be losing more than $1.4 million dollars in cop fees - they are going to lose tourist events, which will help the economy and provide other jobs (think of all the hotel rentals, restaurant business, etc...). I think they should have organized the budget way before MJ died.

[J. Krist]

Why on earth does anyone care about the cost of this thing? It's not going to make or break the City of LA's budget. It's relative pocket change. I pay taxes, AEG pays taxes, WHO CARES? Part of being a big city is having the cajones to host these kinds of events. Deal with it and move on. Don't tax AEG for it.

[h]

I agree. The worst part is that the city is suckering people into donating, and people donated 17k without asking for as much as a breakdown of how the money is being spent. They've worded it like this is donations solicited beforehand, but the money is already spent. Tell people where. As far as I can tell, there's nothing to confirm that the money won't be spent on bonuses or herman miller chiars, or who knows what. Sorry, but this is shady business to me. Really makes me wonder about the common sense of those who donated.

[Alvarez]

Help pay for the services??? MJ put a lot of money into the system. Even after death there are estate taxes. MJ deserves this from the CIty.

[Rachel]

I am an average nobody from the Midwest and I'm outraged by this. LA is Celebrity Central and I've never heard of asking people to donate before. I expect to see collection plates outside the Oscars and every other award show for the RICH celebrities to pay, not us. We already pay. Don't they collect enough taxes in California or what? You have some of the wealthiest citizens but are stooping to this? And coldly belittling the Jackson family about the money during these days is beyond awful. I'm wondering how much the event actually BROUGHT IN to the city. Lodging, dining, transportation. The city probably MADE money on this.

[Big Sam]

Don't count too high. Chances of the Jackson family parting with a dime...zero. Chances the entertainment industry parting with a dime...zero. Local government allowed this to get out of hand along with the media. Clowns.

[Marcy]

Pffft. I wouldn't contribute dime one to this (willingly). The Jackson family is not broke. The family is better connected in the industry, to put on such an..."event". The family incurs the costs of a memorial and funeral normally, do they not? Let's not pretend that nobody knows about Los Angeles or the Staples Center - what, has it been hidden from the world all this time? Wow - good thing Mr. Jackson died, otherwise the city would have never hit the radar and nobody would ever, ever know about us!

Send the Jacksons the bill. The cost of the parade for the LA Lakers was footed privately.

[Nancy]

Without a doubt, this is the single most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. LA, please accept my IOU for M. Jackson's memorial.

[Michelle]

California you have nerve to ask for donations from hard working people who r in the middle of a recession. The state should have thought about how they were going to fund this event before putting on such a show. You have raised taxes in your state to over 9% where is all that money coming from. The amount you payed for lunch is mind blowing. With a state in a financial mess, your workers need to be bringing their lunch. I could go on and on but the people that have made a contribution you might want to see a bill first before you make a payment. I believe we could have honored this wonderful musician in another way without breaking the bank or innocent people pockets.

[Carter Thompson]

I believe this is a non issue and the city should bear the costs associated with public safety. If the city is the least bit concerned about costs they should hold the police department's feet to the fire for having to pay more than 25 million dollars for internal and external abuses this year alone. Maybe if they rein in a poorly ran and managed police department they would not experience these financial shortfalls. We the people are tired of being asked to foot the bill or have our taxes increased for ineptness at its finest.

As far as those lunches I would investigate the nexus with who authorized the expenditure and any possible relationships with the owners of Jensen's. It is absurd to try to convince me that no company in LA is qualified to deliver a quality lunch for much less. Also, this was a one day event and the officers could not bring their own meals or have a vendor on site preparing lunches where the officers could have eaten in shifts at the nearby convention center.

The amount of police presence was completely over kill. Were they expecting anarchists to descend upon LA. Granted MJ had a lot of fans, but they had no intentions to tear down LA. That was one of those "Where were you?" moments.

Did the city bill Britney 25K for escorting her to receive a mental evaluation? Does the county intend to bill MJ's family for the flying his body to the LA County Coroner's office. If his family had held a service at any other location fans would have flocked to the scene to pay their respects with dignity and the police would have had to develop contingency plans to deal with the crowd.

If councilman Dennis Zine was concerned with the costs of the event he should have made inquiries regarding the police department's action plan being developed to determine the appropriateness of their response and related costs. Councilwoman Jan Perry really embarrased her self and the city of LA begging for donations. Maybe if the city had a Mayor who would cease his womanizing and dine at taxpayers expense in LA instead of Spago's in Beverly Hills the city would eventually be in better fiscal shape. Eliminate the wasteful spending and hire Dept managers who really know what they are doing we would not be having this discussion.

I say the citizens of LA should expect and insist on better accountability across the board. If not, make sure to remember their lack of accountabiltiy, ineptness, and malfeasance when it is time for re-election.

[Cindi]

This event is showcasing and an obscene display of wealth, conspicuous consumption, and material gratification all at once. Does anyone get it? There is a crisis...economic and environmental....it is real. But yet, the marketing (via funeral) to consume more and more at the cost of future generations continues? there are many children in LA who would benefit from that money immediately!
So...the city claims to have this "emergency" fund? And who is that fund used for? The already wealthy, the famous, and priviledged? Why would they require assistance?
RIDICULOUS!!!!!