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Jackson’s memorial costs much more than previously estimated

Published: 09/07/2009 05:00

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A Los Angeles City Council member said on Thursday that the total cost resulting from pop star Michael Jackson’s memorial was much more than the amount of 1.4 million U.S. dollars estimated by the mayor’s office.

A star-studded public memorial service pays a farewell tribute to late pop star Michael Jackson at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, Tuesday. (Xinhua Photo)

Mayoral spokesman Matt Szabo wrote in a post on the mayor’s Twitter page Wednesday that the total cost to the city was “far less than expected” at 1.4 million dollars.

But Councilman Dennis Zine said in a telephone interview aired on Fox 11’s “Good Day LA” Thursday morning that the sum cited by the mayor’s office pertained only to the extra costs incurred by the Los Angeles Police Department.

He said the amount did not include the costs resulting from the activities of the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Street Services and the Fire Department. Nor does it reflect the costs attached to the weekend deployment of city employees who helped with pre-memorial planning and to the installation of portable toilets near Staples Center where the memorial was held.

Zine said the city’s Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the final cost to taxpayers could be more than 3 million dollars.

The Analyst’s Office had previously projected the possible cost to the city at 3.8 million dollars.

That projection was based on the expectation that 750,000 fans would flock to Staples Center, even though they would have had no tickets to get inside for the memorial. In the end, only a fraction of that number turned up.

Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton said the general calm enabled him to release about 1,000 officers during the event and another 800 after it was over.

Zine again called on AEG Live, which owns Staples Center, to pay the city’s costs associated with the memorial. He said the company was charging media companies up to 50,000 dollars for the use of risers near Staples Center. AEG did not immediately comment on the statement.

AEG is “making a lot of money out of this,” Zine said, while the city’s taxpayers “are getting ripped off.”

Tens of thousands of fans paid tribute to Jackson at a melodic farewell in Los Angeles Staple Center on Tuesday.

A total of 17,500 free tickets were distributed to Jackson fans,11,000 of whom were admitted into Staples Center, and 6,500 of whom were seated across the street at the Nokia Theatre, where the event was shown on large video screens, according to official estimates.

Jackson, who had been in Los Angeles rehearsing for a series of50 sold-out concerts in London, died on June 25 at Ronald Reagan Medical Center at the University of California in Los Angeles, about two hours after he collapsed at his rented Holmby Hills estate.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

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