Los Angeles can pay for its own damn star-studded spectacles, thank you.
So says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who returned from vacation last week to find that the councilwoman acting as mayor in his absence urged people to donate money toward last week's Michael Jackson memorial, which cost the city an estimated $1.4 million, most of that going to the L.A. Police Department for overtime expenses.
"This is a world-class city, and we provide fire and police protection, period. The idea that we would charge the family for a funeral is nonsensical," he said during his first public appearance today, calling the website set up by his office to solicit donations "ridiculous."
With that being said, the website (which was good for about $35,000 from civilians' pockets) stopped accepting money at 1 p.m. on Friday, according to Villaraigosa's spokesman, Matt Szabo.
It was acting Mayor Jan Perry who thought up the donation idea while Villaraigosa was traveling in South Africa. But it was Councilman Dennis Zine who was especially hot under the collar when he thought about cash-strapped taxpayers being held responsible for the expenditure in these economically iffy times.
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b133893_la_mayor_blasts_idea_of_family_donors.html

