City Council had put off all the matters for the Michael Jackson Memorial event to Tuesday to be heard at the same meeting, allowing all the parties involved to be a little more informed and prepared. Council member Dennis Zine has already voiced his positon, to find out who authorized the expenses and to try to get reimbursement to the city.
The amounts spent by the City are in dispute. The $1.4 million spent for the 3,500 police called out for duty is only about that, but another sum, nearly $4 million is the figure given to Zine by the city sources for all the city services and personnel involved.
Mayor Villaraigosa has shown his colors on this and they don't match the city's. He said, in a widely covered press conference turning on the staff and the general sentiment of officials, that the web site (that he was supposed to have authorized) to collect donations was ridiculous and that AEG the owners of Staples Center and promoters of Jackson's events would NOT be asked for ANY money. So there.
Tony is still a little off-base as far as public opinion and his choice not to run for Governor was really based on the fact that he has low popularity, and this move fits in with what he's done all along in the past 4 years of his first term.
Tomorrow's meeting may be a show down, or a lot of backpedaling. Tim Leiweke, President & CEO of AEG, says he has no responsibility for the expense and did not cause the City to act as it did. And on top of all that, he is buddies with the mayor, who for all his talk of a "World Class City," still does favors for people that have put out dollars for his campaigns and activities. After all, that's what politics is all about. They all deny it, but you can see what makes sense as the stories unfold.
Posts
