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Yesterday, Controller Wendy Greuel lambasted the city's Emergency Management Department for spending $30,000 over what she thinks they should have on lunches for LAPD officers covering the Michael Jackson memorial service. Not only that, the near $50,000 spent was with a business 80 miles outside city limits. Speaking to the LA Times, Jim Featherstone, manager of the department, responded, saying the vendor is able to prepare large amounts of food within 24 hours. "We have to feed the 3,000-plus responders who are in a ready-response posture. They checked in before dawn and had potential to go for 12 or 15 hours. It wasn’t just a boxed lunch." The lunch included two sandwiches, two drinks, desserts, a candy bar, trail mix, chips or crackers, a granola bar and a pack of gum.
Response: $48K on LAPD Lunches for Michael Jackson Event
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Begley is a raving nutball and he is dead wrong. StrokerMcgurk
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That response is totally inadequate.
There are vendors, within the city of Los Angeles, that can provide the same services on the same timeframe for less than $48,000.
I hope Wendy really takes them to task over this.
1) why do they get free lunches? should they buy their own lunches?
2) I bet this dude, Jim Featherstone, get a kick back from that vendor.... plz look into it.
Every cop needed a pack of gum for their 15 hour day??
do you get free lunch at where you work? I don't.
For that amount, they could have at least included something not utterly devoid of nutritional value. Maybe the sandwiches contained some protein or veggies. Maybe. But come on? Two drinks, desserts, a candy bar, trail mix, chips or crackers, a granola bar and a pack of gum? It would have been cheaper to hand each cop a half-pound sack of granulated sugar.
Why the "within 24 hours" requirement? The event was planned days in advance.
And the State of California is broke? I wonder why.
there are numerous catering trucks that service the filming community. they know how to prepare meals pretty quick and can feed lots of mouths...just sayin'.
$50,000 on Sandwiches and trail mix for only 3000 officers? Was there Beluga Caviar in them sammies?! Very suspicious...
Jensen's is akin to a Ralph's or Vons -- when did a grocery store, 80 miles up in the mountains, become an emergency provider of catering?
$18 per person for 12 - 15 hours (remember, it wasn't just lunch) is not that bad. This was not gourmet food, nor was it at a gourmet price.
The city might have to treat cause the officers are forced to stay at the event, working. I bet those cops WOULD rather have been able to buy their own lunches.
And those film catering services are WAY more expensive. For 3,000 people? Who ever brought that up is not in the industry.
Sorry, not even $18 per person - $16.
Thank you. I've organized a lot of events. Try and find someone - including tax, tip, delivery - for under $16 per person for 24-hours worth of food. When I don't bring lunch to the office, it's $6 minimally, and I walk to pick it up. lunch and dinner, that's $12. add a drink, chips and delivery and it's $16 EASY.
The cops didn't have time to wait in a taco truck line to get served if they're on duty. It needs to be somewhat nonperishable and servable for individuals on break.
This isn't even an issue. The cost of the meals also include delivery. Does Wendy expect the LAPD to go to Subway for $5 Subs? Its a political play by a Democrat to look fiscally conservative in a recession.
Next time she should concentrate on LAPD attrition rather than how much lunch costs. Why is it the LAPD lose so many cops every year. That's a real issue. This is just fluff.
I think a big issue here is that the money was spent outside city limits. In the 2nd largest city, we should be able to find a vendor fit for the job to keep the dollars and taxes recycled within the city.
The vendor was profiled on KCAL. They also serve LAFD. Sounds like the city is a regular customer.
Agreed that someone should have questioned - a long time ago- hiring non-city vendors. My guess is there's an approved vendor list. Getting on that list probably required references/experience (ability to actually prepare and deliver 3500 lunches asap, unlike the local Subway Greuel mentioned) and that cost was a factor too. It's a question of the vendor list and rethinking overall protocols (local businesses incorporated in Los Angeles proper gets more points), not lambasting the department for spending too much on the MJ insanity.
Well semantic meanders aside, then by all means, call for the accountability from the individuals who made the vendor list so arcane, insular and preferential.
Just because byzantine bureaucratic wasteful pathways *exist* does not necessarily predicate a blind allegiance to them.
Maybe this is the type of event that can spark some change.
Who is promoting blind allegiance? My comment certainly shouldn't have given that impression. And my semantics, as you call it, were hardly trying to weasel around the issue of accountability. I was just trying to target the right departments and issues. I deal with these sorts of list all the time as a consultant to many regional agencies, and I just wanted to point out that the blame and public outcry is being misdirected. Someone in LAPD looked at the list of caterers/service providers they were allowed to use, who they knew was reliable, and used them. Maybe this vendor won a spot on the list based on cost and reliability, despite the lack of in-city residence. I don't know. I know I get points for being local when I respond to bids but that another contractor could beat me out in a different category - say technical qualifications. I'm just saying, instead of a damn knee jerk reaction, lets look at how to actually fix the problem by properly defining what the problem is.
Another question might be whether LAPD continues providing lunch at all or simply storage lockers/transport for food. I don't know which is more cost-effective, but it's certainly a good question.
Ah, it seems there may have been perhaps trace of an eye rolling tone, ie: "Listen people, here's the muck, I don't condone it, but I have to walk through it everyday, here's how it works." That makes sense.
As for redirecting the outcry, well, heck ya! Great idea. From the sounds of it, you possess "inside track" knowledge as to Angeleno byzantine bureaucracy. Cudos. I totally and sincerely encourage you to make with the condensed bullet points - ie: departments/contacts. I'm sure more then a few Laist-ers would join up in a petition or letter writing or some such outrage redirection.
Seriously, ; ]
I can attest to the fact that becoming a vendor for the City of L.A. can be a complicated process.
Gratefully, the city puts on one of these every couple of years, usually at the Convention Center, the next one will be sometime in 2010...
http://www.lavendorfair.com
If you are in a business that you think can benefit by providing services to the city, or you just want to get in on the bidding process, then save that above link, this is a good place to get your foot in the door.
I'd be curious to know what compels the city to pay for the officer's lunches. Were they not allowed to take their lunch break? You would think that with 3000 officers, they could take lunch break in a few shifts. They don't get their meals payed for every day - what makes this event different?
I think the cost is somewhat reasonable, but would have preferred that they looked locally for vendors - surely there exist many companies in LA capable of feeding that many people with a couple days notice.
Where were they going to get served lunch in a timely manner given the number of people in the area that day? Plus no one without a ticket to the event could go to work that day because the area was closed off.
For perspective, the cost of providing lunch to cops during this funeral would have paid a LAUSD teacher's salary for the better part of a year.
The thing is just because catering services routinely gouge the film industry doesn't make it any less of a rip-off.
Los Angeles is so *used* to astronomical waste, anything less than a million is routinely laughed off.
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, I'm sure any number of the newfangled twittering Meal trucks would have happily provided healthier/tastier food at more economical rates (They likely would've seen it as an opportunity for a viral publicity coup.)
You know what people, get a life. This was an extraordinary event, and extraordinary measures were taken to ensure that it would go smoothly. If the worst thing that happened was that LAPD officers had slightly expensive lunches--all of you in the city of LA should be thrilled. Those who work in publicity or entertainment are well aware that costs like these are routine: the event was a one-off, and planned in 5 days--not something that can be micro-controlled.
How many of you can honestly say you have never had a lunch that was overpriced because it was simply part of the professional situation or event you were in that day. Stop taking easy pot shots at LAPD and LA city government and get some perspective, hayseeds. Let's see you plan an event like the Jackson memorial economically. THEN you can whine about small change like lunch.
And the people who keep bitching about how this or that amount of money could be used for LAUSD--if you are not currently employed by LAUSD, shut your trap and volunteer tomorrow.
Vitriol and denigration can make for a very compelling smokescreen.
Yet it's interesting that calls for fiscal responsibility in the realms of the military or law enforcement are always laughed off with hubris and swagger.
Yet, I would imagine if such a purchase were made for say, all the *teachers* on any given day, even for a special event, that whining would likely be a roar heard round the world.
For anyone who did not see the vendor profile, the sandwiches are made with freshly sliced fancy meats and are large sandwiches fit for firemen or police personnel - the vendor is approved by state and federal governments - lunches contain specific caloric content - for many years fire personnel received benefits from these high quality meals. We are grateful in the high desert for the chance to provide meals for the policemen who protect and serve everyone. Our little community has been hard hit during poor economic times and any work we can perform is appreciated. Thank you.