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Jackson memorial costs debate heats up
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Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich says he's investigating why the city paid the police costs for the Michael Jackson memorial. KPCC’s Frank Stoltze reports.
Frank Stoltze: In an appearance at City Council, Trutanich said cash-strapped L.A. shouldn’t have to pay millions of dollars for public safety during the Jackson memorial.
Carmen Trutanich: Rest assured our office is investigating how we are going to recoup that money for the city.
Stoltze: The newly elected city attorney didn’t suggest who should pay. He stopped short of joining some city council members who argue that the Jackson family or AEG, the entertainment company that staged the memorial, should share the costs.
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Police Chief Bill Bratton said he’ll let the politicians decide, but he also offered an opinion.
Bill Bratton: In reality, if this city wants to consider itself a world-class city, it has to appreciate and understand that there are going to be from time to time world-class events, and this certainly qualified for that title. This is a once-in–a-generation type event.
Stoltze: The city attorney said he’d report back to the city council on Friday.
Note: The Mayor's Office released this statement on fundraising for the memorial:
"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. Consequently, the City was unable to receive contributions for several hours Tuesday afternoon. The server also failed for at least 12 consecutive hours Tuesday evening, from 8:00 PM (PST) through 8:00 AM (PST) the next day, and periodically throughout Wednesday morning.
The City apologizes for the inconvenience to those who were unable to contribute to the memorial costs. The Information Technology Agency is attempting to rectify the problems.
The City encourages donors to revisit http://mayor.lacity.org to make their donation."
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