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Close to $50K Spent on LAPD Lunches at Michael Jackson Memorial Service
Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
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Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
Just a week on the job and City Controller Wendy Greuel is kicking butt. The city's Emergency Management Department was charged with feeding some 3,200 officers that were deployed for the Michael Jackson memorial service in case the crowds outside the Staples Center grew, possibly to a million people.
That didn't happen as the city's stern message to stay home worked, leaving around 1,000 people in the streets hanging around. Because of that, 1,000 officers were sent home before 10 a.m. when the memorial began. Still, the city had to be prepared to feed all the men and women in blue and that came at a price. In a letter today, Greuel explains:
It came to my office's attention... that your department requested $48,826 for lunches from Jensen's Finest Foods in Wrightwood--nearly 80 miles from Los Angeles--for first responders to the Michael Jackson memorial... [snip]
Upon seeing this bill, my staff called a local Subway--in the City of Los Angeles--and was quoted a price of $17,491.25 for 3,500 box lunches. That's a potential savings to the taxpayers of more than $31,000.
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