Antonio Villaraigosa

Last week’s memorial to Michael Jackson cost the city of Los Angeles an estimated $1.4 million. According to the LA Times:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said this morning that it was the city’s responsibility to provide police protection and crowd control for the memorial of pop star Michael Jackson last week and that no one else should pay the cost.

Mayor If you’re a taxpaying resident that was $1.4 million of your hard earned tax dollars that defrayed the cost of the multitude of law enforcement officials required to maintain order during the service.  There are reports that L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa insists upon the city bearing the  brunt of this staggering bill. Does anyone else think that there is something wrong with this picture, because I do.

Last time I checked the state of California has a budget deficit of $21 billion, we’re beyond broke! Public schools are laying teachers off left and right and government employees are forced to reduce their hours/pay. Furthermore, the state is issuing IOUs for over 29,000 tax refund checks to it’s tax-paying citizens. It’s a touchy subject but with all due respect to the Jackson family, especially under the present circumstances I don’t feel that it is appropriate for tax dollars to cover the cost of a memorial service. It would be an entirely different matter if they couldn’t afford to pay for it but the evidence suggests otherwise.