Lunches ordered from Wrightwood fuel Jackson memorial controversy

Feeding the controversy over taxpayer costs for the Michael Jackson memorial, officials disclosed Wednesday the city paid nearly $50,000 for box lunches from an upscale market 80 miles north of Los Angeles for police who worked the event.

[ANON]

WAIT A FRIGGIN MINUTE HERE .......... THOSE GUYS WERE ON THE PAYROLL ( AT AN OVERTIME RATE ) AND WE , THE TAXPAYERS , HAVE TO FEED THEM TOO ???? THIS IS SO WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS ...... EVER HEAR OF BRINGING A SACK LUNCH FROM HOME AND A BOTTLE OF WATER ?

[Ticky Tacky]

ANON wrote:

WAIT A FRIGGIN MINUTE HERE .......... THOSE GUYS WERE ON THE PAYROLL ( AT AN OVERTIME RATE ) AND WE , THE TAXPAYERS , HAVE TO FEED THEM TOO ???? THIS IS SO WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS ...... EVER HEAR OF BRINGING A SACK LUNCH FROM HOME AND A BOTTLE OF WATER ?

Sounds like a great deal for a quality box with a very tall order on very short notice, and each box is two servings. You definitely don't want to take any chances buying cheap food. Besides this was a special event and they deserve better quality. Jensens is top notch and you could never get a local store to be able to do this on such short notice.

[LOL]

Ticky Tacky wrote:

<quoted text> Sounds like a great deal for a quality box with a very tall order on very short notice, and each box is two servings. You definitely don't want to take any chances buying cheap food. Besides this was a special event and they deserve better quality. Jensens is top notch and you could never get a local store to be able to do this on such short notice.

How many employers do you know who feed their employees while those employees are working?

[Ticky Tacky]

LOL wrote:

<quoted text>
How many employers do you know who feed their employees while those employees are working?

An official at Jensen's said the store, which has provided lunches for Los Angeles before, has a catering operation that often prepares box lunches for police and firemen responding to large events.
Sounds like they couldn't leave to have lunch. Take it up with the city.

[Local Yokel]

Ticky Tacky wrote:

<quoted text> Sounds like a great deal for a quality box with a very tall order on very short notice, and each box is two servings. You definitely don't want to take any chances buying cheap food. Besides this was a special event and they deserve better quality. Jensens is top notch and you could never get a local store to be able to do this on such short notice.

Are you being sarcastic? If so, it's very funny stuff.

[WTF]

We're buying them cookies and gum for lunch? That's fraud, waste and abuse!

[chexz]

ummm Budget crisis, no summer school for our students of the future but wow,$50,000 for boxed lunches.... That's right whether on overtime or not I am responsible to bring my own lunch in, why is this not the same for our first responders?

[fred]

If you've ever eaten at Subway you know why they didn't buy the lunches from them though.

[Okie Dokie]

Typical Los Angeles politicians. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. What a waste of personnel and expense. AEG and the Jackson family should pay for the event. BUT as we all know, this is not going anywhere. LA Mayor will make some excuse and redirect the blame to other people. By the way, didn't the Police Chief say the Jackson family promised him that the casket will not be at Staples? LIES, LIES and more LIES.

[Yeah]

ANON wrote:

WAIT A FRIGGIN MINUTE HERE .......... THOSE GUYS WERE ON THE PAYROLL ( AT AN OVERTIME RATE ) AND WE , THE TAXPAYERS , HAVE TO FEED THEM TOO ???? THIS IS SO WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS ...... EVER HEAR OF BRINGING A SACK LUNCH FROM HOME AND A BOTTLE OF WATER ?

That's right idiot. We had to work about 30 hrs over two days standing in the hot sun on our days off. And on top of that, two sandwiches and two sodas with a candy bar. If it was our decision, we would of rather gone and bought our own lunch. Last time I checked,,,we also pay taxes moron.

[Skatermom]

Yeah wrote:

<quoted text>
That's right idiot. We had to work about 30 hrs over two days standing in the hot sun on our days off. And on top of that, two sandwiches and two sodas with a candy bar. If it was our decision, we would of rather gone and bought our own lunch. Last time I checked,,,we also pay taxes moron.

I think the frustration is geared more toward the event that you were covering. I personally believe it was a waste of your time and all taxpayer money to host this event.....for crying out loud he was a freaking performer and a pedophile to boot.
The economy is in the tank, people are out of work and children are hungry and we are shelling out millions to glorify a pedophile.
Our state is bankrupt. We have no money and are issuing IOU's and here we are hosting a circus for the benefit of every nut job out there!
This is insane!

[Skatermom]

The city has put out a plea to Jackson supporters for donations to help cover the costs of the memorial.

Yeah right! That's going to happen. Everybody at that event was unemployed or on welfare, what the hell are they donating?

[T M Z]

Given that MJ's death has been an unbelievably huge economic boost for LA, I'm not going to begrudge anyone working OT on this their lunch. Seems a bit expensive to me, though.

[M Richards]

Hey Angelenos, would you like to call a police officer to help you out and then find out that they stopped to eat rather than helping you?

I know an employer that all of you are very grateful when they feed their employees. It's called the LAFD. When they are fighting fires for all of us, we appreciate that they are fed by others so they won't leave the fire lines and find their own eateries.

YES, AEG, The Jackson Family, and anyone who stands to make a buck off of the recording of the service should foot the bills.

Although the place where the lunches were made is not in the city of Los Angeles, it is in an area where firefighting has been going on for generations and they know their business of feeding those who help our communities.

YES, if you are a Michael Jackson fan you probably should sack up and donate to helping defray the costs the city put out helping the service be the best it was.

[one little guy]

There is one top LAPD offficial who can order 3500
sworn officers to work overtime. I believe his name is spelled "B R A T T I O N". If he did not do it or claims he did not know. Bull hocky. He is the Chief of LAPD he is overall responsible for the actions of his department.

[M Richards]

LOL wrote:

<quoted text>
How many employers do you know who feed their employees while those employees are working?

Try just about every firefighting employer in the United States. Try police agencies helping out during disasters.

Try the United States Military providing food to those in harms way.

Try the giant corporations that fed those in board rooms while their companies were coming undone.

Try public utility companies during extreme weather conditions when workers cannot leave their assignments while providing restoral work.

There are surely other employers who provide meals during irregular occasions when it is not in the best interest of the public to have workers not provide the essential services they do.

During our forced time at Pacific Bell during the storms of El Nino, supervisors provided workers boxed meals as we worked hard to restore service to people. I didn't hear any complaints from our customers back then and I know they didn't care who was footing the bill.

[Say What]

I'm not opposed to feeding personnel who are on long shifts in any occupation. I am opposed to footing a bill in these hard times. Ok, so most of us loved the king of pop, that's fine. I feel bad for the family and for MJ's kids. Ok. I am not OK with paying for his memorial service. I though the family had arranged it and paid for it.
First off California is in a BUDGET DEFICIT. They are threatening to cut our welfare, our social services and our school funding. Children and many college students have no summer school because of the cuts. CalWorks is in danger and the CalGrant program for college students is in danger of disappearing. Point blank WE DONT HAVE THE MONEY FOR THIS. I can't believe the city dropped 1.4 million to 5 million on this. I'm so mad at the irresponsibility. Evidently Californians mean crap to California.
We are falling apart and LA just showed how juvenile our system is. Our taxes suck and they are going to get worse because there is no one who is watching the pocket books.
Shame on you LA and now I'm paying for it.
When I finish school, I'm moving. I'm taking my Nursing Degree and my tax dollars and pumping it into a more responsible state. Maybe one who won't try to blame its budget problems on prop 13 and spend millions on a whim when we are broke and struggling.

[billy the builder]

I feed my employees at least 4 times a week just to keep up the moral and keep my men and women working. They work better and I get more done and it makes me feel good about taking care of those hard working people. What concerns me is the lunches provided didn't include any doughnuts. What the hell is wroing with our first responders? How do they expect a good job done without doughnuts for our policemen. In San Pedro alone in one neighborhood I can count over 10 doughnut shops in a 10 block radius. Absolutely outrageous!!! I didn't go to police planning school and I am not a politician but, some things a person just knows. This is a small little mother dawg problem for us to worry about compared to something big like 911. That is what is scary, what if this would have been THE BIG ONE? I am prepared and I sure hope all of you are. Police yourselves and have your own box lunches ready for yourselves. No one but you can be depended on in an emergency.

[R U Serious]

Just one more example of the absurdity of Los Angeles City Goverment. The clowns in charge of the tax payers money is beyond laughable. The idiot Mayor and the entire City Counsel should be thrown out.

[Hiro]

Why is the city crying the blues and begging for donations?

Why doesn't the media report a COMPLETE story of how events like this really work?

The city more than made up for the cost of the service by the huge influx of people who came in from all over the world to be in LA. They ate in restaurants paying sales tax. They parked in garages. They rented cars. They rented hotel rooms.

They may even have stayed a few extra days to go to Universal Studios, Hollywood, etc. all the while spending money in the local economy and paying sales tax.

To me it appears the city over reacted to the event by having 1000 too many officers. Did they buy into the media hype and expect 100s of thousands to descend on Staples Center?