Michael Jackson Memorial

Same story @ CNN

No free lunch - L.A. pays $50,000 for cop lunches

On top of the story above, reports are now coming in that the city paid nearly $50,000 for box lunches from an upscale market (Jensen's Finest Foods in Wrightwood) 80 miles northeast of L.A. for the 3,500 police who worked the Michael Jackson Memorial event. An outraged City Controller Wendy Greuel, whose office is responsible for paying city bills, said her staff researched the expense and found that 3,500 box lunches ordered from local Subway shops in Los Angeles would have cost only about $17,500. No wonder the City of Angels is $530 million in debt.

The lunch costs further fuel an already angry debate over why Los Angeles, in the middle of a budget crisis, has had to pay millions of dollars in personnel costs for a private event at Staples Center.