14 DAY TRIAL // Michael Jackson’s public memorial cost the city of Los Angeles a whopping $1.4 million employed in extra security for the event and sealing off areas of the town where the convoy of limousines accompanying the singer’s body passed. Even before the memorial, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked fans to visit the city’s website and make a donation to help ease the costs – now, he’s saying donations were amounted to close to nothing because of several server crashes.
Therefore, Michael Jackson fans, both those who attended and those who did not have this once in a lifetime chance, are asked to return to the website and make their contribution. In a statement just released and posted online by TMZ, the Mayor is asking fans for understanding for the service being unavailable for such a long period of time, while also urging them to make a nice gesture and donate for the public memorial of the King of Pop.
“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 [the website] to make their donation.” the press statement just released reads.
Initial costs of the Memorial were believed to be somewhere around $4 million, a budget said to be allocated on extra mounted forces, SWAT teams escorting Michael’s body and other security measures. As we also reported a few days back, a 12-block area around Staples Center was sealed off to make sure that LAPD could keep the crowds under control. More than 70,000 fans were expected to gather outside the venue despite the fact that they did not have a ticket to get inside to see the ceremony: estimates indicate that number was reached.
Although fans reacted somewhat negatively to the Mayor’s first plea to donate to “give the King the memorial he deserves,” it seems that they eventually warmed up to the idea, if one is to judge by the intense traffic that eventually crashed the site. Those still interested in donating can do so here.