Morning Briefs and Outtakes on the Jackson Memorial continues

"AEG's Tim Leiweke, NBA Commish David Stern and local politicos"

An axiom of life is "if one wants something, then you must pay the price".

With that theme in mind, lets use the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Los Angeles City Hall as an example.

AEG wanted to built a "destination attraction" to stimulate the development of new revenue streams, radiating from the area around the Staples Center, at the best possible price.

The politicos at City Hall wanted a new tourist draw in an area vacated on most evenings after events at the Staple Center, to bring in new tax revenues.

And what did each party get in their respective quests ?? Lets consider the numbers......

For AEG, it was $270 million in subsidies from city tax payers for their $2.5 billion "LA Live Project".

For Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other members of the city ruling class, their cut included the following.

AEG and its executives have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to local politicians and their political projects, including $100,000 to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Better Schools and $100,000 to the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability, state and city election records show.

AEG also has contributed to at least 11 of the 15 current members of the City Council, as well as City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and Controller Laura Chick.

So one must wonder if Councilman Dennis Zine was one of the four councilpeople who did not get any AEG cash, considering the comments directed in his direction by AEG's Tim Leiweke ??

And who gets it in the rear after viewing these numbers ?? Can you say the Taxpayers ??

Comments from bloggers, writers and pundits.

LA Times Steve Lopez

Are there a few opportunists out there, you ask?

More than a few.

A lot of scrappy vendors trying to sell a piece of the man, the media hordes cashing in on the celebrity culture it helps manufacture, the cops collecting overtime, the international telecast selling merchandise to benefit the estate, the owner of Staples Center working a marketing angle or two.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried his best to get in on the action as well, asking Jackson fans worldwide to help defray the high price of the city's massive preparation for crowds that never showed.

"Donations will help the city of Angels provide the extraordinary public safety resources required to give Michael the safe, orderly and respectful memorial he deserves," said the mayor in an appropriately strange announcement on a strange day even by L.A. standards, and he added that donations would be tax deductible.

LA Biz Observed's Mark Lacter

The city should pay, of course. Sure, there's outrage over the costs of policing and other services, and yes, we are in the grips of the Great Recession that has L.A. running a half-billion dollar deficit. But in the life of a city stuff happens, whether it's the Jackson spectacle or the Lakers parade. Just be glad the thing came off with minimum fuss. Local officials have a fiduciary responsibility to deal with these one-time, extraordinary events, just as a company would deal with unexpected crises that cost money.

From the LA Times "Glove off on cost of Michael Jackson's services"

There were those who argued that the Jackson memorial might have brought more money into the local economy than it cost.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said his group estimated that the memorial brought about $4 million to local businesses in the form of food sales, parking, miscellaneous shopping and hotel stays.

"We're a center of celebrity," he said.

"You have to be able to deal with it. You have to look at the positives and the negatives. Yes, you have some expenses, but if you handle the whole thing in a smooth fashion, which they did, you get a real positive."

Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Assn., said the memorial was actually a mixed bag, economically.

"All the downtown hotels were close to being full as a result of the service," she said. "However, it did not spill over to the restaurants, especially on the day of the service, because so many businesses fearing these enormous multitudes had their employees stay home.

"Still, she said the memorial was "worth its weight in gold" for the attention it brought to "the new downtown that we've created in the last 10 years.

"Taking that argument a step further, Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, said that Jackson's death and memorial helped "brand" the city and would have lasting economic value.

Other news:

LA Weekly "Harder Than It Looks": Villaraigosa's "Model" Schools Bite Back"

This excerpt on a "Dropout Summit"

The dropout summit is, by itself, a great educational experience for students who are missing several hours of class, says dropout czar Duardo — the kind of claim made continually over the years by bureaucrats in a district where high school kids watch lots of films, go on field trips, and still can’t multiply fractions.

Finally, the session breaks up into small “think tanks,” where students have a chance, alongside teachers and parents, to voice their ideas for solving the dropout crisis.

One of their main proposals, Duardo says later, is that the kids want to sleep in. “One of the things they said is that [classes start] too early. They’re not awake. If you look at the research on brain development, that’s not their functional time.”

Good to know — another fact for the district and Villaraigosa to address in their strangely parallel, Rube Goldberg–esque attempts to sift through priorities. “Kids are saying we shouldn’t start school until 10 o’clock,” Duardo offers. “I think it’s definitely something the district could look into — possibly make it an option. Give them more flexibility.”

Over flexibility leds to breaks or breakups, the last possible hope for LAUSD.

Your thoughts..........