Occupy LA Costs The City $120,000 So Far

Story comes courtesy of The City Maven.

By Alice M. Walton

The Occupy LA encampment on the lawn of City Hall, which has been in place since Oct. 1, has racked up a $120,000 tab so far, according the Mayor's Office.

That figure includes fees associated with Recreation and Parks, Transportation, Sanitation, General Services and the City Attorney's Office. It does not include any one-time costs to repair the lawn and irrigation system, nor does it include the cost of materials and labor to construct the wood structure around the foundation and firefighters' memorial on the South lawn.

A letter sent to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa from the head of Recreation and Parks shows the extent of some City Hall insiders' frustration with Occupy LA.

"Some individuals have compromised the park's irrigation system by disabling sprinkler heads, and vandalizing the various irrigation valves located throughout the park," General Manger Jon Kirk Mukri wrote in his letter.

"Additionally, the persons now living on the grounds of the park have: 1) created several unsafe conditions; 2) monopolized the park grounds, thus limiting access for other park users; 3) greatly impacted (Recreation and Park's) ability to properly maintain and irrigate the park; and, 4) caused damage to the park grounds including landscaped areas, hardscape areas, and trees."

Park repairs will take several weeks -- once Occupy LA leaves the lawn and once city funding is identified, according to Mukri.

Citing staff's pride in the city's parks, Recreation and Parks has distributed a flyer to Occupy LA folks on how to protect the park's trees.

Conditions at City Hall Park

 

 

Comments

[Count V]

09:42 PM on 11/11/2011

First, the park is owned by the people, they paid for it in taxes.

Second, I've seen that grass, it was already dead.

[Count V]

09:39 PM on 11/11/2011

Costs the city?

First that grass was dead to start with. I've seen it.

Also, they are camping on grass which is paid for by tax payers. All those people paid for that park.

[Erick Whinbush]

12:50 PM on 11/11/2011

The US hands military industrial complex and oil companies that much every hour for fighting a phony oil war. The government can spend a little of that on protecting these American heroes as they stand up for the country our military is supposed to be fighting for.

[GetRealSoon]

11:42 PM on 11/10/2011

My guess, it's a $120,000 subcontracted to a county crew for $10,000 that speaks no English.

[David Flint]

08:43 PM on 11/10/2011

This report is kind of misleading. They wrote it as if the people are trashing the park and that is what the cost is coming from. Things like "sanitation" have to do with the fact that the city offered to provide dumpsters, and other things include stuff like port-a-potties, which I believe the city may also have provided. As far as the damages to the grass and sprinklers go, there is no actual study on that, just one guy's anecdotal comment about what he thinks is going on there. Likely, the monetary estimate of the damages to the sprinklers and grass are based on expected wear and tear from that many people being in the park for that long of a time.

[whatwhen]

09:46 PM on 11/11/2011

The city has not provided porta-potties. we pay for those. how about we look into how much water they're saving, as well as maintenance for grass and whatnot.

[whatwhen]

09:55 PM on 11/11/2011

speaking of water, anyone remember our Mayor illegally using water during a drought period? http://laist.com/2009/08/26/gotcha_nbc_catches_villaraigosa_ill.php Spent lots of money on that, over at his fancy mansion :p

[whatwhen]

09:59 PM on 11/11/2011

here's the NBC report on that issues with the mayor and the water: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Mayor-Antonio-Villaraigosa-Water-Restrictions-Violation-54896522.html for those interested etc

[RatPack78]

03:20 PM on 11/10/2011

OWS has started bringing in cash. The city should sue them for all costs.

[David Flint]

08:43 PM on 11/10/2011

The city is providing some of the costs, and could probably talk to the people there at a GA about raising the money to fix the costs. Odd to see somebody who claims to be a moderate jumping to sue, seems kind of extreme to me.

[Count V]

09:40 PM on 11/11/2011

They and all citizens already paid them.

[Joe Schultz 74]

02:41 PM on 11/10/2011

The banks and corporations cost America TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS. Here, one hundred thousand has been spent, in one of the richest cities in the world, to show injustice and inequality and people are in an uproar.

--- I think Occupy is working!

[VolcanoInsurance]

08:34 AM on 11/10/2011

More taxpayer money wasted on Occupy.

[David Flint]

08:44 PM on 11/10/2011

drop in the bucket compared to the costs to our economy and government response related to crony capitalism, which still is going on.

[SteveHansen]

04:44 AM on 11/10/2011

Sprinkler heads fail and plants get trampled by pedestrians every week. Those are routine maintenance items for parks & rec departments.
They only call it vandalism when it suits their masters. The rest of the time, they call it normal wear and tear.

[Kevin Rayburn]

12:14 AM on 11/10/2011

y'all supposed to be hugging trees not killing them.

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

10:28 PM on 11/09/2011

Dear Mr. Mayor - THANK YOU for letting Los Angeles Occupy show the way we feel towards the banking and credit Industry who are the biggest Slumlords in the Country. What they don't ruin in a neighborhood, they let fall down before they'll fix any of it - and they cover the rest with grey dirty cement. The neighborhoods in LA that used to be places a tourist would love to go shopping in or sightseeing have become eyesores of boarded up shops, Going out of Business signs, and people sleeping behind dumpsters. Meanwhile in their hidden enclaves fronting on and denying access to Publically Owned Beaches, McMansions again thrust outward from the shores with huge price tags that only a Banker could love.

[Foodgrade]

09:13 PM on 11/09/2011

On the other hand, the public saved several million because the city didn't have time to frame people for revenue. Keep the pressure on Occupy. They hate you, you HAVE to be doing something right.

[tim00]

01:13 AM on 11/10/2011

UNBELIEVABLE

[David Flint]

08:46 PM on 11/10/2011

Occupy LA has a good relationship with local government.

[Foodgrade]

08:18 PM on 11/11/2011

Don't you believe it. Best to know your enemy. The banks own all levels of government.

[Julia Bailey]

09:06 PM on 11/09/2011

In perspective: "The City's FY2011-12 operating budget is $6.904 billion, consisting of a General Fund budget of $4.379 billion and special funds of $2.525 billion."
http://mayor.lacity.org/Issues/BalancedBudget/FrequentlyAskedQuestions/index.htm

[tim00]

01:14 AM on 11/10/2011

...OMG...THAT STILL GIVES NO RIGHT TO DESTROY PUBLIC PROPERTY...

[David Flint]

08:38 PM on 11/10/2011

A lot of that has nothing to do with damages. The city provided things like dumpsters and port-a-potties and are servicing them, a vast majority of this is just the cost of running the operation, which the city approved. As far as damages, its not really destruction of property, its the damages that come from heavy use of any area.

[thatgirljd]

08:54 PM on 11/09/2011

How much is tear gas?

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

10:29 PM on 11/09/2011

How much is an Iraq War veterans life?

[personal beliefs]

02:07 PM on 11/10/2011

the same as any other human.

[thatgirljd]

08:47 PM on 11/10/2011

What does the war have to do with the occupiers? They dont care about the war. They care about themselves.

[David Flint]

08:47 PM on 11/10/2011

It cost Oakland the use of their ports for the day, so, a lot.

[inapickle]

08:39 PM on 11/09/2011

And isn't it worth far, far more to see if it is possible to make our government responsive to the people?

[tim00]

01:15 AM on 11/10/2011

good luck with that one...lol