Watch your language young lady! There are *decent people who browse on here*
We don't want to start another p&%#ing match!

Karen,
I guess they figure that they have nothing more to do that sit around chewing da' fat.

it's been all over the papers so i expect they were finding alt routes...remember la makes plenty of $$ from celebs and is doing quite nicely with hotels in the area at almost 100%...far cry from the 50% it's been for months...

I'm just glad I don't live in LA. I visited there 2 years ago, the highways and freeways were awful! Well, the roads were fine, it's just the other drivers I couldn't take. They beep at you for going too slow on an entrance ramp!

it's been all over the papers so i expect they were finding alt routes..

But, why should they?

It would have been better for everyone if the Jacksons simply drove quietly to Staples in the middle of night.
But, of course, then they wouldn't have all the attention and fuss.

I too am glad I don't live there. It is hard enough driving let along finding alt routes. Of course may the employers could give all a day off with pay. I learned to drive in LA,so it does not bother me. Home is good.

i guess you have had to live in so ca to understand it's bread and butter, that trickles down to everyone.

heck we had people here at 2 am waiting at a local museum for a service in detroit. now they'll probably go out to lunch, buy gas, or stop at the store on the way home...sad to say we benefit, too, from an untimely death...

I heard on the radio that about a dozen people worldwide had committed suicide...so distraught they were over MJ's death.

Good grief!!! ;))

I heard that last night, Marilyn, I just can't believe it.

Suicides, I cannot comprehend. But if it were a celeb or sports star of some sort whom you admired, would you feel the same? I think the service has been planned well and they went to great pains to make sure that no one profited from it. There are millions of people who wanted this, and a little traffic trouble on one morning is nothing in the scheme of things, unless of course one were in labor.

Where else in the world could you tell your boss, "I was late for work because of Michael Jackson."? :-)

Jodi-

the service has been planned well and they went to great pains to make sure that no one profited from it

CNN showed venders selling T-shirts and such outside of Staples.
Are you saying that they sold them for cost?

LAPD says security for the Jackson event will cost them over 2 Million $$.
Who's going to pay for it? The state of CA?

I understand the tribute, but the suicides I do not. And I think that Michael would be saddened by it. Brooke Shields about broke my heart, I think that Germaine did.

Me too, lynn. Monica, I mean that the handlers (family,) whomever they may be, did not appear to be profiting from the service. Vendors are individual people who are doing their own thing. Yes, I do hope the family steps up to pay back the city of L.A. which cannot afford the bill. There will however, be a ton of tax $$ coming in from the influx of people over the last ten days, so hopefully that will help.

You mean they didn't fly him in by helicopter? I'm almost surprised. Would have been a bigger spectacle. If the Jacksons contribute 10¢ to the costs I'll be amazed. The city should just assess the estate. Having been involved in City government I know that event costs are far more than JUST the police costs. There's numerous ancillary costs involved here and I have trouble believing that some tax from hotels and restaurants will cover all costs unless there's some horrendous tax rates there. Even with law enforcement, keep in mind they had to bring in assistance from all over. Not sure if that's factored in or not. We'll get a better idea in the next month or what the costs are.

That the wacko-groupies committed suicide shouldn't suprise anyone. Sure doesn't surprise me. Just another example of what happens in cults. I can't figure them out either but I shan't shed a tear for them either. I'm almost surprised someone didn't off themselves at the event. (Unless someone did. I didn't watch or listen on the radio.)

Considering that the t-shirts from the concert tour were going to be sold outside the stadium, I can't believe the Jacksons aren't benefiting from those sales. Surely you don't think JoeJoe and company would donate them do you? They wanted to charge $25 a head to watch TV fer cryin out loud!

2 of my son's drive trucks all day on these freeways...one couldn't get to work on time..he got on the 405 and got stuck in it all, then realized what he just did. Had to get off and take the streets...a little late but the bosses understood. I guess it was a nightmare on the freeways today, good time to stay home!

It's difficult to find alternate routes in LA because they are already clogged too.

From Yahoo News:

Another unexpected aspect was the logistics. The mayhem and traffic snarls that had been feared by city officials never materialized. The thousands of ticketholders began filing in early and encountered few problems, and traffic was actually considered by police to be lighter than normal. An estimate of up to 700,000 gawkers turned out to be about 1,000.

The city of Los Angeles set up a Web site to allow fans to contribute money to help the city pay for the memorial, which was estimated to cost $1.5 million to $4 million. AEG, the event promoter behind the memorial, has not addressed whether it will give money for the effort, but did contribute $1 million to the city after it staged a victory parade for the Los Angeles Lakers last month.

It does appear to excessive, but just imagine if they hadn't tried to corral some of the chaos. They knew people were coming - they needed to do something. I live in the DC area. People complained at the street-closings for the inaugural. If something had drastically gone wrong, first-responders would have had a difficult time getting to where they were needed. So, yes, inconvenient, but sometimes necessary.

My uncle was a detective and received an Inspector's funeral after being killed by friendly fire. The law said, no funeral processions on the highway. The motorcade covered two large counties over the highways after a 3 days of tribute and a massive display downtown. My Uncle was just my Uncle and never in my wildest dreams did I believe that much would be made over him. We loved him but apparently the city did too. With the number of family, friends, police officers, firefighters, news media and the general public, many roads were closed to accommodate the entire service. It wasn't nearly the size of MJ's service, but after looking at it, I'm glad it was done. It was much safer on the roads as well.