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The Michael Jackson memorial festivities in Los Angeles Tuesday 7 July cost the city $1.4 million in crowd control, extra police officers, cleanup costs, and sanitation, CNN reports. The additional costs reopened a debate on whether and how much the city should pay for private events. Some say that the taxpayer should not foot the bill, especially in times of economic crisis, while others maintain that the city will reap benefits, possibly up to $4 million in tourist revenue, from the week-long attention the event provided. The city has debts of $530 million. The mayor’s office set up a special web site for donations from the public. It collected $17,000 before heavy web traffic caused the servers to crash. LA Times