The taxpayers of Los Angeles may be souring to Jay-Z and his Made in America festival. According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, the city could be on the hook for $170,000 of the total bill for the festival.
Aides to the mayor tell the Times that Live Nation, the promoter for the festival, was required to provide $500,000 to pay for police patrols, street closures, trash removal and other city services. The total bill for the festival is expected to reach close to $670,000, leaving the city to close the funding gap.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was a big proponent in bringing the festival to Los Angeles and, according to Billboard, "Says it shows L.A. is capable of hosting a huge outdoor concert."
According to Carol Schatz, head of the downtown-based Central City Association, the economic impact cannot be simply measured in strict dollar amounts.
"It's not just a dollar-for-dollar comparison. It's about the perception that it generates ... that L.A. is really the place to do this and the place to do this in L.A. is downtown," Schatz said. "That kind of publicity is worth millions."
Tens of thousands attended the festival over Labor Day weekend at the end of the summer at downtown's Grand Park, featuring big-name acts like Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, Afrojack, Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, Weezer, Capital Cities, John Mayer and more.
This type of negative publicity is unlikely to turn the pubic against the festival entirely, but does not look good for Jay-Z, Live Nation and Made In America. Los Angeles has been crushed by massive debt over the past few years, compiling $5.9 billion of debt as of Jan. 1, 2014. Now, $170,000 may not seem like much comparatively, but when headlines talk about budget cuts and tax hikes, this does not look great for the city.
