Occupy L.A. costs close to $5 million

The final tally runs $4.7 million, roughly $2 million higher than an earlier estimate. Most of that cost, $4.2 million, is on the city's tab. (The rest is covered by insurance policies and contributions.) The $.4.7-million includes $2.5 million on police officers and supplies, $187,000 on legal services, and $54,000 on trash pick-up and sanitation services. From City News Service (via LAist):

City Councilman Mitche Englander thinks that this grim fiscal report should be a warning to his colleagues who were so quick to "approve" of the encampment last October that maybe they should think such endorsements through a little harder. "For every resolution or position the city might take, there's a cost,'' Englander said, citing L.A.'s ongoing fiscal crisis.

The City gave the Occupy LA protesters a pass by letting them set up on the lawn at City Hall October 1, 2011; the group said they'd stay until at least December 1, and the City Council said they could stay as long as they wanted. Turns out they didn't mean that, and on the night of November 29, 2011, the city and the Los Angeles Police Department raided the encampment, arresting over 200 people, including many who were not even in the park or part of the encampment.

Just a reminder of the news conference following the eviction of Occupy L.A. protesters last November. From the NYT:

The Los Angeles mayor and the police chief, Charles Beck, held a near-celebratory news conference at Mr. Villaraigosa's office as crews outside -- including workers in white hazmat suits, in response to what officials said was considerable danger of biological infection -- cleaned up the wreckage across City Hall Park. Hundreds of police officers were stationed near the fences, but there was no sign of demonstrators trying to return. Mr. Villaraigosa said he expected that the cost of the protest -- in cleanup, police overtime and lawn replacement -- could exceed $1 million. "Yes, the answer is we're all going to pay for it in these tough economic times," the mayor said. "Because we were peaceful here, we were able to keep our costs down, especially compared with other cites."