We should start rating everything the government spends money on in "Middle East War Days" - the cost of our military and foreign aid in the ME for one 24-hour period.
Then when some asshole starts screeching about the "taxpayer expense" of giving school kids lunch or something else that actually serves Americans, it can be pointed out to him that the annual cost of the program is - oh, say - .023 ME War Days.
Not that this will cause said asshole any shame or introspection - but it's good clean FUN!

More like 0.0062 ME War Days (1/100th of your figure).

I know, math is hard.

Launch Code: Chance that any stinkhippies will lift a finger to help cleanup the disgusting mess they created for American taxpayers? 0%

About equal to the chances that Haliburton and Blackwater are going to clean up what's left of Iraq.

Nemo's Brother: The MJ funeral accomplished more.

Most of us don't place the value on putting a black person six feet under that you do.

gimmegimme: Look, the Founding Fathers were very clear...

Well I didn't vote for them.

Are we gonna have this thread *every* time we clean out an Occupy location? I'm glad they're exercising their first amendment rights, but maybe if the press hadn't pointed out how they were supplying themselves and all that, then maybe people wouldn't get as mad when they find out that it was for show and they really weren't living off the land in the way most people think of.

\former Boy Scout, knows what the actual definition of "living off the land" is
\\also gladly taking responsibility for my lot in life, thanks

I'm just curious.. how many of the people here claiming that it's impossible for the costs of the cleanup and repair expenses to be so high actually SAW what the place looked like before and after? And of those people, how many have actually worked in sanitation, landscaping, and other trades that would be needed to clean and repair the mess?

I've done all of the above, and I can tell you that those numbers sound suspiciously low. The actual final cost will probably never be revealed without some tooth-pulling on behalf of the taxpayers and even then there will almost certainly be some creative bookkeeping and shuffling of funds to obscure things further. The Los Angeles city government is already under enough pressure and scrutiny for their mismanagement of the city and the current huge deficit.. the last thing they want is to make things sound worse than they already are, especially when by their own admission they could have prevented much of the cost had they acted sooner or in less wishy-washy manner.

Mayor Villaraigosa in particular is desperate to put as much postive spin on this incident as possible since he has higher political aspirations, and the incredibly inept manner in which he handled this whole situation may be the final nail in his political coffin.

DistendedPendulusFrenulum: I looked up a heavy, POS coleman tent that sleeps four, found it to be 25 pounds. To make 30 tons, it would take 2,400 tents to weigh 30 tons.

Right, the only thing these people had with them the entire time they were there were Coleman 4-man tents. They didn't have anything else. No camping stoves or larger, heavier-framed tents or shades. No crappy generators or batteries to run their computers and charge their cell phones. No tables or chairs to use when drafting their flawless reform plans. No materials used to create the signs to communicate their message. Not a single person had begun building more substantial shelters out of heavier materials. And because they're all creatures of pure energy and emotion, not a single one needed to have clothes or food (and coolers to keep said food in) or beds (both inflatable and non-) with blankets or heaters (because temperatures in the 40s are no obstacle to such beings), and they most certainly didn't need to take a crap for the entire time they were there, so there was no need for many of them to have buckets that they would use as makeshift toilets. Oh, and the bags of crap that were found all over the place and reported on by people on both sides of the issue definitely didn't exist. Nothing but crappy Coleman tents.

In short, you know how I know you've probably never done any serious camping?

darkscout: Where I used to live they had a huge hippy concert every Memorial Day weekend. On Monday volunteers from GoodWill were allowed to come in and pick it clean of anything valuable that was left: Tens, camp stoves, lanterns, etc. THEN everything was pitch.

The stuff I've found that was abandoned at camp sites is amazing. Some people see it as 'disposable'. I'm sure if OLA was asked to leave in a hurry there was stuff that is perfectly good left behind.

Thank you for helping me make my previous point. That was for ONE WEEKEND. Anyone who has ever worked at a renaissance faire or one of the longer-term historical re-enactment shows where camping is the primary mode of shelter knows just how much STUFF is involved and how nasty things can get after just a week or two, especially if there isn't a constant and concerted effort to keep the site clean. Even at more 'civilized' venues like Comicon or E3; you put a bunch of people in rooms that aren't designed to accommodate that many, and the mess piles up real quick.

This park was NOT designed for camping and it was NOT actively being cleaned and they had been there for 2 MONTHS.

Wrily: Maybe the city of L.A. should auction off all that new stuff, instead of throwing it in a land fill. They could use the proceeds to help pay for that brand new garbage truck.

Considering the condition of the vast majority of the detritus, the city government would have been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity if they had tried reselling it, and rightly so. Seriously, Native Americans would have been all "Dude, not cool. Couldn't you just give them some smallpox blankets instead?" (Too soon?) Meth addicts wouldn't have touched most of this stuff even if it had been made of meth.. well, maybe they would but they wouldn't have enjoyed it.

Most anything of real value had already been removed by the protesters who decided their personal property and safety weren't worth sacrificing for a movement whose goals are admirable but ambiguous at best. You could tell those folks because they were the ones who packed everything in their SUVs and drove home once it looked like shiat was going to get real.

(deep breath)

Ok, some of that was probably a little more cynical than even *I* usually like, but god damn that place was a farking disaster area, and somebody who wasn't there to see it before and after would find it hard to believe so much.. MESS could come from a group that supposedly had environmental awareness, stewardship of natural resources, and better use of taxpayer money high on its list of objectives.

Before the flamestorm lands, I just want to be clear that I'm in agreement with most of the sentiment behind the Occupy movement (particularly the part that wants to tar and feather and then deep-fry those who knowingly made things worse for personal profit) but I can't condone a group that ends up being as hypocritical as the ones they are protesting.