Did the LA mayor deceive Angelenos on the Budweiser Made in America Fest

There has been much fuss made over the Budweiser Made in America Fest in terms of ROI for City of Los Angeles taxpayers, who footed the bill.  Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office said many local nonprofits would benefit from the festival.  

United Way of Greater Los Angeles, L.A. Streetcar and SRO Housing, to name a few.  Council member Jose Huizar, whose district hosted the party, was concerned about street closures and the ability to have twice as many guests as Grand Park could allow.  

Tickets cost $200 for the two-day festival and it is estimated 50,000 people showed up.  That means $10 million dollars were made off tickets alone.

Dennis Romero, with the LA Weekly pondered “Was Made in America a Success? Depends on How You Measure It“.  The article covered that several arrests were made, scores of citations were issued and oh…the L.A. County coroner chimed in that “nobody died”.  This article prompted 2UrbanGirls to ask Mr. Romero, “how much would the nonprofit’s make?”  and he replied, “he wasn’t sure.”  Well of course we reached out to SRO Housing and insiders aren’t happy that they too are requesting info and no one is responding.

Apparently, there is NO agreement between the City, Budweiser, or anyone with SRO Housing.  SRO Housing provides services to the homeless.  When initially reached insiders provided the following statement:

Budweiser Made In America Fest supports United Way’s work and the communities efforts to create pathways out of poverty that translates to nothing specific yet.

When 2UrbanGirls inquired as to why they would allow SRO Housing to be added to the PR aimed at making Angelenos believe they would benefit, their response was:

Blind faith and positive past experiences.  United Way has provided meaningful support in the past and we expect the best.

When asked about the specifics of United Way’s past “meaningful support” the conversation ended.  SRO Housing says an “announcement” of some sort is expected in a few weeks.

The last time the nonprofits, who work with the homeless were used as a prop, was when former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling made big promises after his housing discrimination debacle.

Related article:  Donald T. Sterling’s Fake Homeless Center

In another unrelated deceptive tactic to the public, Eric Garcetti is expected to announce his support of Sheriff candidate Jim McDonnell.  To refresh your memory, EG also supported LAPD Chief Beck after he was caught publicly lying about his knowledge of a transaction involving his daughter’s horse.  

2UrbanGirls still doesn’t appreciate the mayor overlooking South LA on the Promise Zone funding and I don’t care that Najee Ali said otherwise.