Pope Francis’ Philadelphia trip cost HOW MUCH!?

 

via: The Horn News
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers behind Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia, including the staggering cost to the World Meeting of Families:
— Attendance: Organizers were predicting more than 500,000 for Saturday’s concert celebration and more than 1 million for Sunday’s Mass, but official figures haven’t been released.
— Cost: $45 million was the fundraising goal for the event’s organizers at the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families conference. Of that, $12 million will go to the city for policing, traffic and crowd control, fire and emergency medical response, emergency management, streets and sanitation. The state spent about $9 million in federal funding on National Guard personnel. The Secret Service didn’t break out its costs. The agency’s annual budget for National Special Security Events like this is $4.5 million.

— Hotel rooms: About 9,900 of downtown’s 11,200 rooms were booked.
— Train ridership: 62,946 (28,575 Saturday and 34,371 Sunday) on SEPTA regional rail compared to 65,000 people heading into the city on an average weekday. The agency had sold 123,000 of 328,000 available passes; 51,922 (about 23,000 on Saturday, 29,000 on Sunday) on the PATCO High Speed Line from southern New Jersey compared to 12,000 riders on an average Saturday. PATCO sold about 17,000 of 75,000 weekend passes while also accepting regular passes.
— Subway home: 40,000 passengers rode SEPTA’s Broad Street line to South Philadelphia after Sunday’s Mass, compared to about 125,000 for all trips on the line on an average weekday.
— Bike sharing: More than 13,000 trips on the city’s Indego service (2,900 Friday, 4,900 Saturday and 5,300 Sunday). Usual ridership over those three days of the week is about 6,000.

— No driving or parking: 25 miles of highways closed in the Philadelphia area; vehicles restricted from entering a 4.7-square mile area of the city; 591 vehicles towed out of the vehicle-free zone.
— Law enforcement and public safety: 71 local, state and federal agencies; 300 pieces of heavy equipment; more than 6,000 National Guard soldiers and thousands of Philadelphia police officers and firefighters on duty.
— Medical response: 423 cases treated at 10 first-aid stations, 129 of them resulted in hospitalization; 100 ambulances and more than 1,000 emergency medical personnel brought in; lower-than-average volume at city emergency rooms.
— Event-related arrests: 3, including “one complete idiot” who allegedly tried bringing a large bag of illegal drugs through a security checkpoint, Mayor Michael Nutter said.
— Food and drink: 69,000 meals served to first responders; 250,000 bottles of water given out to pilgrims by Philadelphia-area convenience store chain Wawa.

— Cheesesteaks eaten by Pope Francis: 0. Archbishop Chaput says the pontiff’s room was stocked with other Philadelphia treats, but it’s unclear if he ate them.
— Babies kissed: More than a dozen, including one dressed like Pope Francis.