Why does Los Angeles need a yacht?

  This story has so many appalling elements to it. On one hand, we have Los Angeles instituting a fine of $1000 for anyone who throws a football or frisbee on the beach, presumably because of a dearth of funds safety purposes.
  Now we find out  not only that the city of Los Angeles apparently needs a yacht, but that  a half a million dollars of stimulus money went into sprucing it up with hybrid engines.
  From the Washington Examiner:

The Port of Los Angeles spent $489,000 of a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to retrofit a city-owned yacht with "hydro-electric propulsion system," according to Issa's letter, rather than the diesel engines it already had in operation. The yacht is used to conduct tours of the port.

  This devastating local CBS story illustrates just how entrenched the free for all spending mentality is in Los Angeles, as the city has $70 million dollars of spending in the red.
  The attitude of the Port director is arrogant, evasive and deceitful, as she walks away from the television cameras, refusing to discuss the issue.
  The mayor of Los Angeles claims it's a "boat" and not a yacht and that it is necessary to show the public, few of whom will ever get to ride on the yacht, the shoreline of Los Angeles.
  In addition to the $489,000, Los Angeles taxpayers spent $200,000 on the engines and spend about $300,000 yearly to maintain it.
  It'd be one thing if the state of California and the city of Los Angeles were awash in money. It'd also be a factor if some nominal fee were charged for use of the yacht.
  Neither of these things are true. Once again, we have an upper tier of politicians spending taxpayer money wildly, while demanding ever more from the taxpayers.
  The CBS news report video doesn't want to load on Blogger, so you can go here to watch it.