Officials debate costs of protests, caught off guard by crowd size at No Kings rally

By MARTIN WILBUR

Mount Kisco Mayor J. Michael Cindrich has raised concerns about how much the frequent protests in the village may be costing in police overtime and lost business, as well as how the public can be kept safe.

On Monday, two days after Saturday’s “No Kings” protest, which drew an estimated 1,500 people to the train station, Cindrich asked Village Manager Edward Brancati for a review of expenses. Cindrich said total costs related to the weekly demonstrations outside the Tesla dealership on Kisco Avenue, which started in February, and at Kirby Plaza near the train station, could have exceeded $25,000.

Cindrich called on Brancati to provide a report for the month of April, when a large Hands Off rally occurred at the train station along with the regular Tesla protests, which he and the rest of the board have not seen.

“I stand by my estimate of what we’ve spent for five months on the Tesla protests and on the Kirby Plaza protests,” Cindrich said. “I stand by my estimation that we spent over $10,000 just by adding up the hours.”

The mayor said the hourly rate for overtime is time and a half and 60 percent of the cost of benefits have to be added.

Trustee Thomas Luzio commented on the matter at Monday evening’s village board meeting and referenced an email sent to the board by Cindrich following the June 14 protest. He disputed the level of cost and disruption that was referenced in the mayor’s communication considering the attendance. Luzio, who also serves as chair of the Mount Kisco Democratic Committee, said Brancati has totaled the cost to the village at $3,421 for all the rallies, including the Tesla protests and the two larger events near the train station.

“I think that’s a small price to pay for First Amendment rights, constitutional rights, public assembly,” Luzio said. “You might not agree with what’s being said on either side, but you must, we all must embrace the constitutional rights of residents, and there were hundreds of Mount Kisco residents there as well.”

Brancati said the figure he provided Luzio was the cost of overtime and the additional officers requested by the village. However, overtime spent by the village includes other costs as well. For example, if an arrest is made toward the end of a shift, the arresting officer must complete the processing and not leave as soon as the shift ends.

“What I provided in the figures is what the village requested in terms of overtime for the department to deal with all these protests, and the figures that Trustee Luzio cited is again the hours and the number of individuals, not just Saturday’s event but since the beginning of the protests at Tesla,” Brancati said.

The estimate from Cindrich and the numbers provided by Brancati didn’t match information of what the county provided. Last week before the No Kings rally, The Recorder asked a Westchester County police spokesman about overtime to cover the Tesla rallies, who said they have been covered by officers on their regular shifts. 

Cindrich also cited that congestion traveling into the village for the June 14 No Kings protest hurt some business owners and there were complaints from merchants who had repeated requests to use their restrooms. Some of the approaches into the village were clogged as the late morning start to the rally neared.

He said the village was unaware of the likely size of the crowd and was caught off guard.

“We didn’t have the proper planning,” Cindrich acknowledged. “We should have provided port-o-sans there if we were going to have that many people there. We should have provided for more traffic control.”

He has also tried to have the county police use barricades for the Tesla protests to keep them on the sidewalk to protect them from motorists. Kisco Avenue remains open during those events.

Safety remains a primary concern for the village, said Trustee Karen Schleimer.

“I think should there be continuing events at Tesla, should there be other large gatherings, this board needs, in conjunction with the village manager, to coordinate a response to protect the safety of the people who are protesting,” Schleimer said.

Cindrich has also heard from a commercial property owner whose tenants are suffering because some customers don’t want to deal with the crowds, which can be up to a few hundred.

But Luzio pointed out that there were no problems caused by protestors and no reports of any arrests last week. Store owners he had heard from were grateful for the increased business last Saturday, he said. Perhaps some of the visitors may return to the village.

“We should embrace it and we should facilitate this kind of activity,” Luzio said. “This is a constitutional right. This is way bigger than five board members in a small town.”

Cindrich, a retired police lieutenant, said he understands the rights of citizens as well as anyone.

“Nobody has to lecture me on the First Amendment,” Cindrich said. “I’ve defended the people and the constitution for half my life. My point is the board was never notified of what was going on because they didn’t do it in a timely fashion.”