Residents of a small Westchester community spoke out Friday after President Biden’s high-priced fundraiser left residents stuck in traffic for hours, businesses closed and at least one man denied entry to his home. I was furious.
Matt Figliola, 57, was turned away by police on his way home from work because he was too close to a fundraiser at the Irvington mansion of Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
“I felt a sickening awe that a civilian could host the president in his home in his own town and prevent me from coming home,” Filiola told the Post.
Mr. Figora, a custom car builder, said he didn’t know Mr. Biden, 81, was scheduled to come to Irvington on Thursday, but he was disappointed in the inconvenience it would ultimately cause him and several others. I explained that I was caught off guard.
“I thought it was an accident because there was so much traffic on my way home from work,” he said. “I took the usual back roads to get home, but all the roads were closed.”
“I almost got home and the police turned me away. I gave him my address and said, ‘I live right down the street from here. It’s literally a minute from my house.’ And he said, “No, there’s a two-mile radius blockade.” It was crazy.
“They wouldn’t let me through even though I live here,” Figora lamented the heavy security that has effectively shut down the town of 6,400 residents.
Westchester County officials closed a roughly two-mile section of Route 9 from Tarrytown to Irvington to traffic in advance of Biden’s visit.
No other road closures have been announced due to safety concerns.
“I was angry, upset, and maybe a little crazy, so I sped up and walked loudly, tires squealing, toward the diner in Dobbs Ferry,” Figora continued.
“Normally it would take 20 minutes, but it took us over two hours to actually get home, including the food we ate while waiting for the road to open,” he said, adding that about 20 minutes had passed since the accident. I pointed out that it took a long time even at 8pm, which was minutes later. The president’s motorcade departed from the Douglas Zeta-Jones mansion, but he was “still blocked.”
Figora said if he were in Douglas’ shoes, he would not have hosted the event.
“I don’t think that’s fair to other people.”
The traffic nightmare caused by the security bubble and Mr. Biden’s rush-hour drive from the Westchester County Airport to the Hollywood couple’s $4.5 million riverfront mansion have left Boaz Miodowski, 49, with an aging 2 Trapped on the highway for an hour with another child. 9 and 11 follow.
“I was stuck on Route 684 right outside the Westchester Airport for an hour with my two kids, and they both had to go to the bathroom,” Miodowski told the Post. told.
“We just got stopped,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. They don’t think about the people at all.”
Miodowski, who is originally from Los Angeles but was visiting her sister and parents in Irvington, felt that with better planning, the driver could have moved more freely.
“It’s really frustrating that we don’t have a better plan in place to allow people to travel,” she says.
“It was supposed to be a 20 minute drive to Irvington, but it took an hour and a half.”
Miodowski admitted he was “not a big fan of Biden,” but said, “Even if it was President Trump, I would be annoyed.”
“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, it’s unfair to the community to bother an entire town for a fundraiser.”
In addition to the road closures, Irvington government offices, including the city courthouse and library, closed at 1 p.m.
Five school districts in the area also sent children home early in anticipation of traffic congestion. All after-school programs in the Irvington, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown and Hastings-on-Hudson school districts have been canceled as well.
“It caused a lot of problems. Schools were closed, businesses were closed,” Irvington resident Steve Caporal, 60, told the Post.
“Everything was shut down,” the retiree added.
“On a $100,000 plate, Biden is making this much money and everyone in town is suffering. I don’t think that’s right,” Caporal continued, adding that before revisiting the president, “Biden is making this much money and everyone in town is suffering. He urged them to consider what kind of impact this would have on the whole.
Nanny Will Martinez echoed Caporal’s sentiments.
“I couldn’t do anything with my kids. I couldn’t go to the library or the park,” said Martinez, 23.
“It’s a little unfair to be honest. You’re disrupting thousands of lives. Why?”
Tickets for the fundraiser ranged from $3,300 per person to $100,000 for the host.
It’s unclear how much money the Biden campaign added to its war chest through this event.
The Biden campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
