Pop-up marches by the far-right group the Proud Boys in Saratoga County over the weekend have local officials scrambling in response.
Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim is calling on the public safety commissioner to explain what his department knew about a march by the Proud Boys, a far-right group, through the city Saturday afternoon. Mayor Ron Kim, himself a former public safety commissioner, is giving fellow Democrat James Montagnino until Thursday to explain how the city police responded and to offer recommendations to prevent a future demonstration.
“Under the charter, I'm allowed to ask the any of the commissioners for reports on incidents of this kind," said Kim. "And so I've asked him to provide me a written report. We're also looking at measures that we can take that will reduce the possibility of repetition of this. I've asked the city attorney's office to sort of look at our public association statute, and make sure that that they are going to be enforced in the future. And if we can make any upgrades or changes to those because this is not a non-event as the Commissioner of Public Safety has described it.”
Kim, who released a public letter on the situation Monday, said Montagnino "didn't feel the need to let the city council know of this situation." The two have clashed over a number of issues for months.
Montagnino denies Kim’s claims.
“I didn't know the situation until it was already over. We had no prior notice that the Proud Boys intended to come to the city, that they didn't get a permit for whatever they did. And they were in and out in a matter of minutes,” Montagnino said.
Kim says the Proud Boys clearly are a hate group.
“This is a group who advocates violence. This is a group who attacked our nation's capital on January 6. This is a group that espouses anti-semtic, transphobic racist values that are not consistent with what I believe the United States of America stands for,” said Kim.
Kim says Saratoga Springs is an inclusive community. He also asked other department heads on the city council to weigh in on how the city can avoid another such demonstration. Again, Montagnino:
“The main point is I've had no reports from anyone that any crimes were committed, any offenses were committed, that anybody was inconvenienced, or that any laws were broken,” Montagnino said.
Meantime, the Proud Boys also appeared Saturday in Ballston Spa, where village Mayor Frank Rossi says it came as a surprise, one he does not want to see repeated. He's looking to address it with a code change.
“This is actually a protection issue for the community and for anybody that chooses to exercise their First Amendment rights. And in this situation, they basically level, you would equate to a parade through our village. And we would ensure that such a parade that could walk streets, walk sidewalks, etc, would have a notice requirement for a permit, essentially,” Rossi said.
Rossi says a village attorney will help write up legislation consistent with what other communities have in place, then move forward with a public hearing, and from there it’s "three to five weeks to get something on the books."
