A view of southbound I95 from Darien’s Old King’s Highway North on Monday at about 5:30 p.m., as the road was blockaded to make way for President Obama to travel from Westport to Stamford. (Darien Times/Kristen Riolo photo)
Compared to Stamford and Westport, Darien got off pretty cheap as a result of Monday’s presidential visit to Fairfield County.
Other news media is reporting that President Barack Obama’s visit to Westport cost that town approximately $15,000 and Stamford almost $30,000.
Darien, which was simply a pass through to Stamford for the president Monday afternoon, tallied up approximately $2,500 for seven police officers on overtime and one on regular duty, according to Town Administrator Karl Kilduff.
While Monday’s visit may not have cost Darien taxpayers a lot of dollars, the resulting traffic cost some a lot of time as the highway was closed for the president’s motorcade.
Some Darienites took to Twitter to gripe about their traffic woes.
“I got an idea,” one Darien Tweeter said, “Let’s just shut down a major artery on the East Cost at rush hour. That sounds perfect. #Obama”
