Accommodating the Occupy DC protesters has cost the District $1.6 million since October, Mayor Vincent Gray said Thursday, and now he wants the federal government to pick up the tab. Gray’s spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy, said the mayor is planning to ask the federal government to reimburse the District for costs it ran up because of the Occupy protests at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, including police overtime, traffic management and trash removal.
The Metropolitan Police Department alone spent $1.3 million on the protesters, The Washington Examiner reported this week, and that figure doesn’t include the costs of two large demonstrations last week that included dozens of arrests.
“While we have a budget for protests, we don’t have this kind of money,” Gray told NewsChannel 8.
McCoy said asking the federal government for reimbursement is routine, and that Congress or the Department of Homeland Security typically reimburses the city for costs related to major events, such as inaugurations. She said the city isn’t sure which agency they’ll request reimbursement funds from.
Abe Rakov, a spokesman for Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said the federal government pays D.C. about $15 million a year to cover costs related to demonstrations and other federal events.
Though Gray and other District officials initially embraced the Occupy protests, the mayor told NewsChannel 8 that the National Park Service and U.S. Park Police are the ones allowing the protesters to remain in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza and so should pay the cost of accommodating them. The National Park Service has classified the protest a “24-hour vigil” rather than a camp site, which is prohibited in the park.
“We’re willing to take steps and say, ‘Listen, you guys are the ones who’ve made the decision. We need to be reimbursed for our costs,'” Gray said.
District and congressional officials have become increasingly impatient with Occupy.
Gray said last week that the city was fed up with Occupiers, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R.-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, began an investigation this week into why Occupy DC has been allowed to remain in McPherson Square. He said the federal government spent $400,000 in stimulus funds to refurbish the park, and that Occupy DC has already destroyed many of those improvements.
“The point is, there’s legitimate questions about the costs associated with this and where the decision was made” to allow the protesters to remain, said Issa spokesman Ali Ahmad.
The Park Service did not return a call seeking comment.
