Commissioner Velardi Throws Tantrum After Board Pushes Back on His Plan to Regulate Away Your Rights
Opinion | PoconoReview.com
Commissioner Mike Velardi stood up at last week’s Pocono Township Board of Commissioners meeting, said “this is bullshit,” called residents in the audience “idiots,” told the board chair he didn’t care that he was out of order, and declared that he was there to “protect you people” — whether they wanted his protection or not. Someone from the audience shouted back: “Resign, Mike.”
He should consider it.
Velardi’s meltdown wasn’t random. It came at the exact moment it became clear that his preferred ordinance — a 13-page regulatory fortress designed to make public protest functionally impossible in township parks — was facing real constitutional scrutiny. Commissioner Charles Kepler had just finished dismantling the draft point by point, citing case law, and explaining why the ordinance’s 50-foot buffer zones, $2 million insurance requirements, and subjective waiver system would never survive a legal challenge. Velardi’s response wasn’t a counterargument. It was a tantrum.
“It’s Not Free Speech If You’re Only Allowed to Speak Where No One Can Hear You”
The stated justification for the restrictive ordinance is protecting children. Buffer zones around playgrounds, splash pads, athletic fields. It sounds reasonable until you realize the buffers also cover fishing ponds, basketball courts, dog parks, and veterans memorials — none of which have anything to do with child safety. Stack them all together at a park like TLC and there’s nowhere left to stand with a sign.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s the point.
Everyone in that room knows what started this. A small group of residents held a protest at TLC Park over ICE enforcement in their community. Some commissioners didn’t like the message. Now those same commissioners want an ordinance that would make it nearly impossible to organize a demonstration on any public property in the township — all while insisting it has nothing to do with what anyone is saying.
Kepler saw right through it. He pointed out that under the proposed draft, a birthday party at the park would be treated as “low risk” while a dozen people with signs would trigger police deployment, insurance demands, and permit fees. The only difference between the two isn’t the number of people or the number of cars. It’s the message. That’s not content-neutral regulation. That’s selective enforcement with extra paperwork.
“It’s not free speech if you’re only allowed to speak where no one can hear you,” Kepler said.
The Law You Pass Today Gets Used Tomorrow
Velardi and the commissioners backing the restrictive draft seem to think they can build a legal weapon that only fires in one direction. Pass a law to stop the protest you don’t like today, and it’ll never be turned against the cause you support tomorrow.
That’s not how it works. An ordinance that can shut down an ICE protest at TLC Park can just as easily shut down a candlelight vigil at the veterans memorial, a library closing rally by concerned parents, or a group of neighbors demanding answers about the Core 5 development that’s been shaking their houses with blasting. Every resident who showed up to that meeting to complain about property damage, contaminated wells, and missing survey markers — they should understand that this ordinance could be used to silence them too.
Kepler’s draft takes a different approach. Gatherings under 50 people require no permit. Groups of 50 to 100 provide basic logistical information. Over 100, a nominal fee and a simple plan. Objective standards — parking capacity, restroom access — not subjective risk assessments handed to a township manager who gets to decide what speech is dangerous and what speech is fine.
A Commissioner Who Can’t Handle Dissent Shouldn’t Be Writing Rules About It
Velardi has a pattern. Earlier this year, he publicly demanded Kepler resign over a social media controversy. Now he’s calling residents idiots from the dais because they don’t agree with his attempt to regulate their constitutional rights. This is a man who wants the authority to decide which gatherings are “low risk” and which ones require $2 million in insurance.
Resident Patrice Lenucci put it bluntly during public comment: this measure already failed at a previous meeting. It was voted down. So why is it back? Because the commissioners pushing it are waiting for the votes to line up and grinding it through until they get the outcome they want. That’s not governance. That’s attrition — and residents are watching it happen in real time.
The board voted 4-1 to send both drafts to the solicitor. Kepler was the only no vote — not because he opposes legal review, but because he already knows where the majority wants to land.
The solicitor himself acknowledged that any version of this ordinance will likely be challenged in court. He recommended removing the waiver system entirely because it opens the door to content-based enforcement. Even the township’s own lawyer sees the problems.
Pocono Township doesn’t need a 13-page ordinance to regulate away the First Amendment. It needs commissioners who understand that the right to protest isn’t something you get to take away just because someone’s sign made you uncomfortable.
And it definitely doesn’t need commissioners who throw tantrums when the public pushes back.