The NYPD and the Secret Service are trying to negotiate a strategy to secure Trump Tower, home and headquarters of the president-elect. While the two agencies are scheduled to meet Thursday to hash out plans, a “police source” told the New York Daily News that the Secret Service wants to keep traffic off Fifth Avenue near the tower “whenever Trump is in town.”
And if Trump gets his way, that will be a lot of the time. As the Times reported earlier this week, the 45th President is something of a homebody—on the campaign trail, he often “flew several hours late at night...so he could wake up in his own bed in Trump Tower,” and sources suggest he’s hoping to spend at least a few nights a week at his 24-karat gold-encrusted Fifth Avenue penthouse.
But according to the Daily News, “top brass” in the NYPD are arguing that shutting down “even a portion of one of the city’s major avenues would be a nightmare that ‘can’t happen.’”
“It’s a negotiation,” the source told the Daily News. “Their job is to keep the President safe. Our job is to keep the President safe, but also let the people who live and work and visit there have some semblance of normality.”
What exactly that will look like isn’t clear yet. It’s also not clear how many blocks of Fifth Avenue would need to be closed off to accommodate increased security at the tower. Airspace over the building has already been declared a no-fly zone through inauguration day.
Already, amped-up security around the tower, which has been blocked by concrete barriers, is taking its toll on nearby businesses. Henri Bendel, located directly across from Trump Tower, closed by mid-afternoon both days this weekend.
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