BY JACKSON CHEN | Details of the new security plan surrounding Trump Tower were revealed by the New York City Police Department in conjunction with the US Secret Service on November 18.
With Republican President-elect Donald Trump still in residence at his 725 Fifth Avenue corporate headquarters, the NYPD has already implemented several vehicular and pedestrian restrictions to enhance his security now that he has won election. Last Friday, police officials detailed the security plans that had been in place for more than a week.
According to Carlos Gomez, the NYPD’s chief of department, East 56th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues will be closed off to vehicular traffic. As for the pedestrians who live on the block, are looking to shop, or simply wish to get to Fifth or to Madison, they would be subject to a screening — which amounts to a bag check, according to the NYPD — by police officers and Secret Service agents. Those interested in visiting the interior of Trump Tower would also be subject to a screening, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said.
Fifth Avenue will remain open to buses and passenger vehicles, Gomez said, but currently only two out of five traffic lanes are available because of barriers that have been set up. As for the protests outside Trump Tower, a regular occurrence since the president-elect’s surprise November 8 victory, Gomez emphasized that the NYPD has plans ready to cover any contingency.
The chief of department explained that small groups of protestors would be allowed on the sidewalk to ensure that street traffic flow continues. But whenever a larger demonstration occurs, the NYPD will consider shutting down traffic on Fifth Avenue.
“We saw that occur last Saturday when we had 20,000 protestors in front of Trump Tower,” Gomez said on Friday, referring to a demonstration on November 12. “So far, we’ve closed Fifth Avenue on three occasions in the last 10 days due to demonstrations.”
Gomez explained that trucks would be unable to travel southbound on Fifth Avenue between East 60th and 55th Streets and eastbound on East 56th Street from Sixth to Fifth Avenues.
“This is the security plan we presently have in place,” Gomez said at the press conference last Friday. “We are doing this for over a week now and, operationally, every day it is getting more fluid, we’re working more efficiently.”
Moving forward, the NYPD will work with the Secret Service to modify the plan as the situation changes, especially when Trump moves into the White House in about two months. Planning was further complicated by Trump’s announcement on November 20 that his wife, Melania, and his son, Barron, would continue living in Trump Tower until the end of the school year next spring.
While New Yorkers who frequent Midtown will sacrifice some convenience in return for the president-elect’s safety, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believed people would eventually get adjusted to the new reality.
“We are used to handling situations that other places couldn’t even imagine,” de Blasio said. “I think New Yorkers, after we get through legitimately grumbling, we will then go on with our lives.”
Local Midtown residents have received praise for their resiliency from both the mayor and the Secret Service, but concerns from local businesses and residents in the immediate vicinity of Trump Tower as well as from visitors to the area have surfaced. According to City Councilmember Dan Garodnick, who represents the area, his office has received some amount of complaints regarding the street closures.
“We have to take care to ensure the area does not simply feel like a warzone and allow for local businesses to continue to survive and even thrive,” Garodnick said.
But the councilmember also noted that there was a balancing act between security and accommodation that could be found to maintain the customary vibrancy of Fifth Avenue.
“We all acknowledge we are in an unprecedented situation here, and one which requires attention to both security and to the flow of people and traffic,’ Garodnick said. “The most important thing is that Fifth Avenue continues to move, for the sake of the significant number of commuters who pass through that corridor, as well as emergency vehicles.”
Further down the road, O’Neill said, the NYPD and the Secret Service would settle on a “long-range plan.” Asked whether a special police command in charge of Trump Tower’s security was being considered, the commissioner said that option was “not off the table.”
Given the dramatic increase in NYPD expenditures for ensuring Trump’s security, O’Neill said the NYPD is in conversations with the federal government regarding reimbursement.
