New York City Police officers guard Trump Tower in Manhattan, Nov. 11, 2016. (Photo: Richard Drew/AP)
New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is still petitioning the federal
government to compensate the Big Apple for protecting President-elect
Donald Trump.
Trump,
a native of Queens, lives in a luxurious residence atop Trump Tower on
Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The highly trafficked neighborhood
teems with tourists, shoppers and businesspeople throughout the day.
Since Trump’s election victory, the New York Police Department has had
to vastly increase its already intense security for the area.
On
Wednesday morning, de Blasio’s office released a statement lamenting
that an overwhelming share of the responsibility of protecting the
nation’s next president has fallen on one city. He beseeched the U.S.
government to reimburse New York.
“New
York City taxpayers should not be on the hook for 80 percent of the
national bill to protect our president-elect and his family’s
residence,” he said. “We are counting on Congress to step up in the
coming months to pay back what it owes our city. This is a national
responsibility and the burden cannot fall alone on our city and police
department.”
Eric
Phillips, the mayor’s press secretary, told Yahoo News that Congress is
in the process of approving $7 million, which he says is “far from
enough.” He said City Hall plans to work with the New York congressional
delegation in seeking more money. The city has requested $35 million.
A New York City police officer stands watch outside Trump Tower, December 2016. (Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP)
“The
vast majority of the funding is used to pay the police officers that
are required to provide security for the area. That includes overtime,
salaries, obviously significantly upgraded deployment of officers in the
area,” Phillips said in a phone interview.
Phillips
said the extended length of time that New York is tasked with
protecting Trump — from Election Day until Inauguration Day — sets this
assignment apart from other high-security events like the New York City
Marathon or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“This
is a prolonged responsibility,” he said. “Months of securing the future
leader of the free world and a high-profile residence in the middle of
one of the busiest areas of one of the busiest cities in the world. It
is an absolutely unprecedented challenge, and that’s why it’s so
expensive.”
The
first public rumblings that suggested New York officials felt they were
getting a raw deal came on Nov. 21, with a report from CNN. Three New
York officials told the network that protecting Trump and his family was
costing the city more than $1 million a day.
These unnamed sources said the figure wasn’t expected to drop off
significantly after he’s inaugurated because New York will still be home
to the Trump family.
His
wife, Melania Trump, and their son Barron will stay in New York after
President Trump moves to the White House, so frequent visits to Trump
Tower are anticipated.
New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to the press in front of Trump
Tower after his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, Nov. 16,
2016. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
On Dec. 5, de Blasio announced that he was sending a letter to President Obama
asking for $35 million for Trump’s safety between Election Day and
Inauguration Day. This works out to roughly $480,000 per day, still a
substantial figure although less than half the expense cited by CNN.
When asked how they decided upon the $35 million figure, Phillips said,
“The NYPD and the Office of Management and Budget sat down and tallied
what it’s been costing up until this point and projected that number up
through inauguration.”
De Blasio said his office would work aggressively to secure this money.
The
mayor said city officials take the congestion around Trump Tower
seriously and are constantly working to improve the flow of traffic. He
said the first few weeks after Trump’s election were accompanied by “the
shock of something that took a whole new approach than we’ve ever had
to before.”
NYPD
Commissioner James P. O’Neill said the traffic problems centered on the
key intersection of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue (the location of
Tiffany’s) extend up and down both thoroughfares.
Ydanis Rodriguez, the transportation committee chair for the New York City Council, had called on Trump to move his operations
to one of his other properties, such as Mar-a-Lago in Florida. When
asked if he shares this sentiment, de Blasio said that he respects
Trump’s right to make his cabinet decisions in the setting that works
best for him.
President-elect
Donald Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump Tower
in New York, Dec. 6, 2016. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)
“He
has to do what he thinks will allow him to put together the team to
govern this nation, and I don’t want to second guess him as to which
location is best to do that. Obviously, if it’s a jump ball, I’d say go
to that beautiful golf course in New Jersey,” he said. Trump held one weekend’s worth of meetings at Trump National Golf Club resort in Bedminster, N.J.
The
Secret Service is responsible for protecting the president-elect but it
has a long history of working with local police departments — in this
case, the NYPD — to carry out this mission.
“Local
police departments always had some role in providing that protection,”
Phillips said. “The Secret Service isn’t an all-encompassing body when
it comes to this sort of work. They need the cops on the ground.”
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