'Anarchist Jurisdiction' NYC Paid $150M To Keep Trump Safe

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Donald Trump scarcely visited New York and frequently maligned it during his term as president — but maintaining the four-year lockdown around Trump Tower has cost taxpayers $150 million, according to the city.

Since 2016, before Trump even took office, the NYPD has fully blocked 56th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues amid concerns that protesters would target the building, where Trump has a home.

The measures also include cement barricades lining Fifth Avenue, where police officers and federal agents have stood guard outside the tower.

The $150 million figure covers NYPD's protection between the 2016 election and last week's inauguration, City Hall spokesperson Laura Feyer told Patch this week. The federal government has thus far reimbursed the city for all costs through September 2020.

"We anticipate they will cover the remaining costs as well," Feyer said.

Now, the city has begun to reduce the security presence around Trump Tower — much to the relief of local businesses, who have suffered during the extended closure.

"We want the security minimized," said Rob Byrnes, president of the East Midtown Partnership, which works on behalf of nearby businesses. "It just is not a comfortable shopping situation or dining situation for anybody."

"It's going to be wonderful"

The four-year shutdown of vehicle traffic and most pedestrian access has been "very detrimental to retail" on both Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, Byrnes said. He declined to name the stores that have seen losses, but the luxury retailers Armani, Gucci and Oxford Clothes all have locations on the block.

Closures were maintained constantly even though Trump spent little time in New York during his presidency. He visited the city just once in the past year, and had spent only 20 days here as of 2019.

He famously labeled the city a "ghost town" last year, and drew New York's ire when his administration designated it as an "anarchist jurisdiction."

Now that Trump has left office and moved to Florida, however, the NYPD plans to reopen streets and scale back patrols, the Wall Street Journal reported. Small changes have already begun, like a reduced presence of armed guards, but the process will likely be a gradual one, Byrnes said.

Jerome Barth, president of the Fifth Avenue Association, said he had few complaints about how the shutdown had been handled, praising the "tremendous communication" between the NYPD, Secret Service and neighborhood stakeholders.

Still, he said, "It’s going to be wonderful news to see the barricades and the cement blocks — all these very harsh elements — disappear."

What does the future hold for the locked-down blocks once they become less militarized? Byrnes suggested that the long closure may make the neighborhood more open to reimagining the street entirely.

"We could either keep it as a shared street, or otherwise make it a more pedestrian-friendly area — not quite a thoroughfare," he said.

Such a change would only happen if it wins the support of neighborhood stakeholders, Byrnes cautioned. But he said the process could begin sooner than some might think.

"Presidents have a way of slowly vanishing when they’re no longer in office," he said.