If Donald Trump wants to keep waking up in the city that never sleeps, New York doesn’t want to foot the bill.
New York City is asking for up to $35 million in federal funds as reimbursement for providing protection to the president-elect, who happens to reside on the top floors of a glass tower on one of the busiest streets in Manhattan.
Already, police have been parked in front of Trump Tower and have set up pedestrian barriers and checkpoints around the building, as the president-elect welcomed candidates for cabinet positions into his home over the past few weeks. The building on Fifth Avenue also houses a Gucci store and is on a stretch of Fifth Avenue that’s home to Tiffany’s and Cartier, and tourist attractions like St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Rockefeller Center. The added security has snarled vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the heart of the busy holiday shopping and tourism season.
The city’s request would cover the time Trump was elected on Nov. 8 to his inauguration in Washington, DC on Jan. 20 and pay for services like police overtime costs. The city would have to request more funding to cover Trump once he takes office if he chooses to spend significant amounts of time in his hometown.
“This is a highly-trafficked, dense urban environment, and one that presents an unprecedented and unique target for potential terrorist activity,” New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio said in his request to lawmakers, according to Reuters. “No other president in modern history has had his primary residence located in such a densely-populated neighborhood.”