Palm Beach is ready to welcome its newest residents -- America’s soon-to-be-former First Family.
President Donald Trump is set to move into his Mar-a-Lago resort Wednesday around lunchtime. Palm Beach Police and the United States Secret Service are among the law enforcement agencies that will protect the Trumps as they make the move.
“It is exciting to know that as part of the Palm Beach Police Department we are one of the few agencies in the country that gets to say we protected the President of the United States and defended the White House,” said Palm Beach Police spokesman Michael Ogrodnick.
Town officials sent a note to residents and posted on Twitter how they’re ready for their new neighbors. The announcement came with information about the road closure outside the resort.
“The road closure will last several days for safety and security reasons. Beyond this, we do not foresee any future road closures related to the presence of a former President. We have diligently trained and are prepared to respond to any immediate security concerns that a Presidential or former Presidential presence brings through ongoing threat assessments, and we will continue to do so with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners,” the announcement read.
Palm Beach is home to the uber-wealthy, world class hotels and some of the finest retail stores in the country.
Residents are well aware as to who is moving in.
“I have concerns like everybody else does, and I want things to maintain peaceful and quiet and calm like this area always has been,” said resident Nikki Levinson.
Early on in the Trump Administration, hundreds of people would jam the roadway leading to the resort, either welcoming or protesting the president’s presence at his South Florida resort.
Should that happen again, police say they’re ready.
“We do have a plan in place and we are preparing for best-case scenario, worst-case scenario. We are working in conjunction with our federal, local and state partners and we have open lines of communication with them also,” Ogrodnick said.
