Is the roadblock outside Mar-a-Lago leading to a lawsuit in Palm Beach?
The Town of Palm Beach is melting down about Mar-a-Lago again.
Ah, it’s just like the good old days.
Donald Trump has always had a shaky relationship with the town over his ownership of the iconic estate at the corner of South Ocean Boulevard and Southern Boulevard.
Almost from the time he occupied the property in the late 1980s, litigation was in the air over proposed modifications by Trump. Whether it was carving up the property into mini-mansions (which was thwarted), to constructing an out-of-code, car-dealership-sized flagpole in the front yard (which wasn’t thwarted), the town has been anything but accommodating to Trump.
Trump may be a cult leader to those far outside the gates of the old Marjorie Merriweather Post property, but to the town, he’s always been a problematic, needy resident who is constantly pressing the boundaries of town rules.
This has resulted in tussles over boat docks, a helicopter pad, the size of his club membership, decorative touches on the outer walls, dead shrubbery, and fines over loud music coming from club concerts.
The town has never been squeamish in warming up the lawyers and code enforcers when it comes to Trump.
So, it was like hearing the opening strains of a familiar song to read an alert posted by The Town of Palm Beach over the move by the U.S. Secret Service to shutdown South Ocean Boulevard in the area of Mar-a-Lago.
“The Town is working closely with the U.S. Secret Service to minimize the impacts of this road closure,” it read. “The Town plans to pursue legal options that the road remains open in the absence of the protected person(s) in residence.”
Legal options? Here we go. At least this time, the Town wouldn’t be suing Trump directly. Just those trying to protect him.
The Secret Service took the extraordinary move of shutting down the well-traveled road in front of Mar-a-Lago around the clock until at least Election Day in November, whether or not Trump is present there.
The move was a reaction to the assassination attempt on Trump while he was speaking at a campaign rally two weekends ago in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service had failed to stop a lone shooter with a high-powered rifle from shooting multiple times at Trump from a rooftop about 150 yards away from Trump.
One shot grazed Trump’s ear. The failure to protect Trump adequately that day has resulted in widespread criticism of the Secret Service. And so the new security measure to stop passing traffic in front of Mar-a-Lago is undoubtedly a reaction to that.
But to the town officials, this is just a big headache that has them fielding do-something calls from all the Palm Beachers who won’t stand for the inconvenience this poses.
The oceanfront road isn’t just closed in front of Mar-a-Lago. It’s closed clear to South County Road, causing all those residents in the area limited access from the north as the only way to get to and from their homes.
Wait until they find out about this in the fall when they return from Southampton, Saratoga and the Amalfi Coast to discover their Florida oasis is now within a Baghdad-tight security perimeter.
Protecting the life of a presidential candidate is one thing, but Palm Beach has always been more fixated with addressing the small stuff, such as regulating tacky neighbors and their tennis ball machines, not aspiring assassins and their AR-15s.
More: Trump shooting lesson should be keeping guns out of the hands of disturbed people under 21
If the Town files a lawsuit against the Secret Service, I expect it will make the point that this sealing off of Mar-a-Lago is completely unnecessary. Exhibit A: Even Melania seems to have been successfully repelled.
Rather than threatening legal action against the Secret Service, I think it would be better for the Town of Palm Beach to work with Trump on fortifying Mar-a-Lago during the next few months.
Trump is busy now ordering a lifetime supply of oversized gauze pads, but he may eventually have his own ideas on this subject of fortifying his Florida home.
More: If Donald Trump gets convicted, let's just lock him in the Mar-a-Lago tower.
He might even arrive at a Trumpian solution to his Mar-a-Lago security question.
Yes, I am talking about a “great and powerful” wall, the steel equivalent of U.S District Judge Aileen Cannon. Trump could advocate sealing the borders of Mar-a-Lago with a 30-foot wall.
And Pennsylvania will pay for it.
Sure, it would make what had been the island’s most recognizable property into something that would resemble a supermax prison.
But this is something we should have seen coming. Remember, Trump bought Mar-a-Lago from the U.S. government, which had inherited the property from Marjorie Merriweather Post, who envisioned the estate as a Winter White House for American presidents.
No presidents showed up, and with the upkeep costing taxpayers $1 million per year, it became a 17-acre, 33-bathroom albatross for taxpayers. When Trump bought it in 1985, he was a 39-year-old real estate developer from New York.
Who knew that decades later he would turn into the chubby golfer dancing to “YMCA” on the lanai as a former president under the watchful eyes of Secret Service agents?
Marjorie Merriweather Post couldn’t have known that after her death America would be overrun with military-style weapons with extended kill zones and young men with mental issues who had easy access to them.
It’s only now that we’re realizing the limitations of her gift. The home, which was willed to be a haven for American presidents, was not geographically well suited for its purpose.
And now, a new chapter in Mar-a-Lago’s history is about to be written.
Frank Cerabino is a news columnist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the Gannett newspaper chain.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Secret Service blocks roads around Mar-a-Lago until Election Day
