As Palm Beach desperately looks for ways to reduce the amount of traffic flooding the city, the island’s Planning and Zoning Commission this week criticized what they say are near-daily events hosted at the Mar-a- Lago Club of newly elected President Donald Trump.
The commission voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of a recommendation to reduce the number of events at Mar-a-Lago as part of its traffic mitigation strategies that will be reviewed by the City Council at its Dec. 10 meeting.
“The optics of one party a night, one party a day, everyone’s having a good time at Mar-a-Lago, and we can’t get to the other side. I know this has been brought up a million times, but now that you see it, and I think this … is really making residents angry,” Deputy Commissioner Victoria Donaldson said at the meeting.
“The more we see the holiday celebrations… (while) we’re all in lockdown, it’s just the wrong optics.”
The issue of activities at Trump’s private club came up during a discussion about how the city can get a handle on the traffic clogging the island’s streets. While most of the conversation focused on changes aimed at Midtown, it didn’t take long for commissioners to bring up the road closure at Mar-a-Lago.
The Secret Service first ordered the closure of South Ocean Boulevard next to Mar-a-Lago after the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump and two of his supporters were injured and another supporter was killed. Security around the private club has increased after another attempt on Trump’s life in September, while he was playing golf at his Trump International Golf Club in the West Palm Beach suburb.
That increased security has increased tension for residents living immediately north and in the miles south of Trump’s home.
Those south of town are effectively cut off from the rest of Palm Beach. Several residents emailed the Daily News to express their concerns about another four years of road closures.
Members of the Florida Department of Transportation install concrete barriers at the roundabout on the east side of Southern Boulevard as Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office employees direct traffic on Southern Boulevard on Saturday morning, July 20, 2024. The Palm Beach Police Department announced this week that the Secret Service is closing South Ocean Boulevard beginning July 20 through at least the November general election.”
Since Trump’s victory in the presidential election, Mar-a-Lago has been flooded with visitors, including club guests coming this season and major political figures meeting the president-elect.
Donaldson said the frequent videos of the events at the club have done nothing but anger residents.
“I’ve heard so many people say, ‘How can there be all these big parties at Mar-a-Lago all the time, and we can’t drive by?’ Donaldson said. “This makes no sense.”
Mar-a-Lago is allowed to host events thanks to special exceptions outlined in the club’s Declaration of Use, a legal document between the city and Mar-a-Lago that governs how the club can operate.
Mayor Danielle Moore told commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting that Mar-a-Lago officials have not deviated from the occupancy statement, noting that nearly all of the club’s guests have been bussed in.
“Yes, there are events happening at Mar-a-Lago right now, and the majority of those people are being transported by bus from an off-island location” as required by the agreement’s traffic mitigation strategies, she said.
If Palm Beach wants to limit the number of events the club can host, the city would have to challenge the use declaration.
Commissioner Michael Vincent John Spaziani asked if residents with a Palm Beach parking sticker could drive through the closure.
The Secret Service had already rejected that proposal because an intruder could plant a bomb in a resident’s car, Moore said.
“Even though you have your little sign, your car can be hooked up to a bomb and detonated remotely,” Moore said. “That’s considered a safety concern. … We’ve discussed a lot of the things that were brought up this morning, and they’re not going to accept that.”
Considering the optics, Commissioner William Gilbane said the city should avoid events at Mar-a-Lago.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach daily newspart of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach planning board wants to limit events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
