As the sun sets on Mar-a-Lago’s season, another Trump property is poised to take over the spotlight.
After Mar-a-Lago closes for the season in May, Trump is expected to make frequent trips to his typical summer destination of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to Politico.
This has residents and business owners in the area concerned about some of the chaos left over from Trump’s frequent trips to Palm Beach: protesters, road closures, traffic, enhanced security, funding issues, and the general spectacle of the President of the United States coming to town.
“We’re kind of apprehensive, I guess you could say,” Nick Strakhov, a Bedminster land-use board member, told Politico. “It’s nice to be recognized. But on the other hand, if it gets to be tedious, we might start to complain.”
In recent Bedminster Town Hall meetings, concerned citizens have brought the issue to the forefront.
“West Palm Beach is a lot bigger than we are. Those people are a little more affluent than we are. Has there been any thought to that?” resident Jane Schumann told the all-Republican town board in March.
Bedminster already got a taste of what’s to come when the then-president-elect spent a weekend at his golf club last November, which cost $3,683 in local police overtime. Bedminster Mayor Steve Parker estimated in a letter to New Jersey Representative Leonard Lance that seven 72-hour trips could balloon that cost to $300,000 over a year. He’s hoping Washington will send a check to cover the extra expenses.
Parker admitted that his small town is in unfamiliar territory, but he downplayed the fears in an interview with Politico.
“We’ve got lots of folks who’ve got a little bit of notoriety in town, and it’s just regular business for Bedminster,” he said, referring to Bedminster residents Steve Forbes and former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean.