Washington, DC Neighbors Irked by Security, Parking, Garbage
Residents of the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner moved into a $5.5 million home earlier this year assert they don’t make for very good neighbors. They hog parking on an already crowded street and leave trash bags rotting on the curb. Most irritating is the huge security presence. Even a quick trip to the playground allegedly requires three Secret Service vans. As reported by the Associated Press and NBC News.
Neighbors are angry that the Kushners have closed off sidewalks and posted “no parking” signs in public parking areas without permits. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner haven’t bothered to learn (or won’t adhere) to the trash pickup schedule causing trash bags to pile up and rotting garbage.
“It has been a three-ring circus from the day that they’ve moved in,” said Marietta Robinson, who lives across the street, “They’ve completely ruined the neighborhood.”
The house was bought in December by a company with ties to a Chilean billionaire. That company is renting it to Kushner and Trump, who moved in just after the inauguration of her Trump.
Residents of the enclave of four- and five-story town homes and elegant single-family properties about 2 miles north of the White House are accustomed to VIP neighbors. Former President Barack Obama and his family have lived there since he left office, and the Secret Service closed off their entire block to traffic. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought a home there, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also moved in recently.
Yet no one has raised the ire of the community like the Trumps. At a recent neighborhood commission meeting, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace was among those who showed up to complain about parking problems.
Some in the neighborhood have also complained about the family’s rental arrangement. The company that owns the house didn’t obtain a rental license for two months, securing one just this week after it was discovered by city regulators to be in default.
The Secret Service has sole responsibility under law for protecting the family, but neighbors have noticed what they describe as an unusually large and aggressive security presence. Ivanka Trump arrives and departs in a four-vehicle motorcade, Robinson said.
“There are more of them than I have ever seen,” Robinson wrote in a letter to Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials. “Frequently several of them are milling outside of the house at all hours having conversations and staring meanly at anyone in view.”
The letter — which also complained about parking, trash and noise — spurred the city government into action. On Friday morning, District transportation crews were outside the house, removing “No Parking” signs.
The department said no permits had been sought for parking exemptions or sidewalk closures on the street since Trump moved in. Yet vehicles associated with the Trump-Kushner house have been seen parking in the restricted areas for hours at a time, and barriers have been erected on the sidewalk in front of the house, forcing pedestrians to cross the street, next-door neighbor Rhona Wolfe Friedman said.
