after a stressful election season, 45-year-old anne sussman ventured to midtown hoping to find some holiday cheer: autumn leaves, the bergdorf goodman windows, the setting up of the rockefeller center tree. but when she left central park, she had to maneuver around a scrum of reporters and tourists taking photos of a dark 68-story skyscraper on fifth avenue. across the street heavily armed police surrounded trump tower<u+2019>s entrance. <u+201c>this is a nightmare!<u+201d> ms. sussman shouted to the sky. <u+201c>this is a nightmare!<u+201d> donald trump is planning his presidency in trump tower, where he has lived for many years. all the commotion around the building has some new yorkers pledging to avoid the neighborhood for the rest of the holiday season. new york police department commissioner james o<u+2019>neill met with the secret service on thursday to discuss security issues in the area, and the mayor plans a news conference on friday to address the issue. observing the frenzy at the corner of 56th street, which was closed to traffic, diana rendon, 25, said she would stick to online shopping this year. <u+201c>they probably just think it<u+2019>s normal because it<u+2019>s the holiday season,<u+201d> ms. rendon said of the tourists on fifth avenue. <u+201c>but if you<u+2019>re from here you know that is not how it<u+2019>s supposed to look.<u+201d> trump tower residents and those who want to shop at the stores inside the building are being allowed to bypass police checkpoints after having their bags checked. but police are shooing away others. meanwhile, congestion and security in the surrounding neighborhood<u+2014>home to some of manhattan<u+2019>s fanciest retailers<u+2014>are discouraging many new yorkers from looking for holiday gifts. <u+201c>no one is going to shop there for engagement rings for christmas eve,<u+201d> said lucia picco, 23, of the upper east side. <u+201c>this city is already hard to navigate,<u+201d> said paige merrow, also 23, standing next to ms. picco. <u+201c>you<u+2019>re dealing with hundreds of thousands of pedestrians and then you have cars and now we<u+2019>ve got this.<u+201d> it isn<u+2019>t just the fancy retailers being hurt. gamal e. ibrahim, who has a hot-dog cart near trump tower, said the closure of 56th street meant he was doing less than a fifth of his normal business. <u+201c>trump may be a nice guy,<u+201d> he said, <u+201c>but business is dying now.<u+201d> a spokeswoman for mr. trump didn't return requests for comment. ms. sussman, who had stopped at central park to decompress before walking down fifth avenue, said the scene around trump tower would make her break an annual holiday tradition of looking at store windows decorated for the holidays in midtown. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s the grinch that stole christmas,<u+201d> ms. sussman said. not everyone was complaining. chris lennon, a nearby salvation army bell ringer, said people were donating more than usual. <u+201c>i have seen more money orders and $50 bills put into this bucket and it can<u+2019>t be me because i can<u+2019>t dance,<u+201d> mr. lennon said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s got to be trump.<u+201d> write to zolan kanno-youngs at zolan.kanno-youngs@wsj.com
new holiday spectacle on fifth avenue: trump tower - wsj
zolan kanno-youngs