Critics Say De Blasio Is Unconcerned About Trump Tower Gridlock, Effect On Fifth Avenue Businesses
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There were new questions Thursday about Mayor Bill de Blasio's concern – or some argue lack of concern – for the chaos around Trump Tower.
As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, de Blasio talked with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower Wednesday. On Thursday, he was asked to address worries about the streets below, since holiday tourists will have a hard time spending money on Fifth Avenue if the streets are blocked.
"It's very, very important to the economy of the City of New York," said Tom Cusick, president of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.
Cusick emphasized how much the businesses on Fifth Avenue in Midtown mean to the city's bottom line.
"We're talking about minimum tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue – the potential," Cusick said. "We're also talking about jobs. If there's not a lot of business, we don't need all those people."
Tiffany's, for example, paid more than $11 million in city taxes this year.
But the mayor said Wednesday that he was not especially concerned about swanky New York businesses.
"I will not tell you that Gucci and Tiffany are my central concerns in life," de Blasio said.
Mayor de Blasio made the remark when he was asked how to help the Midtown businesses that are finding it hard to attract customers amid the security chaos around Trump Tower.
The businesses pay rent, provide jobs, and pay lots and lots of taxes, and some of the stores ring up 25 percent of their annual sales during Christmas, Kramer noted.
At present, 56th Street is closed to traffic, and so is one lane of Fifth Avenue.
In real life, there are barricades everywhere, and there imposing checkpoints that limit pedestrian traffic at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, as well as Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Cars traveling down Fifth Avenue have to squeeze down a lane at 57th Street – it is often chaotic.
CBS2's Kramer tried to ask the mayor about it on Thursday.
Kramer: "Mr. Mayor, you've been talking at several campaign events about the future of the city. I wanted to ask you about the businesses along Fifth Avenue who also feel they should be part of the city's future, and they contribute tens of millions of dollars to the economy in terms of jobs, taxes – and why aren't they important too?"
De Blasio: "They are important, but we're going to talk about that tomorrow."
Kramer: "But is there anything you can say to them?"
De Blasio: "We're going to talk about that tomorrow."
Kramer: "What about today?"
De Blasio: "We're going to talk about it tomorrow."
As he was coming out of meetings in Trump Tower Thursday, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had no trouble coming up with an idea for a solution.
"If I were the mayor, I would say everybody who voted for Trump should just visit New York so they can look up at the Trump building, and we'd make a fortune,"
The Secret Service and the NYPD met on Thursday to work out a permanent security plan at Trump Tower, which as the mayor noted, he will talk about on Friday.
