PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The Palm Beach Police Department confirmed to CBS12 News in a statement that it has agreed with the Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to open South Ocean Boulevard, effective immediately, when former President Donald Trump is out of town.
A portion of S. Ocean Blvd. around Mar-a-Lago was closed for weeks.
The efforts to protect Trump’s property followed an attempt on his life at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this summer.
Other Palm Beach residents, such as Jeff Greene, say the closure was inconvenient.
“The road closure made no sense to me,” Greene told CBS12 News on Monday. “It was a huge disruption to our community and something like that should never happen again, even when he’s in town.”
Greene’s frustration appears to be shared by the city of Palm Beach, where officials are working on a compromise to open the road.
“Can the Secret Service be allowed to stop a city from draining its river?” asked Palm Beach City Council member Julie Araskog at a recent meeting.
This compromise has now been reached.
Palm Beach Police expect traffic disruptions to continue and will make further adjustments as needed.
This is welcome news for residents like Greene, but he would like to see the closure lifted entirely.
“When he’s in town, the road should be open. Someone can’t ride a bike through Mar-a-Lago because Donald Trump is in his house? That’s ridiculous,” Greene noted. “And cars should be allowed to pass.”
He hopes that this will happen in the near future without putting the former president in danger.
“They can give him protection without causing problems for the people of Palm Beach, and that’s what we in Palm Beach should insist on,” Greene said. “We should never put up with that again. Enough is enough.”
Palm Beach Police also confirmed that the Secret Service and Coast Guard had just approved extended opening restrictions on the drawbridges to Palm Beach when the former president was visiting.
CBS12 News has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment but has not yet received a response.
